A pair of attached bungalows, built in 1951 as part of the celebrations for the Festival of Britain. The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair, designed to celebrate the achievements of Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War, and to promote British science, technology, design and the arts. The Festival reached millions of visitors throughout the country, via its centerpiece exhibition in London coupled with local events across the UK. Planning for the events began in 1949, when the Festival of Britain Council asked that ‘every town and village will share in the Festival by contributing its own individual festivities’. Many local authorities contributed with a wide variety of responses, including tree-planting, the creation of playing fields, erection of village signs, bus shelters or renaming of streets. The Gainsborough Rural District Commission (GRDC) proposed a different contribution, with the construction of new social housing in their area. The GRDC had originally planned to build six pairs of bungalows in six parishes, all to be occupied by ‘aged people’. Site selection began in 1946, driven by an earlier Ministry of Health request for these properties, with a ‘south or west aspect to a road and within a village community’. Whilst nine sites were originally considered, and six were taken forward, only five pairs of bungalows were actually built, with these being located in Sturton by Stow, Lea, Blyton, Kexby and Glentworth. The Festival bungalows were all built to the same rectangular plan, being constructed of red brick with pitched slate roofs. Each pair displays a plaque showing the Festival Star, a graphic symbol designed by Abram Games to promote the Festival of Britain. The bungalows at 7 and 9 Fleets Road, Sturton by Stow are known to have been built by Herbert Dorrington & Sons of Gainsborough, at a cost of £2,449.1s.4d. It is thought likely that the other Festival bungalows were also built by this company, at a similar price. {1}