Marston Road Bungalow

Marston Road Bungalow. A seemingly unassuming name for a place with such a layered past. We stand here, before Marston Road, once a humble country lane, now a bustling thoroughfare. Imagine the scene in the late 19th century. New Marston was just beginning to sprout from the earth. A few scattered houses dotted the landscape, built with bricks from the nearby brickworks off Jack Straw’s Lane. Children trekked a mile to Old Marston School. There was no church, no electricity, just gas lamps flickering against the encroaching darkness. Marston Road Bungalow, though not mentioned specifically in my historical accounts, surely witnessed this transformation. The area was expanding rapidly. By 1881, Ferry Road and Edgeway Road were being developed. The Somerset House beerhouse, a welcome addition to the small community, opened in 1880. Just a few years later, an 1887 report detailed the concerning lack of sanitation in some of New Marston’s sixty houses. The report highlighted the risk to the wider district and the friction between the local authorities and Headington regarding the issue. Can you imagine the conversations among the residents of Marston Road Bungalow about these developments? Perhaps they were among the families mentioned in that drainage report. Marston Road Bungalow watched as New Marston continued its growth spurt. By 1898, fifteen houses lined William Street. A footpath and track at the top of the street led to Pullen’s Lane, the route to the parish church in Old Headington. The bungalow silently observed as more houses popped up along Marston Road itself. The early 20th century brought even more change. A mission church opened in 1888, initially housed in two cottages. In 1911, a proper Chapel of Ease was built in Ferry Road for the burgeoning population. Then came the Scouts’ Hall on the corner of William Street in 1913, built by Emily Lydia Peto, daughter of Sir Samuel Morton Peto. Marston Road, our very own time-traveling street, was widened in 1937 to accommodate cycle tracks. Marston Road Bungalow saw this all unfold, a silent witness to the growth and evolution of New Marston. Even if its specific story remains elusive, its presence connects us to the spirit of this vibrant area.