The Welney Website

The (Manea) Colony

 a utopian dream near Welney

 

During the first part of the nineteenth century there was a good deal of unrest among working people in England. The economy had been shattered by twenty years or so of war with France. In 1815 thousands of ex-soldiers flooded the labour market and the few jobs available were badly paid.  Introduction of machinery (including agricultural threshing machines) reduced the number of jobs still further. Living conditions were desperately poor and labourers often had to resort to violence to draw attention to their plight. Rioting became commonplace, including the now infamous Littleport Riots of 1816 which resulted in 5 men being hanged, and others deported or jailed, all for relatively minor crimes.

Discontent continued for many years and was exacerbated by the introduction of the 1834 amendment to the Poor Laws and the associated workhouses which broke up destitute families by separating men women and children. Public meetings were held against the amendment and many petitions collected. However they were all ignored and the act was implemented. Political or union activity was impossible without the vote or legal sanction for collective bargaining. The Chartist movement was founded demanding universal male suffrage and secret votes and Methodism flourished because of its concern for social justice whereas the Church of England was seen as part of the ruling establishment, supporting property owners and the rule of law.

This was the background to the social experiments that sprang up all over Britain creating community ventures, or communes. The main influence for these communities was the socialist Robert Owen and although his vision of a communitarian society was appealing, he offered little guidance as to how his ideas were to be made reality. All of those who began communities in this period faced the central question of what precise purpose a community was to serve, and how it was to contribute to the transition to the New Moral World.

Owen's ideals prompted the creation of a socialist utopian colony in 1838 on 150-200 acres of fenland in the parish of Manea in what is now known as the Manea Fifties, with a little township against the west side of the Old Bedford River at OS grid ref TL 515920.

Some called it "Manea Colony", others simply "The Colony". The site is actually much nearer to Welney than to Manea, and today has a Welney Postcode area, but it has always been in Manea for administrative and census purposes. Click here for a larger map. (this may not load due to technical problems)

There are conflicting accounts of the Colony. The founder is variously described as William or Thomas Hodson, who may have been a businessman and/or a Methodist minister. He is also said to have been a friend of Owenite follower James Hill, a Wisbech banker and corn merchant.

 

As an aside, Hill built a school for infants in Wisbech that doubled in the evenings as a community centre for adult education and recreation. I wonder if Henry Morris had that in mind when nearly a century later as head of Cambridgeshire's schools he introduced Village Colleges to serve (and are still serving) the whole of their communities needs?. Also, one of Hill's daughters was Octavia Hill, another famous socialist and co-founder of the National trust.

One report describes the Colony as an "unofficial" Owenite community or co-operative, another says it was "the most radical and notorious of the Owenite communities in the UK". Yet another says it served as a model for labourers elsewhere. Whatever the truth, Manea Colony was certainly an ambitious project with a motto of "each for all" and was based on "a blend of immediate practical concerns and a desire to contribute to the success of the communitarian vision".

The colonists are said to have built cottages, a school, pavilion and windmill, worn a uniform of Lincoln green suits, and produced a newsletter, The Working Bee, which was widely distributed.  According to Cambridgeshire historian Mike Petty, "their houses would have all modern facilities, be brick built and centrally heated. Their children would enjoy the best of education, with their own schoolroom and teachers. Money was abolished, and they worked the land communally for vouchers redeemable at the community store. They had a range of leisure facilities ­ their own boat and fishing in the nearby Old Bedford River. They had music while they worked but not for them incessant labour in the fields ­ they worked just four hours a day". Utopia indeed!!

Unfortunately all did not go well. There was dissention and conflict within the community. To the committed socialists the Colony was an opportunity in the struggle towards an improved society while others saw it as a refuge and the chance of an easier life. Many who came to this rural idyll were said to be townsfolk who did not understand agriculture and needed help from locals who were highly suspicious of this new 'hippie' commune. They also failed to find sufficient markets for their goods and the site was beset with drainage problems. Financial backing was inadequate and the scheme eventually collapsed after just a couple of  years when Hodson withdrew his support in 1841 after losing money "due to the failure of a local bank" (James Hill's bank, perhaps?).

This rather poor photo from a press cutting is of a model of the Colony by the late Ernest Clayton which is displayed at the Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum in Wisbech. It is based on the drawing at top right, plus some imagination!

The sailing vessel in the Old Bedford River is facing downstream, i.e. north-east towards Welney.

I visited the site a few years ago and my untrained eyes could not detect the slightest suggestion of any buildings.

I would be interested to hear if anyone has any further information, or knows of any remains being unearthed.

This page © Peter Cox and Welney.org.uk  2006.

Based on information from:

• website of Utopia Britannica - British Utopian Experiments 1325 - 1945.

• "A Pocket Edition of the New Jerusalem", a paper on the Manea Fen community 1839 to 1841, by Dr. John Langdon.

• Cambridgeshire History one of Martin Edward's many splendid websites

• Gardner: History, Gazetteer & Directory of Cambridgeshire 1851.

• "Growing Pains", an article in the Cambridge Evening News Wednesday 24th Apr 2002 by Cambridgeshire historian Mike Petty.

• Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum at 1 South Brink Place, Wisbech, PE13 1JE. This is a substantial Georgian Grade 2 listed building in which the co-founder of the National Trust was born. The museum and archive commemorates the life and work of Octavia Hill, her family and fellow workers and those who continue her work.  It is open from March 20th to the end of October, on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1pm to 4.30pm. (To check opening times or arrange an appointment to visit, telephone 01945 476358).

• The Littleport Riots webpage.

 Henry Morris - village colleges and informal education.