Housing development in The Meadows began in the late 1870s. From that time on until the major redevelopments of the 1970s, the housing stock was typical of many Victorian industrial towns with several different styles, reflecting the social make-up of the people who lived there, including: large bay fronted houses with their own gardens(e.g. Queen’s Walk); smaller bay-fronted terraces with their own back yards (e.g. Stanley Terrace) to very small terraced houses some that were back-to-back and most of whom shared outside facilities, including toilets with their neighbours (e.g. Launder Street).
In the 1970s and 1980s much of that housing was demolished, although small pockets of the Old Meadows still exit.
The later housing stock is typical of the 1970s local authority style – and includes houses and flats, many of which have their own outside space.