Toxteth Park
Puritan Colony
C1600's
Settlement of puritans from Bolton on the disemparked
royal deer park. 25 farms were laid out on land that had the advantage
of not coming under Church of England jurisdiction. Built the 'Ancient
Chapel' of Toxteth. Remembered in names in the area -Jericho farm, River
Jordan & Holyland.
GRID REF: SJ361884
REF: The History of the Royal & Ancient Park of Toxteth. R. Griffiths.
Shaking
Quakers 1747-74
FOUNDER/LEADER: Jane & James Wardley (or Warlaw)
Group of Quakers influenced by the mystical ideas of the 'French prophets'
or Camisards. Were joined & later lead by 'Mother' Ann Lee. Emigrated
to America where they set up a series of 22 highly successful communal
villages. Known in USA as the Shakers.
GRID REF: Bolton on the Moors
REF: The People Called Shakers.
Dukinfield Moravian
Settlement 1743 - 1779
Started with `choirs' in private houses, reorganised
in 1757 when a house for single brethren was obtained, and houses for
the single brethren and single sisters were built, then enlarged. A
trombone band was formed, a school for girls built in 1760, and another
for boys in 1766. Due to lack of space for expansion the community moved
to Fairfield.
GRID REF: SJ 943972Manchester
REF: Heavens Below.
Fairfield
Moravian Settlement 1779 - Present
Settlement of the Church of the United Brethren, an early
Protestant sect from Moravia, now part of Czech Republic. Houses, communal
'choirs for men & women, workshops and farm. Also chapel, school
and burial ground. Success of the settlements inspired Robert Owen.
Later became known for the quality of their schools.
GRID REF: SJ 895977 Droylsden
REF: Villages of Vision / Heavens Below / www.moravian.org.uk
Fairfield
Moravian Settlement
Quaker farm
colony
C1800s
FOUNDER/LEADER: James Cropper
GRID REF: Nr Warrington
REF: Quakerism & Industry before 1800.
Christian
Israelites1824-30
FOUNDER/LEADER: John Wroe
Headquarters of the Southcottians, or Christian Israelites, under the
leadership of John Wroe. An elaborate sanctuary was built for the sect
and, convinced that Ashton was to become the New Jerusalem, they proceeded
to build four gateways to the town. Wroe lived in a Doric mansion west
of County Bridge on the River Tame. Wroe forced to leave Ashton after
a sex scandal went to set up a community in Wakefield. The site of the
sanctuary was later the Star Theatre - named after the symbol of the
sect. There were Southcottians in Ashton into the 1950s running a co-operative
shop called the Israelite Stores.
GRID REF: SJ 940991
REF: England in Ashton-Under-Lyne. W.M.Bowman. Sherrat & Son. 1960
Chat Moss
C1827-32
Co-operative smallholding scheme on Chat Moss a large
area of drained 'waste' to the west of Manchester.
GRID REF: SJ 702958
REF: William Thompson biog./co-operative msc.May 1830 / Heavens Below.
Additional Information provided by John Langdon
Chat Moss
It has been suggested that a community was formed at Chat Moss in
the early 1830s. No such community was in fact established. However,
one of the men linked with the suggested community, Elijah Dixon, was
later involved with a co-operative farm on the Moss in 1841. This experiment
was begun by the Christian Co-operative Joint Stock Community, a society
established in Manchester in 1840.
Birkacre
1831-33
Co-operative community set up by the Calico Block Printers
Union based at Birkacre Mill, with 54 acres of land, a large house converted
into 'apartments' and 11 acres of reservoirs. They had 150 employees
& 300 members. The site is now a country park.
GRID REF: SD572149 Nr Chorley
REF: Co-operation & Owenite Socialist Communities.
Barrow Bridge
1831
FOUNDER/LEADER:R.Gardiner
Model industrial village built around Dean Mills. Cottages with gas
lighting, running water & a washhouse at the end of every row. An
educational institute was added in 1846. Workplace facilities were well
in advance of those in most other mills and factories. A canteen was
provided along with daily newspapers. Hot water was available all day
for tea and coffee, and hot baths and showers were provided for all.
