INVISIBLE WALL: Old wounds reopened as 'class war' re-emerges in Oxford

Graffiti has been scrawled this week at the exact spot where a wall once stood in Cutteslowe to separate middle class and working class homes in the 1930s.

Almost 60 years since it was torn down, the words 'Class War' were spray-painted on a road where the newly-laid surface stopped – the very point the former council estate began.

Residents have claimed the mystery vandal struck directly in response to resurfacing works which have spruced up one end of the road but neglected the other.

Naomi Langlais, a resident of Aldrich Road, which joins Wentworth Road at the site where the wall was built, said: "It was around April or May time that they decided the 'middle class' side deserved to be resurfaced.

"So we waited patiently for our end to be resurfaced too and thought it was just taking time as they had run out of money or something.

"But we soon realised it was just the one end they were doing, apparently we should put up with pot holes and uneven surfacing."

Ms Langlais put the latest graffiti down to what she called the differing treatment from the council highways team and said the 'class war' has been a long-running joke in the street among residents.

The road, which runs through the Sunnymead area of Cutteslowe, has remains as two separately-named streets since the wall was built in 1934 by a private housing developer.

Some of Oxford's oldest residents can still remember the two 9ft high walls, topped with spikes, built to cut off the roads linking the then-council estate to the private development.

Find out the history of the Cutteslowe Walls here

The erection of the walls proved hugely contentious and started a long battle with the city council, which then tried multiple times to bring the walls down.

A plaque now sits on the house which neighboured the wall – the exact same spot the latest road resurfacing stopped.

Ms Langlais said: "We have not moved on at all: now we have a visual divide but much less obvious one."

The mum-of-four added: "It is just so weird it stops at the exact spot that used to occupy the wall, half way down the road.

"The resurfacing is desperately needed on our end as well. It does make you feel second class and it is no longer a council estate, people have paid a lot of money for houses this end."

Ms Langlais, a care assistant, said when she first noticed the graffiti she laughed out loud because it has been an ongoing joke among residents.

However she also admitted that, despite the wall coming down in 1959 and houses becoming private on both sides, the area was still somewhat divided.

One example was Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding when residents held street parties and, though all households were invited, the festivities stopped at the old dividing line.

Oxford City Council said the only reason that its services company only resurfaced one side of the divide was that the two streets – Wentworth and Aldrich – are still classed as separate roads.

Spokesman Tony Ecclestone said: "Oxford Direct Services resurfaced Wentworth Road earlier this year. The decision to resurface this road was purely based on need.

"The structural condition was far worst in Wentworth Road and this led to the decision to resurface this road first."

He added: "Wentworth and Aldrich are different roads and the need to resurface Wentworth was greater.

"Oxford Direct Services will be inspecting Aldrich Road to assess the need for pothole repair."