The Excalibur Estate Lewisham

I have a friend Jenny who has written a little book on prefabs, so when I saw an article in the Independant on the Excalibur estate in south London we decided to pay a visit.
The Excalibur Estate was built immediately post war to replace bombed out homes. The people moving there thought they were wonderful - detached with their own garden, running hot and cold water and even blown air central heating. This estate is one of the last survivors and is now at the mercy of developers. Half of it is already boarded off although not yet demolished, I guess the developers are waiting for more improvement in the property market. The remainder of the housing is very mixed, with some homes kept immaculately and some that have been left empty and run wild with rubbish and vegetation. 
We were lucky enough to be invited into the home of one of the residents, George, who now lives in his home alone apart from his little dog. He had moved to London from Hull during the war as his father was posted to work in a munitions factory. After the war George moved into the estate and has lived there ever since, bringing up two boys in the two bedroomed house. He owns his house but does not know yet whether it will be compulsorily purchased.
There is a petition running at the moment to save the estate from redevelopment: https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/54225/signature/new
There are a fair number of photos in this set showing the different states of housing. One is taken through a peephole in the shuttering to show the part of the estate that has already been bought up. 
Eerily I could not find any of the roads in my satnav and some of the road signs have been painted out.








































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