Rural Life: Image and Reality

Many Victorian landowners took a passionate interest in the creation of ideal villages for their workers and workers' families. Usually, of course, the cottages they built were a great deal better than what their inhabitants had been used to; but it also meant that the landlords could gain far greater control over every aspect of their tenants' lives. Here three Victorian villages are explored: Old Warden and Steppingley in Bedfordshire, which were each improved by a single landowner, and Wortham in Suffolk, which was not. Drawings by Richard Cobbold, the rector, of the people and scenes of Wortham are used to reconstruct the greater diversity of life to be found in an `unmodel' village.

© 1998-2001 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.