On Labourers' Cottages. 
Article VIII .—On Labourer}^ Cottages, recently erected 
at Thurlhy, in Lincolnshire: By Artus. 
Gentlemen, 
I KNOW not wlietlier any observations on Cottage Arcbitec- 
ture, may, or may not, be agreeable to your plan, but having in the 
last number of the Gardeners’ Magazine, seen a communication signed 
^‘Selim,” recommending a ^‘reform” in the habitations for labourers, 
combining comfort or convenience with picturesque beauty, and pre¬ 
senting for the consideration of gentlemen who wish to improve the 
appearance of their estates, a beautiful but fanciful plan of a double 
cottage, adapted to some particular situations; I venture to send you 
a brief account of what I have seen already effected, in the w’^ay of im- 
prot^ement, within a few miles of the city of Lincoln. 
The place T allude to, is Thurlby, a small village and parish, to 
the East of the Half-way-houses, on the road from Newark to Lin¬ 
coln, the propert}'^ of Sir Edward Fffench Bromhead, Bart., who 
resides at the Hall, amidst the blessings of his tenantry and neigh- 
bom's. When Sir Edward came into possession of the estate, he 
found it divided into large farms, and let but to two or three tenants, 
consequently his parish had very few inhabitants. He divided each 
of these farms, and increased his population. What few labourers 
were in the village, had only the meanest and most uncomfortable of 
hovels to reside in, and their state was that of complete degradation; 
they now begin to feel they are men, and to enjoy, rather than 
endure, existence. 
On such a subject. Gentlemen, you will agree with me, that it is 
difficult to say too much. I would willingly descant on the means Sir 
Edward has taken, to produce so wonderful a change, but it would 
take up too much of the space of your publication; I 'v\'ill therefore 
confine myself to that part of it which was suggested by the reading of 
Selim’s observations. 
Thurlby, lies in a well-wooded plain, near the West bank of the 
river Witham, and is naturally a low dirty situation. One part of it, 
until lately, was a boggy open moor, very similar to some parts of the 
Fens; this has recently been inclosed, and is now under cultivation. 
Good roads are made across it to the main-road above-mentioned, and 
travelling can now be pleasantly performed, where a very few years 
ago a horse was scarcely able to find a footing. By the side of one of 
thetje roads. Sir Edward has erected six double cottages, as habitations 
for the labourers of the neighbourhood, which though they may not 
boast so much of the picturesque as Selim seems to require, they con¬ 
tain, what in a moral point of view is far preferable. Content and 
C’omfort. 
