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Amodel village is a mostly self-containedcommunity, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners andbusiness magnates to house their workers. "Model" implies an ideal to which other developments could aspire. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally physically separated from them and often consist of relatively high-qualityhousing, with integrated community amenities and attractive physical environments.
According to Jeremy Burchardt, the term model village was first used by theVictorians to describe the new settlements created on the rural estates of thelanded gentry in the eighteenth century. As landowners sought to improve their estates for aesthetic reasons, new landscapes were created and the cottages of the poor were demolished and rebuilt out of sight of theircountry house vistas.[1] However, according to theOxford English Dictionary (2024), the first use of the term model village is post-Victorian, dating to 1906.
Starting in the 18th century, new villages were created atNuneham Courtenay when the village was rebuilt as plain brick dwellings either side of the main road, atMilton Abbas the village was moved and rebuilt in a rustic style andBlaise Hamlet in Bristol had individually designed buildings, some with thatched roofs.[2]
TheSwing Riots of 1830 highlighted poor housing in the countryside, ill health and immorality and landowners had a responsibility to provide cottages with basic sanitation. The best landlords provided accommodation but many adopted a paternalistic attitude when they built model dwellings and imposed their own standards on the tenants charging low rents but paying low wages.[3]
As theIndustrial Revolution took hold, industrialists who built factories in rural locations provided housing for workers clustered around the workplace. An early example of an industrial model village wasNew Lanark built byDavid Dale.[4] Philanthropic coal owners provided decent accommodation for miners from the early nineteenth century.Earl Fitzwilliam, a paternalistic colliery owner provided houses near his coal pits inElsecar near Barnsley that were "...of a class superior in size and arrangement, and in conveniences attached, to those of working classes."[5] They had four rooms and a pantry, and outside a small garden and pig sty.[6]
Others were established byEdward Akroyd atCopley between 1849 and 1853 andAkroydon 1861-63. Akroyd employedGeorge Gilbert Scott.Titus Salt built a model village atSaltaire.[7]Henry Ripley, owner of Bowling Dyeworks, began construction ofRipley Ville in Bradford in 1866.[8] Industrial communities were established atPrice's Village[9] byPrice's Patent Candle Company and atAintree byHartley's, who made jam, in 1888.[10]William Lever'sPort Sunlight had a village green and its houses espoused an idealised rural vernacular style.[7]Quaker industrialists,George Cadbury andRowntrees built model villages by their factories. Cadbury builtBournville between 1898 and 1905 and a second phase from 1914 andNew Earswick was built in 1902 for Rowntrees.[11]
As coal mining expanded villages were built to house coal miners. In Yorkshire,Grimethorpe,Goldthorpe,Woodlands,Fitzwilliam andBottom Boat were built to house workers at the collieries. The architect who designed Woodlands andCreswell Model Villages,Percy B. Houfton was influential in the development of thegarden city movement.
In the 1920s,Silver End model village in Essex was built forFrancis Henry Crittall. Its houses were designed in anart deco-style with flat roofs andCrittall windows.[12]
(Chronological order)
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