The factory ovens baked 150 loaves a day for the workers and a Sickness
& Burial Club was organised. Disraeli's novel Coningsby is thought
to be based on Barrowbridge and may have also have inspired Port Sunlight.
GRID REF: SD688115 Bolton
REF Barrow Bridge,Bolton. Deanmills Estate - A Victorian Model Achievement.
D.O'Connor.
Social
Community Company 1832
The Social
Community Company was formed in Manchester in 1832. It aim was to raise
funds for a community, by collecting subscriptions towards £10
shares. Its members were prepared to emigrate should they not succeed
in Britain, and the society sent twenty-three members to Cincinnati
to establish a community in 1834. Its members included many prominent
Manchester co-operators, including Elijah Dixon, who later established
a community at Chat Moss.
REF: Research by John Langdon
Oldham Spinners
Union 1830s
8 acre market garden run by the union for its unemployed
members.
GRID REF: Location Unknown
REF: The Peoples Farm.
Calder Vale/Oakenclough
1835
Model village built by Quaker brothers Richard &
Jonathan Jackson. Terraced houses built around textile mill in wooded
Pennine valley. Also school and village hall.
GRID REF: SD533457
REF: And Sometime Upon the Hills.
Tyldesley
Co-operative Society 1838-40
In 1838 a group from the Tyldesley Co-operative Society began a community
on Chat Moss, west of Manchester. The community lasted until at least
1840, by which time there were eleven members.
GRID REF: SJ 702958
REF: Research by John Langdon
Self-Help Co-operative
Soc. C1838 / 1848 / 1858
A series of attempts by factory workers to set up land
based co-operative schemes - first an allotment scheme run by a group
of young men, then a 'cow co-operative', whereby a cow was bought direct
from a farm , butchered and divided up amongst the group, and finally
under the name of The Self-Help Co-operative Society a few people took
a nine acre farm with 2 cows, half a dozen pigs, ducks & rabbits
and grew wheat & veg, the scheme failed when one of the cows died.
GRID REF: SD892012 Failsworth
REF: The History of Co-operation.
Manchester
Central Committee 1839
The Manchester Central Committee was established in 1839
to aid the Manea Fen community. Its role
was to assist in recruiting members and raising funds. The committee
also published the Social Pioneer periodical to promote and defend Manea
Fen. It severed connections with Manea Fen after the scandal of April
1839.
REF: Research by John Langdon
Bank
Top 1847- 1945
FOUNDER/LEADER: Ashworth Bros.
Basic cottages and detached house built around mill by the Ashworth
Bros. enlightened employers. Library & School provided - 1n 1833
all but 7 out of 532 workers could read. Continued as 'private' village
till WW2.
GRID REF: SD729118 Bolton
REF: A Study of Model Villages: Bank Top, Eagley & Egerton. P.J.Smalley.
Pendle Hill
Chartists 1842
Following a visit to Burnley by Chartist leader Feargus
O'Connor some unemployed went out to Pendle Hill and staked their claims.
GRID REF: SD800414
REF: The History of Burnley.Bennett P292
Egerton
1844
FOUNDER/LEADER: Ashworth Bros.
100 'model' cottages & school built for millworkers.
GRID REF: SD710148 Bolton
REF: A Study of Model Villages: Bank Top,Eagley & Egerton. P.J.Smalley.
Birkdale Park
1848 - 1912
Exclusive seaside suburb developed for the Merseyside
'nouveax riche' by the Birkdale Park Land Co. Private schools became
something of a local cottage industry. Working class banished to beyond
railway line.Described in retrospect, and somewhat misleadingl,y as
a garden suburb,
GRID REF: SD321157 Southport
REF: New Birkdale - The Growth of a Lancashire Seaside Suburb. H.Foster.
Eagley Village
1850-1932
FOUNDER/LEADER:James Chadwick
Cottages, school, library, reading room, park, bowling green and cricket
field built by James Chadwick & Bros Ltd.
GRID REF: SD717141 Bolton
REF: A Study of Model Villages:
Oldham Freehold
Land Soc. C1850-55
52 acre 'Votingham' estate divided into 363 plots. 109
houses were built.
