South Yorkshire Times, March 3, 1951

Village With no Waiting List

No Housing Headaches in Hickleton for 400 Years

HICKLETON would warm the heart of any housing manager. No overcrowding, no demands for new houses; in fact. a housing dream.

And For 400 Years!                         

It has been the same for about 400 years, and will remain the same for at least another five years. Hickleton in its rural isolation, looks with some trepidation towards the housing estates creeping ever nearer from Goldthorpe. But it finds consolation in a five-year plan drawn up by Doncaster Rural Council, assessing the housing requirements of each village under their jurisdiction. and accordingly planning house allocations up to 1955. And Hickleton notes without concern that its requirements are nil, and therefore its assessment is—nil.

It is not difficult to realise how this dream world position arises at Hickleton. For about 400 years. The population has remained round the 130 mark, though it has a “surplus” population of 100 children housed in the boarding school. The inhabitants have been -linked with agriculture throughout the history of the village, and the pleasant red-tiled cottages have housed the farm workers in comfort, and, say the occupants, will continue to do so.

Unique Occasion

There was one unique occasion when it was made known that a family was in need of a house, but the “crisis” was quickly averted by converting former stables owned by Lord Halifax into good houses. Marriage or outside work takes a a percentage of the population from Hickleton, but the three farms owned by Mr F. W. Wilkinson cater for the rest of the labour.

Who better than Mr. Wilkinson, therefore, to comment on Hickleton’s house happiness? He has 16 cottages in the village, housing his 30-odd employees. “Hickleton simply has no need at present for new houses,” says Mr. Wilkinson, and he has two workers who have been with him 24 years to prove that living at Hickleton leaves little to be desired.