Back to Village-Style Living
What kind of intentional community is possible post-secularisation?
I was fascinated to read Louise Perry’s post on a growing desire for ‘village-style’ community - my fascination piquing precisely because I have just moved to a village-style community! Even in the earliest days of living in this rural community - population about 1600 - I knew that my life would never be the same again. I made mental notes of everything that earned the hashtag #villagevibes - things that simply would not happen in the south-east, London commuter town I had just moved from:
Stepping out of my front door (I learned very quickly) resulted in a neighbourly conversation more often than not *note to self: factor more time when you need to be somewhere*;
Finding a reputable electrician or plumber is best done by recommendations on your street rather than recommendations by Google;
Some things are massively convenient (the post office within 100m, the health centre, the library) - others are massively inconvenient (the 1.5 hour round trip to the bank, a large supermarket, the tip, or a brow bar (🫣));
The brother-in-law of the builder who does some fixes on your house (not found by Google) will own the art gallery and may also be the local mayor; likewise, the holiday-let cleaning business is owned by your neighbour who also owns the village flower shop and whose husband is the electrician; and you’ll only make the connection weeks later that the guy at church who celebrated his birthday with cake one Sunday after Mass is also the father of the plumber who shared a video of the same guy’s party while doing a job in your home…
I think it was at the end of watching a film at our quaint, village 30-seater cinema - when the volunteer who runs it bid us farewell with a cheery, “Hope you enjoyed that folks! Mission Impossible next week!”1 - that I realised how much my life had changed forever.
Perry quotes academic Jon Lawrence whose view is that we easily romanticize the “pre-modern village” where generations of families live in close proximity, know the goings-on of each other’s lives, and where privacy is in short supply. The main difference outlined by Perry is that connection and community today are chosen rather than the ‘given’ quality of geographic community in times past.
Six weeks into living in this rural, coastal village, I am fascinated to begin the lived experience, and suspect there will be a little of both.
On the one hand, it is no longer poverty that keeps people in this village (where it happens to be the village of their birth). In other words, people have chosen to be here in this remote and beautiful location, working in industries such as tourism, farming, building or property.
On the other hand, there is an inevitable community fostered by remote, geographic proximity. Remoteness means that many conveniences are not available (we have no police stationed here, for example) and extreme weather can cut you off. These realities engender a built-in, inter-dependence - you truly need one another! - and it would be challenging (and peculiar) to live an anonymous life here.
No Place to Hide
In the earliest days, a visiting priest celebrated Mass in my home, exuberantly blessing the house including the driveway, boundaries and (from a distance) neighbours’ properties. We were accompanied by two small altar servers who insisted on albs and bells, and three Sisters who live round the corner from me. It was certainly a spectacle the likes of which had probably not been seen before on our little street. Bewildered neighbours could have been in no doubt at that moment that this new blow-in was Christian (…and pretty serious about it). I often have priests or nuns popping round and the word on the street is that I am some kind of Sister.
How will this all pan out? I have more questions than answers right now about intentional, village-style community. It’s why I’ve invited you to join me on this adventure ‘at the ends of the earth’ to share with me all that God has in store… Sit tight, we’re about to begin!
Yes, that’s right, we have one film shown per week.
Lovely to know you are writing again Hannah! I always enjoyed reading your blog back in the day 😍
Thank you for the lovely reflections:) We used to live at the "end of the world" across the ocean from you, in a coastal town in Newfoundland; thus what you describe sounds very familiar. We now live in a larger university town, but are located on a cul de sac street on the outskirts. Wonderfully, the "small-town microcosm" is alive on our street and we know all neighbours by name, share food and help when needed, give recommendations for shopping and services, and have lots of friendly, extended chats. Looking forward to reading about more of experiences. (p.s. I am also a big fan of Dickens:)