GRID REF: Location unknown
REF: Land Reform & working class experience in Britain and the US
1800/1862. J.L.Bernstein. .Stanford UP 1999.
Freehold Park
1852 -
38 acre 'Votingham' estate promoted by local Liberals
to the east of Lancaster consisting of Ullswater, Grasmere, Windermere,
Rydal, Dalton & Borrowdale Rds. Plots were just big enough for freeholders
to qualify for the vote. Development of the estate was sporadic resulting
in a variety of stone terraces all with large gardens.
GRID REF: SD485616 Lancaster
REF: The Story of Freehold. Centre for NW Regional Studies. Bulletin
4 1990.
Dalton Hall
'community' 1876 - 1957
Hall of residence for students of Owens College set up
by Manchester Friends. Held up as a pioneer example of student accommodation.
Linked to the University Settlement Movement.
GRID REF: Manchester
REF: Dalton Hall
Mulberry
Cottage 1884 - 1901
A small community of members of Ruskin's Guild of St
George tregularly at Mulberry Cottage-a cottage with a walled garden
in Wavertree-from 1884 to 1901. Five families from this community moved
to a group of smallholdings owned by the Guild in the Wyre Forest near
Bewdley.
GRID REF: Wavertree
REF: Ruskin and Bewdley (1989): Peter Wardle and Cedric Quayle.
Blackburn Brotherhood
1899
Group of about ten Tolstoyan christian anarchists who
ran an electrical repair business on `non-commercial' lines.
They tried to live their lives based on the teachings of the Sermon
on the Mount. Connected with the Brotherhood workshop in Leeds.
GRID REF: 35, Victoria St. Blackburn
REF: Slow Burning Fuse / A History of the Brotherhood Church. A.G.Higgins
Daisy Colony
C1902
Land colony at Poulton-le-Fylde set up by Bolton socialist
Allan Clark.
GRID REF: Location unknown
REF: Getting Back to the Land: The Daisy Colony Experiment. P.Salveson.
- In Labour's Turning Point in the North West 1880-1914.NW Labour History
Soc. 1984
Vickerstown
1901- 4
'Marine' garden village built by Vickers Shipbuilders
on Walney Island for their workers. 900 houses with shops, churches,
institute, public house and school modelled on Port Sunlight.
GRID REF: SD182688 Barrow in Furness
REF: Villages of Vision
Blackley Estate
1902
Manchester Corporation estate built on Bournville
/ Port Sunlight lines consisting of 150 houses, co-op store and
shops run from houses, 13 acres open space & 30 acres of smallholdings
GRID REF: SD855036
REF: British Town Planning the Formative Years. Leics UP 1981.
Victoria Settlement
C1905
Womens University Settlement.
GRID REF: 322 Netherfield Rd Liverpool
REF: Listed in Labour Annual 1905
Lancs. College
Settlement C1905
Womens University Settlement.
GRID REF: Embden Rd Hulme Mancs.
REF: Listed in Labour Annual 1905
Hollins Green
1906-13
156 house early garden suburb. Ebenezer Howard came to
opening in1909.
GRID REF: SD921027 Oldham
REF: Villages of Vision
Burnage
Garden Village 1906-10
136 houses built by Manchester Tenants Ltd as a Co-partnership
housing scheme. Designed by J.Horner Hargreaves. Built around recreation
area and 'Pavilion.
GRID REF: SJ 869923
REF: Villages of Vision
Broad Green
Garden Suburb C1906
Garden Village development
GRID REF: Liverpool
REF: Heavens Below
Cleveleys
C1906
Seaside Garden Village development.
GRID REF: SD317431
REF: Lancaster Library
Alkrington Garden
Village
Garden Village development.
GRID REF: SD872041Manchester
REF: A.Taylor
Townley Smallholdings
1909 - 70?
Early land settlement scheme set up by local council
for the unemployed known as Townley smallholdings. After WW1 extended
to include returning servicemen. Wound up in the early 1970s. Two plant
nurseries remain the rest has become part of local park.
