Episode 1

Available for 29 days

An infamous wall separated the residents of one European city for 25 years. No, not that one. The city was Oxford. In the 1930s, two housing estates were built side by side in North Oxford. One was an estate of white rendered semis built by a private developer. The other, a red brick council estate. But when the private developer – a man called Clive Saxton – discovered that “slum housing” residents were being moved into the red brick council houses, he became concerned that middle class tenants would be put off moving into his new houses. So do you know what Clive did? He built two eight-foot-high walls, topped with revolving spikes, right across both main access roads to the council estate – to keep everyone on the council estate out. For 25 years, the residents of Cutteslowe estate had to walk the best part of a mile to get around the walls. Nearly seventy years after the walls fell, Radio 4 producer Polly Weston stumbles upon Cutteslowe. At the community centre on the old council estate side of the wall, a queue of people wait for a hot meal and their turn to do the weekly shop in the community larder. A woman is translating for all the Ukrainian refugees in the line. “We are a very small pocket of deprivation surrounded by immense wealth,” says Steph, the manager of the Community Centre. Oxford is one of the most unequal places in the country, and Cutteslowe, one of the most unequal in Oxford. St George’s flags fly on the Cutteslowe roundabout. At a time when people often talk about division in Britain today – what happened in the shadow of the Cutteslowe Walls? Produced and Presented by Polly Weston in Bristol Editor: Chris Ledgard Theme music is "Cutteslowe Walls" by Thea Gilmore Archive recorded in 2004 by Mark Whitaker of Square Dog Media for Radio 4's The Battle of Cutteslowe Image used courtesy of ‘Oxfordshire County Council – Oxfordshire History Centre’ With thanks to Stephanie Jankovic and Cutteslowe Community Centre, Rev Tom Murray of Cutteslowe Connected Church, and everyone at the Cutteslowe Community Larder.