History of Thurcroft
Development Of Thurcroft
The new houses which were built to accomodate the miners and their families were built by J. Lister of Wickersley.
The first houses were built on Woodhouse Green followed by West Street, which was started in 1914. The rest of the streets in that area were built between 1915 and 1918.
The houses built for the pit managers, known as the villas were built in 1917, these were and still are near to the pit site, known by locals as Pit Lane, the correct name is New Orchard Lane. Living there around 1935/37: the biggest house next to the pit was occupied by the manager Mr A. Foster and family, the rest were occupied by Mr J . Pearson - under manager,whose daughter married a man named Tazziman and she became the Head teacher of Girls at the Thurcroft school. Next there was Moody's, Soars, Oldham's, Holloway's, Pearson's and next door to Fosters were Pickford's.
The Welfare hall was built in 1918
The Sawn Moor estate was built in the early 1920's.
The Crescent was built after this, following the Model Village idea. By 1921 there were approximately 800 people living in Thurcroft and Thurcroft Parish Council was formed.
The Ivanhoe estate was built in the 1950s. The Childrens Home on St Edmonds Ave around the corner was built in the 1960s. There were prefabs on Locksley Drive right up until the late 1960s when they were knocked down and replaced by council houses, there were also prefabs on Laughton Road, which were replaced by bungalows for senior citizens.
Schools
Thurcroft Council School was opened in 1924 at the same time several shops were opening along with the Thurcroft Hotel.
Before the second world war, the school was divided between boys and girls. The boys entrance was on the left and the girls on the right, there used to be two gateways into the school yard, the one on the left side was bricked up over 30 years ago. The infants entrance was down the side of the school.
Children as young as three and four were taken at the school and all these young children had a nap in the afternoon; when the war came changes had to be made, the male teachers had to go to war and there wasn't enough teachers, so the 3 and 4 year olds had to stop attending until they turned 5.
During the war the school became mixed, although boys and girls were mixed for lessons, they were still divided into boys and girls for woodwork and domestic science.
A new infants school was built on Locksley Drive in 1958, and the new junior school was built not long after. The original school on School Road then became a secondary school until abt 1970 when a new comprehensive was built in Wales.
The old junior school become Green Arbour Special school now known as the Willows.
Shops
Smiths newsagents, later bought by Lotes and Abbotts was owned by Bill and Gladys Abbott. Bill Abbott is in the shop window and Gladys Abbott(Nee Lote standing in doorway wearing patterned dress. They ran the shop from 1951 to 1970.
The Ivanhoe Estate
Sanders shop on Aymer Drive has been run by the same family since the 1950s when it was opened. The shop has an old fashioned look about it, and is very welcoming. The shop next door used to be a Fish and Chip shop, originally run by Keegans, it also sold fruit, veg and tinned goods during the day. When the Chip shop was closed, a Vending Machine with KP Nuts was placed on the wall outside the shop. Sanders had a cigarette Vending Machine.
On the other side of Sanders there was Archers the Grocers, a small shop which sold everything. Biscuits could be bought loose from big metal boxes! Among the many things sold in Archers Grocery Shop were ladies stockings, they were sold from boxes on a shelf to the left hand side as you walked through the door.
Next to Archers there was a Wallpaper and Paint shop. Sadly all the shops except for Sanders have now closed.
More about the shops in Thurcroft in the Memories section.