HARDWICK GARDEN VILLAGE
Chepstow
A planned housing estate constructed in 1917-1918 to accommodate workers in the National shipyard. The housing first appears on the Third edition OS map of 1921 and consists of a series of terraced properties constructed in several streets immediately south of the medieval town walls. The local authority was aware that Chepstow could not provide the accommodation required for the new workforce and therefore petitioned the government to provide support for the construction of a number of 'garden towns' (Firth 2012). There was an original intention to construct 423 houses on two sites and a housing estate called Hardwick village was one of these developments. The development is easily identifiable on the Third edition OS map and forms a discrete area of housing based alongside Portwall Road, Green Street, Caird Street and Rockwood Road. Additionally, three separate but adjacent crescents were constructed, these being Severn Crescent, Hughes Crescent and Wye Crescent. Housing in the crescents consists of a series of terraced houses, none containing more than five properties and with well-defined gardens to the rear. The houses built on the remaining streets are more isolated properties, and the steepness of the sloping ground in this area may explain the absence of depicted garden areas. Contemporary photographs of these properties under construction are held in the archive of Chepstow Museum but have not been made available to the author. The houses were constructed mostly from concrete blocks cast by Royal Engineers and German prisoner of war labour, though most extant properties are now heavily rendered. The street layout and houses have survived, though more properties have been constructed in the area in the intervening years.