About Villages of Vision
The intention is that these images should form a visual companion to Gillian Darley’s celebrated book on the subject of planned villages in Britain and Ireland, Villages of Vision (A Study of Strange Utopias). There’s a 50 page Gazeteer that lists more than 400 villages of which any photographs would be very welcome.
Examples of these planned settlements can be found in almost every county. Some were the result of charitable or humanitarian impulses and others were the result of transplanting a community to suit the convenience of the landowner. Places like New Lanark, Port Sunlight and Bournville were philanthropic schemes on the part of enlightened industrialists to provide decent accommodation for the workforce. Many of these schemes are architecturally distinctive and have an almost theatrical quality due to the absence of organic growth patterns typical of more conventional villages.
Extravagant and idiosyncratic styles can be found in examples such as Blaise Hamlet (near Bristol, built 1810) and Holly Village (in Highgate, built 1865) where the fashion for the Picturesque ran to extremes. Elsewhere there were models of restraint in the simple vernacular styling of Milton Abbas (Dorset, built 1773 – 1786) and the tasteful Arts and Crafts housing at Bedford Park (Chiswick, built from 1877). Politics and religion inspired some of the more Utopian examples with Quakers and Chartists being especially active.
So please submit any images of these unique villages and help to develop a visual archive to accompany Gillian Darley’s fascinating book.
|
Additional Information
 This is a public group.
- Accepted media types:
- Accepted content types:
- Photos
- Screenshots
- Illustration/Art
- Accepted safety levels:
|
Feed – Subscribe to Villages of Vision discussion threads