DOI issue:
No. 49 (April, 1897)
DOI article:Morris, G. L.: Evolution of village architecture in England
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18388#0187
Evolution of Village Architecture
was the mediaeval philosopher of the road. Corre-
sponding to this intellectual advance was the gradual
alteration of the framework of society. The simple
life of the village gave way to the more complex life of
the town, as .the growth of merchant and craft guilds
increased their size and importance. This, in its turn,
has been dominated by the present system of capi-
talist production which, in process of time, will, no
doubt, be overtaken by other forms of social life.
From this time onward, during the growth of
modern industry, endeavours have been made to ad-
just the life of our time to the new methods of pro-
duction. The most important attempt was that made
by Robert Owen, some time after the passing of the
first or second Factory Act, suggested by his pre-
vious experiments at New Lanark. He failed, but
his endeavours are now bearing fruit in the growth
of those villages which are the outcome of modern
industrial life. Briefly, his scheme was " the settling
of twelve hundred persons on spaces of land, all
living in one building in the form of a square, with
public kitchen and mess-room, each family to have
its own apartments, and the care of the children
until the age of three, after which they should be
brought up by the community, their parents having
access to them at mealtimes; these communities
to be established by parishes, counties, private
individuals, the State," or by the county councils.
The steady and gradual absorption of the smaller
industries into the larger, and the continuous exodus
of the rural population into the manufacturing dis-
tricts, made a consideration necessary of the best
means for housing the increasing population of the
towns, augmented by this draining of the rural
districts. P. Anderson Graham writing on the
rural exodus, says that " the exodus is no passing
and ephemeral phase of our social life, but a
strong movement gathering as it grows, must be
taken as a hard fact, and no mere observer's
opinion." To meet this, the erection of "model
industrial dwellings" was begun—rookeries in
unsavoury districts were cleared away; and the new
buildings erected to take the place of the hovels,
designated homes, have had the effect of vastly im-
proving the manners and morals of the various
neighbourhoods. There seems, however, no reason
for supposing that these later dwellings are a satis-
factory solution of the housing problem; the lack of
open spaces, of sufficient area to be beneficial, the
doubtful purposes to which the staircases are some-
times put, the inadequate supervision, with the
dreary, barrack-like exteriors and interiors that do
CONVALESCENT HOME AT LEIGH
ERNEST GEORGE AND PETO ARCHITECTS
(From a Photograph by S. H. Anderdown)
179
was the mediaeval philosopher of the road. Corre-
sponding to this intellectual advance was the gradual
alteration of the framework of society. The simple
life of the village gave way to the more complex life of
the town, as .the growth of merchant and craft guilds
increased their size and importance. This, in its turn,
has been dominated by the present system of capi-
talist production which, in process of time, will, no
doubt, be overtaken by other forms of social life.
From this time onward, during the growth of
modern industry, endeavours have been made to ad-
just the life of our time to the new methods of pro-
duction. The most important attempt was that made
by Robert Owen, some time after the passing of the
first or second Factory Act, suggested by his pre-
vious experiments at New Lanark. He failed, but
his endeavours are now bearing fruit in the growth
of those villages which are the outcome of modern
industrial life. Briefly, his scheme was " the settling
of twelve hundred persons on spaces of land, all
living in one building in the form of a square, with
public kitchen and mess-room, each family to have
its own apartments, and the care of the children
until the age of three, after which they should be
brought up by the community, their parents having
access to them at mealtimes; these communities
to be established by parishes, counties, private
individuals, the State," or by the county councils.
The steady and gradual absorption of the smaller
industries into the larger, and the continuous exodus
of the rural population into the manufacturing dis-
tricts, made a consideration necessary of the best
means for housing the increasing population of the
towns, augmented by this draining of the rural
districts. P. Anderson Graham writing on the
rural exodus, says that " the exodus is no passing
and ephemeral phase of our social life, but a
strong movement gathering as it grows, must be
taken as a hard fact, and no mere observer's
opinion." To meet this, the erection of "model
industrial dwellings" was begun—rookeries in
unsavoury districts were cleared away; and the new
buildings erected to take the place of the hovels,
designated homes, have had the effect of vastly im-
proving the manners and morals of the various
neighbourhoods. There seems, however, no reason
for supposing that these later dwellings are a satis-
factory solution of the housing problem; the lack of
open spaces, of sufficient area to be beneficial, the
doubtful purposes to which the staircases are some-
times put, the inadequate supervision, with the
dreary, barrack-like exteriors and interiors that do
CONVALESCENT HOME AT LEIGH
ERNEST GEORGE AND PETO ARCHITECTS
(From a Photograph by S. H. Anderdown)
179