The Dorset Historic Towns Project report on Milton Abbas.
Present-day Milton Abbas is essentially a non-urban environment, the medieval town having been swept away by the creation of a landscaped park in the 18th century, and a new settlement created elsewhere.
The present village has no physical connection with the former town. Its character is one of a planned picturesque village with a regular layout along a single sinuous main street. Most of the original village layout and buildings survive intact. The later developments are not intrusive and the whole retains its original planned coherence and relationship to the surrounding landscape park. The combination of the good survival of the distinctive paired cottages, the intact original plan of the settlement and its relationship to the surrounding landscaped park give Milton Abbas its distinctiveness and make it justly famous as a very good example of a late 18th century model village.
Summary report
Here is a summary of the report (February 2011).
Detailed sections of the report
We have broken down the full report into individual sections, please select one of the parts to read:
- Part 1 and 2 Introduction and overview
- Part 3 and 4 Context and sources
- Part 5 Historic development
- Part 6 Character appraisal
- Part 6 Historic Urban Character Area 1 Milton Abbey and Park
- Part 6 Historic Urban Character Area 2 Milton Abbas village
- Part 6 Historic Urban Character Area 3 Catherine's Well
- Part 7 Research and appendices