The Market Estate is a public housing estate consisting of 271 flats and maisonettes.
Three of the six blocks that make up the estate are named after breeds of animal that were traded in the market: Tamworth (pigs), Kerry (cows) and Southdown (sheep). The remaining three blocks are called the Clock tower blocks after the market’s clock tower (which still stands) in Caledonian Park. This clock was used as a prototype for the mechanism of Big Ben.
The estate was built by the Greater London Council who had purchased the site from the Corporation of London. It was completed in 1967 to a design by architects Farber & Bartholomew. The estate became run down, neglected and plagued by anti-social behaviour.
Walkways connecting the blocks were mainly removed in the 1990s when gardens were created for most ground floor flats.
Following the death of a young boy on the estate, Christopher Pullen, residents set up the Market Estate Tenants and Residents Association (METRA), demanding that the estate’s fundamental problems be resolved. Following years of discussions, it was agreed that the estate needed complete redevelopment.
Under an agreement the whole estate was demolished and replaced by a mixture of houses and small blocks of modern low rise flats, built on a traditional street pattern to a Watkins Gray masterplan. Existing secure tenants were guaranteed a new home on the new development if they wanted to.
Work on the new homes started in early 2005 and significant improvements were made to Caledonian Park. The remaining residents moved out of the old Market Estate blocks in February 2010.
