Abandoned Wiltshire: Bruderhof Village- Ashton Keynes
Ashton Keynes is a village in the picturesque Cotswolds with a fascinating history. From a secluded village for a self-sufficient community to a boys school for troubled teens. This exploration had a lot to offer, including history, wildlife and an array of abandoned buildings.
Bruderhof Village
The site’s first notable point in history is 1936, when 3 members of the Bruderhof were in search of land to set up their community in England. The Bruderhof is a self-sufficient Christian community that was founded in Germany in the 1920s. They bought a 200 acre farm in Ashton Keynes and over the next 5 years the community and farm grew as more Bruderhof members escaped the Nazi regime. The Nazis were persecuting Bruderhof members due to their pacifist beliefs. By 1938, over 200 individuals from different nationalities, including British, were living a self-sufficient lifestyle on the land. The Cotswolds Bruderhof cared for destitute adults, Jewish refugees and orphaned children. In 1940, pressured by anti-German feeling in England during the Second World War, the Bruderhof sold up and moved to Paraguay.
