A NEW housing development in Grampound has been named in honour of women misrepresented in history.

Alice Meadow is a collaboration between Coastline Housing and Orchard Dean Developments, led by a predominantly female team. It was named by Orchard Dean director Dr Caitlin Dean in a bid to spark interest in the human history of the area.

“Our research showed that there were a number of figures with the name Alice in the history of this village,” said Dr Dean. “For example, Alice Christopher was bequeathed a number of tin mines by Thomas Trethurffe in the early 1500s.

“There are also further mentions of the name Alice in reference to wives and daughters of local tin mine owners around the same period in this area. One of these figures had a local estate left to her husband, as women were not usually able to inherit property in those days. 

“It’s been hard to pinpoint any more information than this about these characters, which speaks volumes in itself. I think it notable that none of these Alice figures have their dates of living recorded, and are referred to only as the wives and sisters of men, which highlights exactly why we should now be using their names where appropriate for the areas and communities they lived in.” 

Dr Dean was joined by Situ8 Planning director Angela Warwick, who secured the planning consent for the site; and Coastline Housing’s development manager Jo Harley, who looked after delivery of the project on behalf of the social landlord. All are supporters of the Women in Construction movement.

“It felt like serendipity that we have joined forces to peel back the years with this present-day development and honour women misrepresented in history,” said Angela. “Despite comprising 50 per cent of the population, women still make up only 11 per cent of the construction workforce in the UK.

Alice Meadow offers 36 new homes, including 10 for affordable rent and four for shared ownership (all allocated or sold), with a further four at a discounted sale for people in need of housing, to be marketed soon. The rest are open market homes currently being advertised by Bradleys Estate Agents.