The name was originally that of a field, now occupied by Petten Close. Later some Victorian cottages were also named Ramsden. By the time the estate was begun it had become the name of the whole area. Brow Crescent, at the northern end of the estate, was part of an early phase of development, built about 1956. Development further south continued into the 1960s

Following the Second World War, increased demand for public housing resulted in development, from around 1952, of the Ramsden Estate to the east of the by-pass.