In August 1963 the sociologist Dennis Marsden, his wife Pat and their two small children were provided with the tenancy of 2 Davenham House so that Dennis could conduct a research study of the area. Davenham House was a recently-built maisonette located in a neighbourhood of slum clearance and redevelopment in Salford 3. It formed one side of a rectangle with three other low rise maisonette blocks. The blocks were located in the Trinity Estate area, bordered by North George Street, Peru Street, and what was Corporation Street and Upper Cleminson Street (now merged as Mayan Avenue) (see Figure 1). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dennis Marsden had been employed as a Research Fellow by the Salford Royal College of Advanced Technology (an antecedent of the University of Salford) to undertake a study of working class communities affected by the local authority policy of slum clearance and rehousing. Sociological research was regarded as providing an understanding of everyday lives towards rebuilding British post-war society. In-depth studies of the implications of disruption in a shifting landscape of neighbourhood upheaval and family relocation were part of efforts at social renewal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dennis kept careful and detailed records about his research, including labour mobility surveys, discussions with the local authority Planning Department, interactions with neighbours, and the concerns of the Tenants Defence League. In a report for the Salford Housing Committee, for example, he notes the implications of the \u2018unneighbourly\u2019 lack of doorknobs on the front doors of newly-built properties, which meant that people couldn\u2019t pop in and out of each others\u2019 homes in the way they were wont to in the slum streets.[i]<\/sup><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dennis\u2019 wife, Pat, kept a daily diary for the initial six months of their 18-month stay on the estate, handwritten in two Royal Salford College of Advanced Technology exercise books. She recorded everyday life around her, interactions with neighbours, family life, parenting and children\u2019s lives.[ii]<\/sup><\/a> (See Figure 2.) We have been studying Pat Marsden\u2019s diary as part of a research project on the contribution of sociologists\u2019 wives to post-war British community studies, and their role in bridging community and social sciences.[iii]<\/sup><\/a> <\/a>Pat kept her diary in the expectation that the entries would help inform her husband\u2019s analysis, and indeed his own records often make reference to \u2018see Pat\u2019s diary\u2019 and \u2018Pat says \u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pat\u2019s diary contains lively descriptions of life on the local estate from her position as a wife and mother. She recorded everyday life in the flats, happening in the square outside the front window of 2 Davenham House. The diary entries include an engaged account of poor working class children\u2019s life on the Trinity housing estate, capturing characters and activities. The children often came to the Marsden\u2019s door to call for their son Daniel to come out to play with them, and attempt to sell items to Pat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n John, with ice-cream cornet. Came and asked for Daniel. I told him that he was having his dinner. Five minutes later back again with David and Mark. David asked this time. Think John put him up to it. Whenever John sees me at the window he rushes towards it waving and shouting \u2018Hi-ya\u2019 and peers in. Usually finds something to ask \u2013 Has now, I think been dissuaded from shouting through the letter box although he still peers through glass on door. (11th<\/sup> August)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n David came round with a \u2018sweep\u2019 \u2013 tiny pieces of paper with numbers written on them in a Boots \u2018Glycerine Suppositories\u2019 cardboard box. Selling them for 1\/2d each. I hadn\u2019t a 1\/2d so gave him 1d and said he\u2019d have to give me two. \u2018What are you going to do with the money\u2019 I said. David didn\u2019t know. Mark said, \u2018We\u2019re going to save \u2018em and then we\u2019ll have thousands of ha\u2019pennies! \u2026 Later they came back from the sweet shop with \u00bdd chews. David gave Daniel one but I told him to keep it. \u2018Nobody\u2019ll buy any of \u2018em. I been round the block? Do you want \u2018em. You can have \u2018em for nowt if you like. Do you fink I ought to throw them away!