Day 11. The Model Victorian Cottages

                               The village street, late 19^th century.

Living conditions for rural labourers in the 19^th century were often deplorable. Old, broken-down cottages with mouldy walls, ill-fitting windows and no sanitation were commonplace. The dwellings often contained only one room on each floor, but had to provide accommodation for six, eight or even more adults and children. These conditions were regularly attacked by social commentators, but progression towards change was slow.

James Roberts-West (1811-1882) inherited the Alscot Estate in 1838 and set about tackling the problem. He bought up and demolished several dilapidated cottages in Preston, including those used by the churchwardens to accommodate the poorest families. He replaced them with modern brick-built cottages - Numbers 1-20 - with their own gardens, pigsties, privies, bakehouses and washhouses.

 

                                                  The date stone on No.10.

The first tenants were those families who had lived in Preston for ten or twenty years or more, often in the dilapidated dwellings. All worked on the estate or its farms.

This philanthropic work was ahead of its time – it was several decades before similar projects on other estates became commonplace. George Cadbury's model village at Bournville, for which work started in 1893, is a famous example. The scheme was also entirely non-profit-making, as the exceptionally low rents would never recoup James' building costs.
James also set his sights on other philanthropic projects.  He undertook similar work in the neighbouring villages of Wimpstone and Alderminster, also part of the Alscot Estate, and founded a village school.