Bournville
Bournville is situated in the north-east of Worcestershire about
4 miles from Birningham. When Messrs. Cadbury, manufacturers of ch0co-
la te, removed their works from Birmingham to their present position in
1879, about 24 cottages were built to house their workingmen, but the
village as it is known today really dates from 1895.
tention was to create a village of private owners, facilities being af-
forded to the villagers for the purchase of their houses and land.
this was not found to be satisfactory i.t was decided to sell the houses
and land on leases of 999 years, charging ground rent and inserting
clauses in the leases to prevent the intention of the village from be-
ing contravened.
make over the whole property to a Trust under the Charity Commissioners
of the National Government, who should let the houses to tenants xEx
on leases of 99 years at moderate weekly rentals, which should include
the annual ground rent of about ld. per yard.
ty thus handed over to the Trust on behalf of the nation was over E
250,000, and included in 1910 458 acres, of which about 100 is laid out
for building, and 450 houses.
sold, which do not come under the control of the Trust.
the fundamental objects of the Trust that the rentals of the houses
should be fixed so as to yield 4% net after provision has been made f
for maintenance and repairs. Mr. Cadbury's primary idea was to show
that villages like Bournville might be built by municipal authorities
and might be made to yield a reasonable interest on capital
case of Bournville the gift of the capital does not alter the value of
the demonstration, it merely means that instead of taking the legitim-
ate interest on his capital, the founder has been willing to handd it
over to the trustees for the further development of the village itself,
or in the laying out and developing of cther villages elsewhere (the
Trust being empowered under the deed of foundation to acquire land in
any part of Creat Britain).
rooms and living-room and scullery, with a garden of 600 square yards,
are let at 4s. 6d. per week, not including rates.
The original in-
As
Finally, however, in 1900, Mr. Cadbury decided to
The value of the proper-
Under the earlier scheme 143 houses were
It is one of
In the
The cheapest cottages, containing 3 bed-
