06/10/2026
AN AMAZING INSIGHT INTO WHAT A NEW HOME COST IN THE EARLY 1930s IN ASHTON.
Following on from our previous look at housing around the Smallshaw area, this fascinating surviving price list gives us another glimpse into what families could buy when new homes were being built around Ashton in the early 1930s.
One thing worth explaining before looking at the prices is that Britain still used pounds, shillings and pence. There were 20 shillings in £1 and 12 old pennies in a shilling.
The Type C house was priced at £365, with a deposit of £37 8s. In plain English, £37 8s means £37 and 8 shillings. As 8 shillings was 40% of a pound, that would be £37.40 if the same amount were simply written using today's decimal notation. This is only a conversion of the old currency, not its modern-day spending value.
The house included a large combined lounge and sitting room, kitchen, three bedrooms, bathroom and W.C., with hot and cold water and electric lighting throughout.
Under Mortgage Repayments, the annual mortgage figure was £25 7s — £25 and 7 shillings, or £25.35 in decimal notation. Rates were £6 15s — £6 and 15 shillings, or £6.75, while Chief Rent was £3 5s — £3 and 5 shillings, or £3.25.
Together these came to £35 7s — £35 and 7 shillings, or £35.35 a year. The weekly figure was 13s 7d, meaning 13 shillings and 7 old pennies. In decimal currency that is approximately 68p, although of course 68p in the early 1930s had vastly greater purchasing power than 68p today.
The Type D cost £375, with a deposit of £39. It included a dining room, kitchen, coal place, three bedrooms, bathroom and W.C., a double bay, electric lighting throughout and hot and cold water.
Its annual mortgage figure was £23 exactly. Rates were £6 15s — £6 and 15 shillings, equivalent to £6.75 in decimal notation, and Chief Rent was £5 5s — £5 and 5 shillings, equivalent to £5.25.
The total was £35 a year, giving a weekly figure of 13s 10d — 13 shillings and 10 old pennies, equivalent to approximately 69p in decimal currency.
The largest shown here was the Type E, priced at £425, with a deposit of £47.
It offered a drawing room, dining room, scullery, larder, coal place, three bedrooms, bathroom and separate W.C., a double bay, electric lighting, hot and cold water and what the original advertisement described as “good gardens back and front.”
Its annual mortgage figure was £29 5s — £29 and 5 shillings, equivalent to £29.25. Rates were £5 5s — £5 and 5 shillings, equivalent to £5.25, while Chief Rent was £3 10s — £3 and 10 shillings, equivalent to £3.50.
The total shown is £41 5s — £41 and 5 shillings, equivalent to £41.25 a year. This produced a weekly figure of 15s 10d — 15 shillings and 10 old pennies, approximately 79p in decimal currency.
The rates were local property charges of the period, while Chief Rent was a recurring charge associated with the property or the land. The advertisement also makes clear that gas, water and electricity were additional, so these were not included in the weekly figures.
It is important not to mistake those decimal conversions for what the money would be worth today. Writing £37 8s as £37.40 simply translates the old pounds-and-shillings notation into decimal currency. £37.40 in the early 1930s represented a very substantial amount of money compared with £37.40 today.
It is an extraordinary surviving snapshot of the costs facing families moving into the new homes around Smallshaw — when a three-bedroom house could be advertised for £365, £375 or £425, and every shilling of the mortgage, rates and Chief Rent was carefully set out for the prospective buyer.
