A couple of little known factoids about Kenton Bar Estate
- Factoid 1: When Kenton Bar Estate was built each and every house was wired with the latest in TV to the home technology. Each home was served with a Redifusion TV feed which meant that TV sets were connected directly to the wall outlet and the channels were changed by a rotary switch mounted on the wall. This meant that no one on the estate needed (or indeed was allowed) to mount an external aerial. This mean clean roof lines and an all round better look to the buildings.
- Factoid 2: All the cabling for this system and the telephone cables throughout the estate were made of aluminum, which seemed like a good idea at the time. However as aluminum ages it becomes brittle and this caused the TV and phone cables to be frequently broken or noisy.
Nowadays the Redifusion system is no more and I suppose everyone has cellphones, iPhones, VOIP or whatever - Star Trek Communicators?
I remember living in the bungalows and my mam and dad had to 'share' a line with complete strangers...remember that? You would pick the phone up to dial(using those revolving disc numbered finger slots and find your 'partner' was already on the phone, so you had to put the phone down again(if you were a sensible cub scout like me) or eavesdrop(if you were a horrible hooligan from down the bottom)...hmmm.......
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, I have added a link in Wikipedia.
ReplyDeletesurrender_monkey - where is the link? Please post it.
ReplyDeleteHe had done it on the Wikipedia Kenton bar page but some sort of linkbot has come along and removed it.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kenton_Bar&diff=353013872&oldid=322040360
Yeah - wikipedia ia shite innit?
ReplyDelete"Redifusion also offered a low-bandwidth cable TV and radio distribution system. This was based on connecting homes with multiple twisted-pair cables. Each twisted-pair carried a single TV or radio channel. Selection of TV or radio station was by means of a rotary switch, usually mounted on a wall or window frame close to the point of entry of the cable into the home. From this a two-wire cable led to the TV or radio. The TVs used on this system were stripped-down TV sets with no tuner or RF front-end and the radios were modified speakers with no RF section. Rediffusion abandoned this system of TV and radio distribution some time in the 1970s or early 1980s."
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated-Rediffusion
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ReplyDeletethe estate was built as a private estate to house new city workers and expanding airport, but building firm ran into financial problems and sold development to the council, kbab
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ReplyDeleteI lived on the very top street on Kenton Bar,Hazeldean Ave,In the summer I would sit on the roof and watch the planes landing at the airport,It was some view from up there.HAPPY DAYS....
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ReplyDeleteCan anyone remember the maps of the estate which were dotted around the estate there was one at the end of my street Hazeldene Ave,just as you came into the estate via Kenton lane....But can anyone tell me how many of them there were??????????
Great blog, I have added a link in Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteI reckon there were 6 in total
ReplyDelete6 maps that is
ReplyDeleteWhen the shops were first opened Redifusion had one of the shops if my memory is correct? The one second from end next door to the offy
ReplyDeleteI don't remember that about a Rediffusion shop. Goldfinch Wines, North Kenton News, Bendix Launderette, Fine Fare, the shop next to the Offy was the last to be taken for the sewing shop or such.
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