"A Monument of Union": Social Change and Personal Experience at the Manea Fen Community, 1839-1841

This case study uses the nineteenth-century community of Manea Fen as an example to explore the differing ways community was viewed and the issues this raised. Manea Fen was one of a number of British communities influenced by the communitarian ideas of Robert Owen. The study first considers the national context, locating Manea Fen and its founder, William Hodson, in the debates on community within the Owenite movement. It then focuses on the individuals involved in the community, considering their expectations of community life and their reaction to its realities. By focusing on two families whose lives, most unusually for rank-and-file Owenites, can be traced for many years after Manea Fen, the study attempts to show the failed venture's value and place within their broader life histories. This examination of a single community reveals the dual nature of a community, at once inward and outward looking, a blend of social engagement and more personal motivations.