Model Villages - Villages in The British Isles

Villages in The British Isles

Model villages were created in the United Kingdom by some of the first industrialists. Eighteenth-century industrialists such as Arkwright and Wedgwood built housing for their workers, but fully developed settlements are more typical of the nineteenth century and continue into the twentieth. Most on the news recently has been Poundbury, a model village in rural Dorset guided by the Prince of Wales.

Model villages were built by philanthropist industrialists such as Titus Salt and George Cadbury to house their workers and provide social amenities. Architects associated with the movement include the designer of Woodlands Model Village and Creswell Model Village, Percy B. Houfton. They were influential in the development of the garden city movement.

There were often significant restrictions for living in model villages, often depending on the particular views of the builder. For example, Bournville model village had no pubs, because Cadbury abjured alcohol. And because they tended to be quite a distance from work, transportation also became an issue—perhaps the first time in history that commuting became significant (though it was not called that).

There are also some agricultural villages which can be seen as model villages. English examples are seen when a medieval settlement has been rebuilt by a rural landowner, as at Edensor (on the Chatsworth estate), Milton Abbas and Selworthy.