Mill Close area

image from the 1957OS to come

This area between Upton Mill / Upton Park and Upton Lodge / Dorin Park / Government House was mainly War Dept / MOD land by the post-war period.

The six Mill Close houses are understood to have been built by the MOD in the 1950s and used to house army officers. By the 1970s they were abandoned derelict and being vandalised and squatted. In the early 1980s the MOD made these houses available initially to serving personel and then on the open market. Bought in 1983 each new owners renovated their property and today the area has lost its links with its military past.

Old Mill Court was developed in the 1970s and by the late 1970s the Council who now owned some of the former MOD land decided to build Deans Close (named after the Dean family of Upton Mill) as Council property. In 1881 they built eight flats with the four ground floor flats intended for those unable to climb stairs. Most of the flats are now under the control of the Housing Trust as sheltered accommodation with warden visits.