South Oxhey - Housing Estate Office

37 Oxhey Drive

By Susan Waller

Aerial View of Estate Office and Yard
Home Counties Newspapers at Watford Library - P10714
Garden at Estate Office - 1962
Frank Waller
Garden at Estate Office - 1962
Frank Waller

When the South Oxhey Estate was built the ‘ Estate Office’ was built at 37 Oxhey Drive.  This was where people would visit when they were allocated a house and where they would collect the keys.

For some years there were rent collectors who travelled around the estate collecting the rents but later on you could choose to pay it at the Estate Office.

The Estate Office had a yard attached to it and the entry to this was in Seacroft Gardens ( where the road now goes behind the Estate Office and the flats that were built on the site of the yard).

The estate then had its own group of workmen and the painters, carpenters, glaziers and grounds staff all worked from this yard or from the smaller yard behind Hallowes Crescent shops.  If repairs were required then these were reported to the Estate Office and then one of the local workmen would do the work.

There was also a greenhouse attached to the yard where the plants were grown for the lovely gardens outside the Estate Office.  The gardeners on the estate were very proud of their efforts in maintaining the garden and the shrub beds all around the estate.

This page was added on 18/08/2012.

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  • I lived at 17 Sidmouth Close. Went to Warren Dell JMI and then Clarendon School which changed to Sir James Altham . I have very happy memories of my life in South Oxhey. My friends and I used to gather for Christmas and new year round The Jet which has been knocked down now. We all thought those days would go on forever I was born in January 1952 . 65 Now…….”Happy Days

    By Liz Dodd (28/12/2017)
  • I am so glad you guys have such good memories. My family came from London to South Oxhey 1949 approx. Many of the houses around us bomb damaged, we lived on the top floor of a house, three children mum and dad, as you can imagine it was very short on space, my mum went to the council office, sat there all day untill they gave her a house, we lived in Sidmouth Close, I remember getting off the bus in Hayling Road, near the Jet pub. To me South Oxhey was a childs paradise, all that open space, the golf course was at the bottom of our garden, we used to cross and play in the woods, for hours making cubbies. we often walked to Ruislip Lido in the summer,there may have been a bus involved. I went to Little Furze junior infants and Clarendon secondary modern, I believe they have both been knocked down, such good memories of my school days.

    By Barbara Birch (02/07/2014)
  • Really glad to hear that there are some more photographs of this area around and look forward to seeing them . Thanks for reminding us about the other depot at the top of Prestwick Road, we had discussed there being another one but we were not sure where it was.

    By Susan Waller (20/08/2012)
  • I have some photos of the depot at the back of the council offices taken from inside the depot and from the roof of the Police station next door which I will post. I managed to rescue some old LCC paperwork from a small lean-to store during the course of demolition. There had been a large amount of plans and documents – all irreplaceable – which had been badly damaged by rain and insects. I salvaged a number of shop front plans for Station Approach and St Andrews Road, all dating from the early 1950’s. They have written price quotes and specifications attached. As well as the depots in Seacroft Gardens and Hallowes Crescent there was another at the top end of Prestwick Rd behind the shops.

    By Neil Hamilton (19/08/2012)