Creswell Model Village is an arts and crafts style

model village A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...

in the village of

Creswell, Derbyshire Creswell is a former mining village located in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire, England. At the 2011 Census population details were included in the civil parish of Elmton-with-Creswell. Today it is best known for Creswell Crags and its mode ...

, England. The

pit village A pit village, colliery village or mining village is a settlement built by colliery owners to house their workers. The villages were built on the coalfields of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution where new coal mines were developed in ...

was built in 1895 by the

Bolsover Colliery Company The Bolsover Colliery Company was a major mining concern established to extract coal from land owned by the Duke of Portland. At its peak the business was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. Histor ...

to designs by architect Percy B. Houfton for the workers of Creswell Colliery on land leased from the

Welbeck Welbeck is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, slightly to the south-west of Worksop. The village population is included in the civil parish of Holbeck. Welbeck became a coal-mining centre in 1912 and has a famous stately home, Welbeck Ab ...

Estate. Influenced by garden village principles, it provided the workers with modern facilities; it had a tramway to deliver coal to the houses. Designed around a large oval

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

with an access road through the centre, the houses are of varying styles. ''The Model'' as it is known, has been refurbished. The village is within the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

Elmton-with-Creswell Elmton with Creswell is a civil parish in the Bolsover district in Derbyshire, England. It covers the villages of Elmton, Creswell and Creswell Model Village. According to Census data in 2001, Elmton with Creswell parish had a population of 4,7 ...

in the district of Bolsover in northeast Derbyshire.

History

The Bolsover Colliery Company acquired ten acres of land in Creswell from the

Duke of Portland Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

on which to build a village to house its colliery employees. The village comprises 280 cottages built in two circles, an inner and an outer, around a large green with shrubberies and a bandstand. The inner-circle cottages faced the green and their back yards faced those of the outer circle. All the houses were of two storeys and had five or six rooms and were lit by electricity. All the houses had small front gardens facing either the green or surrounding the outer circle. Between the circles was a 15 yard road with a tram track used to transport coal to the colliers' cellars. In the back yards were enclosed ashpit lavatories that were emptied weekly at night by staff employed by the colliery company. The

night soil Night soil is a historically used euphemism for human excreta collected from cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers employ ...

was taken away on the tram line. The company built the village institute or club between the houses and the colliery. In addition to its bar and billiard room, it had a reading room and library, and a lecture room capable of seating 400 people where the colliery brass band practised. A branch of the Bolsover Co-operative Society opened its store in the village and hawkers brought fish and fresh fruit for sale. Allotments and a cricket ground were provided adjacent to the village. The Duke of Portland and his wife took a great interest in the village. The Duchess of Portland paid for a nurse to look after the residents. He built the church, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, which was lit by electricity generated by the colliery. The duke and the colliery company also built the local school. The Methodist congregation built a chapel in the village and the Wesleyans met in the lecture room until they had premises of their own. Most of the colliery employees lived outside the village and used the workmen's stopping trains that ran to

Creswell railway station Creswell railway station serves the village Creswell in Derbyshire, England. The station is on the Robin Hood Line between Nottingham and Worksop. It is also the nearest station to the larger village of Clowne. History The line and the stat ...

from Mansfield.

References

{{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Model villages Bolsover District

History

See also

References