The humble British bungalow is back and back in style.

The term originated in India, deriving from the Gujarati bangalo, meaning “Bengali”, and was used as a description for a “house in the Bengal style”.

Such houses were traditionally small, single storey homes with a wide veranda, and were given to our travelling sailors throughout India during our colonial reign.

The late Joe McCaul, however, believed it originated in Leigh immediately after the war.

A site was almost finished except for a single detached house which had only enough bricks to take it to chamber height.

Joe’s response to the problem was to tell the brickies to “bung a low roof on it,” hence the name bungalow for single storied houses. Introduced in Britain in about 1696, the British took the property to their hearts and never looked back. Once the reserve of the elite and rich, used as country getaways, they were soon popularised by the common man and spread throughout Britain.

The reason for its popularity was simple – it made living life easy. By spreading the living space over one floor it enabled people to move freely throughout the property.

Its popularity remained up to the early 1990s, when, through rising house prices and under-supply of land, people were forced to build upwards rather than outwards to get the space they needed. All that stops now as there has been a spate of interest in the area from developers looking to build or having started building bungalows again.

“We have always known of Britain’s love for bungalows, but over the past couple of decades because of the increase in house prices land became a premium and it was no longer viable to build them,” said Tony McCaul from McCaul Developments McCaul Developments have been building in the Leigh area for more than 50 years, and last built bungalows in 1996, something they are keen to redress.

Mr McCaul added: “We have just finished the construction of a single detached bungalow at our site in Green Lane in Leigh, which will open to the public this weekend, and we are working up plans in Astley to do a mixed residential scheme with four detached bungalows.”

It doesn’t stop there. Redwater Developments, a housebuilder in Astley, has just had an application approved in Tyldesley to redevelop the former Kingshill School on Elliott Street into 12 detached and semi-detached bungalows.

“We have been working closely with the council for some time,” said Stephen Williams from Redwater Developments.

“We are looking to release full details of the scheme in November to the public and will have the showhouse ready for viewings in April next year.”

Unlike some of the more traditional bungalows that often spring to mind, both developers point out that the properties are contemporary and fitted with all the mod cons we are accustomed to.

“As with all our houses we always look to have a modern contemporary feel. Gone are the days of the dado rail and stained glass windows,” said Sean McCaul from McCaul Developments.

“Today’s buyers are very discriminating regarding new designs.”

For more information on the Bungalow for sale at The Village, Green Lane, Leigh, contact McCaul Developments on 01942 877600 or go online at mccauls.co.uk.