The decision to build the Atomic Energy Establishment on what had been the RAF station at Harwell created a housing problem.
From 1946 onwards a large and ever growing number of families from all parts of the UK arrived in this area as a result of gaining employment with the UKAEA at Harwell. Housing was required and initially the RAF housing at Harwell was used.
The the Aldfield Farm and Chilton estates were built in 1947 by the Ministry of Works. Further estates were planned at the nearby towns of Didcot, Abingdon and Wantage.
A Wantage, the Ministry of Supply bought what remained of the Charlton House Estate to the east of the town. The original house was situation behind the present Wantage Hospital, with grounds extending to 43 acres. William Price was the first owner and Henry Denis De Vitre bought the house and estate in 1873, but it fell vacant after his death and sadly the house itself was destroyed by fire in 1929.
The housing estates were built in 1949-50 with at Wantage 242 houses being built at the Charlton House Estate, with another 74 houses following.
The first ones to be built here were at what was termed the "Harcourt Housing site" (present day Harcourt Way and Harcourt Road). The main contractor for this work being Messrs Lavender and McMillan who also built the Fitzharry's estate in Abingdon.
All new tenants were issues with a housing handbook, which are a mine of information on the local area and instructions on how to look after your new home, covering everything from maintaining your draining board to road safety. The names of the individual roads on the development are taken from the local villages and area of what was Berkshire at the time.
The main contractor for building work for the Ministry was WE Chivers Ltd of Devizes in Wilshire, who were to be on site at Harwell almost continuously for 40 years.
To accommodate the building, workers' labour camps were set up at disused airfields at Grove and Kingston Bagpuize and a staff camp at Chilton adjacent to the Harwell airfield.
The number of men at Kingston Bagpuize was 300, whilst at Grove approximately 2,000 were in residence at the peak.
The area of this camp is now where Williams is today.
Many of the workmen came from far afield, especially Ireland, Scotland and the north-west.
A Catholic chapel was built by a group of Irish workers mainly from County Sligo. The number of occupants at Grove Camp brought many problems and a number of illegal residents were evicted. A Camp Warden Mr Phillips, an ex-HM Prisons officer, was appointed to run the camp on a sound basis. He, in turn, appointed his own committee and the nucleus of which became known, off the record, as The Hammer Gang. It was a question of enforcing discipline by force and by harsh methods, which would not be tolerated today. The activities of Mr Phillips and the Hammer Gang became known to the Ministry and steps were taken to apprehend them. However, on the particular day, the gang escaped, boarding a train at Wantage Road, and were never heard of again.
