Well into the twentieth century official records still refer to Houghton Drayton and north Houghton.  The two villages only officially became Houghton at sometime after the Second World War.  Residents of Houghton and visitors to the village still enjoy the beauty, peace and tranquillity of this exceptionally beautiful river valley and many of the elements of the village are unchanged.  The Ordnance Survey map of 1909 shows that there have been very few, minor changes during the twentieth century.  Most if not all of the houses shown on the 1909 map still survive. For the most part developments in the twentieth century were not really visible from the village road  just a few developments on infill plots and three small estates (Steven’s Drove, Chapel Close and, in 1999, Alexander Close).

 

The really dramatic changes in the twentieth century have been in the villagers themselves in their levels of education, their aspirations and in their occupations.  In 1900 Houghton had only the most rudimentary commercial establishments to meet its day-to-day needs and virtually no occupants engaged in anything other than agriculture, service and shopkeeping. The first motor car was purchased by a local doctor in 1905 and mains electricity did not come to the village until 1934. Mains water did not arrive until 1966.