ABSTRACT
The quest to create heaven on earth is never distant from a history of Utopian communities; Heavens Below, the title of W.H.G. Armytage's seminal work on Utopian experiments in England from the sixteenth century, is illustrative of the centrality of religious ideas in Utopian history. In the early twentieth century, religiously-driven utopianism in England is evident in a variety of quite distinct forms. Utopian history is rich in such examples: in some cases inspired groups turning totally inwards to seek salvation, in other cases venturing as well beyond their sanctuary to spread the gospel. Historically, in England, monasteries once occupied a far more important place in society than they did at the start of the twentieth century. A different example of an Anglican experiment was in the south of England, at Hillfield in Dorset, where a group of priests set about the monumental task of reforming English society in the image of the Franciscan vision.