GRID REF: SD 865315 Burnley
REF: Heavens Below
Ravenhead Garden
Suburb 1909 - 1915
Development by Pilkington Bros Glass works SW of companys
headquarters. Original plans were extensive covering 45 acres inc: 500
'cottages' shops and recreation area. Only a small part of the plan
was built.
GRID REF: St Helens
REF:Pilkington Bros Garden Village Ventures.
Chorltonville
Garden Suburb 1911
Thirty-six acre garden suburb scheme built by private
developers. "....This
village is another attempt to solve the housing problem of a great city,
and the effect of the winding streets, with their broad grass verges,
and the broken outline of the villas, with their prominent black and
white gables and expansive bay windows is very pleasing. Light, sunshine,
and fresh air have been the main considerations in the erection of the
houses."-Manchester Evening Chronicle,
Oct. 7, 1911.
GRID REF: South of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
REF: http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/cba/chorltonville/opening.htm
Fairfield Tenants
Ltd 1912
Garden suburb scheme that grew out of successful allotment
project on land owned by the Moravian settlement. In 1912 a group of
local men made an approach to the Moravians to develop 22acres of land
next to the settlement.
GRID REF: SJ895977
REF: British Town Planning the Formative Years. Leics UP 1981.
Eccleston Hall
Garden Village 1919-20
A Pilkington Glass development that superceded the scheme
at Ravenhead. Advised by Prof Abercrombie plans were drawn up for "a
scheme to rival Port Sunlight" covering some 700 acres. Rising
costs meant that the scheme was never carried out in full.
GRID REF: St Helens
REF: Pilkington Bros Garden Village Ventures.
The
Childrens Garden Village 1920
The Boys and Girls Welfare Society purchased
the Belmont Estate in Cheadle, and created
'The Childrens Garden Village'. Two houses Crossley Gaddum and
Hayes Shaw were built in 1923 and 1925 respectively, as homes for orphaned
and destitute children.
GRID REF: Cheadle, Manchester
REF: http://www.bgws.org.uk/history/two.htm
Wythenshaw
C1930's
Large Garden Suburb development built by Manchester City
Council. Clear example of evolution of Garden Suburbs into council estate.
Lack of community facilities resulted in 'centre' being tacked on later.
GRID REF: SJ 825867 Manchester
REF: A History of Welwyn Garden City. Roger Filler. Phillimore &Co
Fazakerly New
Hall 1930s?
Self-sufficient colony built by Poor Law Guardians. Cottages
and central dining hall.
GRID REF: SJ365965 Liverpool
REF: Villages of Vision
Wigan &
District Subsistence Production Society 1934-39
Smallholding scheme for the unemployed sponsored by a
group of Quakers. Originally based on 12 acres at Lawns Farm, UpHolland
where 40-50 men worked on a smallholding whilst still living in their
own homes. Cobblers, tailors and joiners workshops
were set up. The men could take home produce from the scheme equal to
the time they put in, without it affecting their dole. The scheme was
later expanded taking in 300 acres of dairy farm at Parbold Hall, 18
acres at Billinge, 54 acres of poultry, pigs & greenhouses at Stephens
Farm, Pemberton, and 60 acres at Ashfield House, Standish, where along
with a bakery were joiners, tailors, butchers, jam-makers
and bacon-curing workshops. The scheme was made redundant by the onset
of WW2.
GRID REF: SD512106/SD571095/ SD508039
REF: Heavens Below / Lancashire History Qtrly Vol 2, No 4. Dec98
The Stone Bower
Fellowship C1939
FOUNDER/LEADER: Fred Hellowell
Peace Pledge Union sponsored communal scheme for elderly WW2 evacuees
supported by Canadian Red Cross and Mennonites at Stone Bower House,
Burton in Lonsdale. After the war became independent old peoples home,
becoming a housing society in 1949 and moving to the Cove, Silverdale
in 1950. Merged with large housing association in 1995.
GRID REF: SD464750
REF: The Stone Bower Fellowship. R.Douglas Young
Yealand Manor
C1939
Experiment in communal living for evacuated children
set up by the Manchester Friends monthly meeting. Up to 50 children
lived together in 'an atmosphere of service, love & peace.'
GRID REF: Location unknown
REF: Pacifism in Lancashire. Pat Starky