\u2019 I said it might be best and he did. (30th<\/sup> August)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pat\u2019s exchanges and friendships with other women on the estate were often mother-to-mother, revealing the practices and concerns of poor working class mothering and Pat\u2019s assessments of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bella came asking for two 1\/-. She gave me the florin. \u2018Always give the money to the woman\u2019 she laughed. (1st<\/sup> September)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Went to ask Bella if she knew a good cleaners. She said that if it was anything she cared about she took it to one near to Mac. Fisheries on Deansgate. Diane\u2019s mother was just leaving \u2013 in rollers. Bella asked me in \u2013 said she\u2019d just been washing her curtains \u2013 pale pinkish nylon dress material at 4\/11 a yard. With a frill. Each curtain was joined down the centre (36\u201d material I suppose). The vertical edges had splayed out \u2013 she puts them in her washer and irons them wet as soon as she takes them out. (30th<\/sup> September)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I went round to Jean\u2019s to recover Daniel\u2019s bike which Tony had \u2018borrowed\u2019. We remarked on the bitter cold and I asked her round for a cup of chocolate. She checked the time first as she was expecting a clubman \u2013 (the curly haired clubman I met in Bella\u2019s when I was in before Daniel\u2019s party comes from Regent Rd. warehouse I think she said. Co-op??) Before she came across a neighbour who was passing offered to get her family allowance which Jean gratefully agreed to. Talked about toilet training. Tony is out of nappies but my word he could do to be in them. He just wets downs his legs and at least once has wet on my carpet and made puddles in my porch. (5th<\/sup> November)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The drawbacks of the built environment faced by Pat and other mothers on the Trinity Estate were recorded in her diary. Dissatisfactions included waste ground as the only playspace for children, the sharp gravel pathways, difficulties of living in one of the upper maisonettes with young children and prams, and the lack of outside space for drying clothes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I said that it must be difficult for her mum to get up and down the stairs. \u2018Yes it is. Me mam went to the housing to try and get the key for a pram shed. But they said that someone else had got it. I think Mrs Tandy\u2019s got one but they keep a motor bike and a byke in it.\u2019 (26th<\/sup> August)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Went shopping with mum, Daniel and Sarah. The local block kids had made an enormous bonfire \u2013 big as a small room on the waste ground outside Mobberley Court. Later on children were to be seen staggering off in the direction of the demolished area with various unweildy [sic] sections (28th<\/sup>August) <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I asked if she used the airing cupboard in the kitchen. \u2018Yes, well I have<\/u> to. But it\u2019s not good for big things and if you put anything woollen on it shrinks then. I\u2019ve got a spare bedroom and I\u2019ve rigged up a beam in there and the washing dries lovely when I have the window open. (1st<\/sup> September)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel fell and cut his knees badly on the red shale. I wish they\u2019d find some money to pave it or tarmac it. (6th<\/sup> September)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of these restrictions and hazards found their way into Dennis Marsden\u2019s report and recommendations for improvements to the Salford Housing Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n [i]<\/sup> Dennis Marsden\u2019s research material is lodged in the special collections archive at the University of Essex: Marsden, D. Salford Slum and Rehousing Study, 1963-1964 [unprocessed study]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive [distributor], SN: 6225. The collection includes the Salford Royal College of Advanced Technology \u2013 Work and Housing Project: A second report prepared for SALFORD HOUSING COMMITTEE by the Research Fellow of the Liberal Studies Department at the Royal College<\/em>. The Salford Slum and Rehousing Study was unpublished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [ii]<\/sup><\/a> A transcript and images of the diary are lodged with the Library Archive at the University of Salford. They form a valuable record of the university\u2019s connection with the local area and also are of interest for urban, working class and family history researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [iii]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0We are grateful to the British Academy\/Leverhulme small grants scheme for funding our study: \u2018Wives\u2019 role in pioneering classic community studies: the Bethnal Green and Salford Diaries\u2019, SG2122\/210026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you would like to receive notifications of new blog posts email \u2018SUBSCRIBE\u2019<\/strong> to themodernbackdrop@salford.ac.uk<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are interested in what you have to say about our posts. Please use the comment box below. 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\u00a9 Marsden Estate, reproduced with agreement<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hub.salford.ac.uk\/modern-salford\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/222\/2023\/09\/Screenshot-2023-09-11-at-18.25.30.png\")
\u00a9 Marsden Estate, reproduced with agreement<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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