A model village is a mostly self-contained

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and

business magnate A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

s to house their workers. "

Model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

" 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-quality

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

, with integrated community amenities and attractive physical environments.

Great Britain and Ireland

According to Jeremy Burchardt, the term model village was first used by the Victorians to describe the new settlements created on the rural estates of the

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the gentry (sometimes collectively known as the squirearchy), is a largely historical Irish and British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. It is t ...

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 their

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

vistas. However, according to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' (2024), the first use of the term model village is post-Victorian, dating to 1906. Starting in the 18th century, new villages were created at

Nuneham Courtenay Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about SSE of Oxford. It occupies several miles close to the east bank of the River Thames. Geography The parish is bounded to the west by the River Thames and on other sides by field boundaries. ...

when the village was rebuilt as plain brick dwellings either side of the main road, at

Milton Abbas Milton Abbas is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, lying around southwest of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had a population of 755. This planned community was built after the old Town was demolished in the 1 ...

the village was moved and rebuilt in a rustic style and Blaise Hamlet in Bristol had individually designed buildings, some with thatched roofs. The

Swing Riots The Swing Riots were a widespread uprising in 1830 by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England in protest of agricultural mechanisation and harsh working conditions. The riots began with the destruction of threshing machines in the ...

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. As the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

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 was

New Lanark New Lanark is a village on the River Clyde, approximately from Lanark, in Lanarkshire, and some southeast of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1785 and opened in 1786 by David Dale, who built cotton mills and housing for the mill workers. D ...

built by

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement, co-operative movement. He strove to ...

. 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 in

Elsecar Elsecar (, ) is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is near to Jump, South Yorkshire, Jump and Wentworth, South Yorkshire, Wentworth, it is also south of Hoyland, south of Barnsley and north-east ...

near Barnsley that were "...of a class superior in size and arrangement, and in conveniences attached, to those of working classes." They had four rooms and a pantry, and outside a small garden and pig sty. Others were established by Edward Akroyd at Copley between 1849 and 1853 and Akroydon 1861-63. Akroyd employed

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

. Titus Salt built a model village at

Saltaire Saltaire is a Victorian model village near Shipley, West Yorkshire, England, situated between the River Aire, the railway, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Salts Mill and the houses were built by Titus Salt between 1851 and 1871 to allo ...

. Henry Ripley, owner of Bowling Dyeworks, began construction of

Ripley Ville Ripley Ville or Ripleyville was an estate of model houses for the working classes in the West Bowling ward of the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Started in 1866 the development was built for the industrialist, politician and ...

in Bradford in 1866. Industrial communities were established at

Price's Village Bromborough Pool, also known as Bromborough Pool Village and Price's Village, is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England, to the north of Bromborough. It is situated on the Wirral Peninsula, to the south of Bebin ...

by Price's Patent Candle Company and at

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

Hartley's Hartley's is a British brand of marmalades, jams and jellies. Founded by Sir William Hartley in 1871, Hartley's products are manufactured at Histon, Cambridgeshire, England. The brand was formerly owned by Premier Foods, until it was sold a ...

, who made jam, in 1888.

William Lever William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools, he joined his f ...

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in ...

had a village green and its houses espoused an idealised rural vernacular style.

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

industrialists,

George Cadbury George Cadbury (19 September 1839 – 24 October 1922) was an English Quakers, Quaker businessman and social reformer who expanded his father's Cadbury, Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company in Britain. Background George Cadbury was the son o ...

and Rowntrees built model villages by their factories. Cadbury built

Bournville Bournville () is a 19th century model village on the southwest side of Birmingham, England, founded by the Quaker Cadbury family for employees at its Cadbury's factory, and designed to be a "garden" (or "model") village where the sale of alc ...

between 1898 and 1905 and a second phase from 1914 and

New Earswick New Earswick is a model village and civil parish in the unitary authority of City of York in North Yorkshire, England, near the River Foss, north of York and south of Haxby. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 2,812, redu ...

was built in 1902 for Rowntrees. As coal mining expanded villages were built to house coal miners. In Yorkshire,

Grimethorpe Grimethorpe is a village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and W ...

, Goldthorpe, Woodlands, Fitzwilliam and

Bottom Boat Bottom Boat is a village in the Wakefield district of West Yorkshire. In the 2011 United Kingdom census, its population was 1,169, and it was included as part of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area, which had a total population of 1,777,934. Befo ...

were built to house workers at the collieries. The architect who designed Woodlands and Creswell Model Villages, Percy B. Houfton was influential in the development of the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...

. In the 1920s, Silver End model village in Essex was built for Francis Henry Crittall. Its houses were designed in an art deco-style with flat roofs and Crittall windows.

England

Bowling Dye Works Almshouses - New Cross Street - geograph

(Chronological order) *

Trowse Trowse (pronounced by those from Norwich and by elderly residents of the village), also called Trowse with Newton, is a village in South Norfolk which lies about south-east of Norwich city centre on the banks of the River Yare. It covers an ...

, Norfolk (1805) * Blaise Hamlet, Gloucestershire (1811) *

Selworthy Selworthy is a small village and civil parish from Minehead in Somerset, England. It is located in the National Trust's Holnicote Estate on the northern fringes of Exmoor. The parish includes the hamlets of Bossington, Tivington, Lynch, Brand ...

