Monument record MDO4446 - Model village of Milton Abbas

Estate village set out around 1780 and consisting of two rows of cottages and other buildings set on either side a road and separated from it by wide grass verges and until recently, alternated with large chestnut-trees. Externally most of the cottages are uniform. The standard cottages are two-storied and have cob walls, thatched roofs, rectangular plans, and front elevations with a central door-way with a transomed two-light casement window on each side, and three two-light windows on the first floor. Each cottage was originally two tenements, but several have been converted to single dwellings.

Historic England, Historic England Archive, 2K/07511 (Index). SDO14738.

2K/07511

Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF110930 (Index). SDO14738.

England's Landscapes

National Record of the Historic Environment, 205808 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume III (Central) Part 2, 197 (Monograph). SDO136.

‘(7) THE MODEL VILLAGE OF MILTON ABBAS stands in a wooded valley ½ m. S.E. of the original town (see (20)). It was built in c. 1780 and comprises two rows of cottages and other buildings, all set out on either side of a gently winding road that follows the bottom of the valley (Plate 177). The cottages are separated from the road by wide grass verges and, until recently, alternated with large chestnut-trees. Externally most of the cottages are uniform; a few buildings which differ from the standard pattern will be described separately (monuments (8–10)). The standard cottages are two-storied and have cob walls, thatched roofs, rectangular plans, and front elevations comprising a central doorway with a transomed two-light casement window on each side, and three two-light windows on the first floor. Each cottage was originally meant to comprise two tenements (B.M. Add. MS. 41133 f. 95) but several have now become single dwellings. In nearly every case the central doorway opens into a vestibule, from which lateral doorways open into the tenements. Each staircase is lit by one light of the central two-light window. The present fireplaces are of the late 19th century, probably replacing original open fireplaces. In a few cases the stairs ascend in the direction opposed to that illustrated, and two of the cottages have single staircases. A cottage located half-way between (8) and (9) has, at the rear, a single-storied outbuilding of cob and thatch which is said to have been a factory for window-glass; its windows have panes with scratched inscriptions of 1793–1830.’

Record last edited

Nov 10 2025 12:19PM