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Birds Hill As you begin to climb the slope of Birds Hill one of the most important early housing developments can be seen on your right along Rushby Mead, we will come back to this later. On the left are a group of houses designed by V Dunkerley for the 1905 Cheap Cottages Exhibition. These cottages feature a mansard roof enclosing the first floor. This reduces the cost of construction (Tiles were cheaper than brick). The group of cottages nos 14 to 40 face onto a grassy area and are shielded from the road by hedge rows. Refurbished by the Letchworth Garden City Corporation in 1980 Beyond you can see the beginning of Works Road and the industrial estate, which is hidden from most of the center of the town by the natural ridge in the landscape.
To your right are a group of
cottages designed in 1906 by Parker and Unwin for Garden City Tennants
Ltd. This was a cottage building society intended to develop working
class housing.
Unfortunately building costs for these designs were to high and a simplified version had to be designed to achieve to rent levels that ordinary workers could afford.  Virtually opposite these the
old Bridger Factory has been demolished and new housing / flats is being
constructed (2006/7)
Straight
on to Works Road and the industrial areas
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