, Somerset (1828) * Barrow Bridge, Bolton (1830s) * Vulcan Village, Merseyside (1833) * Snelston, Derbyshire (1840s) * Swindon Railway Village, Wiltshire (1840s) * Withnell Fold, Lancashire (1844) * Meltham, Yorkshire (1850) * Bromborough Pool ("

"), Merseyside (1853) *

, Yorkshire (1853) * Akroydon, Yorkshire (1859) *

Nenthead Nenthead ( ) in the county of Cumbria is one of England's highest villages, at around . It was not built until the middle of the 18th century and was one of the earliest Model village, purpose-built industrial villages in Britain. History Nent ...

, Cumberland (1861) * New Sharlston Colliery Village, Yorkshire (1864) *

, Yorkshire (1866) * Copley, Yorkshire (1874) *

Howe Bridge Howe Bridge is a suburb of Atherton, Greater Manchester, Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within Lancashire, it is south west of Atherton town centre on the B5215, the old Turnpike trust, turnpike ...

, Lancashire (1873–79) *

, Worcestershire (1879) * Barwick, Hertfordshire (1888) *

, Merseyside (1888) * Creswell Model Village, Derbyshire (1895) * New Bolsover model village, Derbyshire (1896) * Vickerstown, Lancashire (1901) *

, Yorkshire (1904) * Woodlands, Yorkshire (1905) *

Whiteley Village Whiteley Village, in Hersham, Surrey, England, is a retirement village, much of it designed architecturally by Arts and Crafts movement-influenced architect Reginald Blomfield. It is owned by the charitable Whiteley Homes Trust and is on land w ...

, Surrey (1907) * The Garden Village, Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire (1908) * Silver End, Essex (1926) *

Stewartby Stewartby is a model village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, originally built for the workers of the London Brick Company. The village was designed and built to the plans of the company's architect Mr F W W ...

, Bedfordshire (1926)

Ireland

Milford, County Armagh Milford or Millford is a small village about one mile southwest of Armagh in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the Armagh City and District Council area. It had a population of 569 people (215 households) in the 2011 Census. (2001 Ce ...

, Northern Ireland (1800s) * Portlaw, County Waterford, Republic of Ireland (1825) *

Sion Mills Sion Mills is a village to the south of Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on the River Mourne. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 2,050 people. It is a tree-lined industrial village and designated conservation area, particul ...

, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland (1835) *

Bessbrook Bessbrook ( Irish: ''An Sruthán'') is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about three miles (5 km) northwest of Newry and near the Newry bypass on the main A1 Belfast-Dublin road and Belfast-Dublin railway line. Today t ...

, County Armagh, Northern Ireland (1845) * Laurelvale, County Armagh, Northern Ireland (1850s) * Model Village, County Cork (1910s; usually called

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, the name of the pre-existing hamlet)

Scotland

, Lanarkshire (1786)

Wales

Tremadog Tremadog (formerly Tremadoc) is a village in the Community (Wales), community of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales; about north of Porthmadog town centre. It was a urban planning, planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who boug ...

, Caernarfonshire (1798) * Elan Village, Powys (1892) *

Portmeirion Portmeirion (; ) is a folly* * * tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Dwyryd in the community (Wales), community of Penrhyndeudraeth, from Porthmadog and from Minffordd railway station. Portmeirion was d ...

, Merioneth (1925)

Europe

Czech Republic

Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 75,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice River. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the modern city ...

, located in

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

, was organized and built by

Tomáš Baťa Tomáš Baťa () (3 April 1876 – 12 July 1932) was a Czech entrepreneur and founder of the Bata shoe company. His career was cut short when he died in a plane accident due to bad weather. Baťa's half-brother Jan Antonín Baťa took over h ...

to house and efficiently organize the workers of

Bata Shoes The Bata Corporation (known as Bata, and in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, known as Baťa, ) is a multinational footwear, apparel and fashion accessories manufacturer and retailer of Moravian (Czech) origin, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzer ...

Germany

* Stadt des KdF-Wagens was built for the Volkswagen factory.

Italy

* Crespi d'Adda in the

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

region, is a well-preserved model workers' village, and

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

since 1995. It was built from scratch, starting in 1878, to provide housing and social services for the workers in a cotton textile factory on the banks of the river Adda.

Spain

* Nuevo Baztán outside Madrid dates from the

mercantilist Mercantilism is a nationalist economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports of an economy. It seeks to maximize the accumulation of resources within the country and use those resources for one-sided trade. ...

and entrepreneurial ambitions of an industrialist from the early-eighteenth century.

Australasia

Australia

* Australian Newsprint Mills established a worker's village at

Boyer, Tasmania Boyer is a rural locality in the local government areas (LGA) of Brighton and Derwent Valley in the Hobart and South-east LGA regions of Tasmania. The locality is about south-west of the town of Brighton. The 2016 census recorded a population ...

to accommodate workers of the Boyer Mill *

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

established the Cadbury's Estate in Claremont, Tasmania in 1921 *

EZ Industries EZ Industries, formerly the Electrolytic Zinc Company, was a zinc miner and refiner in Australia. History EZ Industries was established in 1916 by Amalgamated Zinc as the Electrolytic Zinc Company to operate the Risdon Zinc Works on the banks ...

constructed homes at Lutana, Tasmania for workers of the nearby Risdon Zinc Works, commencing in 1916

New Zealand

* Barrhill was laid out by its Scottish owner for the workers on his large sheep farm

Asia

China

* Huawei Ox Horn Campus, research and development buildings of technology company

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...