Bournville took its birth from the expansion plans of Cadbury. In 1879, Richard and George decided to build a new factory. Those days, factories were no different from dungeons. Richard and George Cadbury wanted to build something better for their workers, and Bournville was built on a fourteen acre plot.
Unlike other factories, it had warm rooms to dry clothes and places to heat food. The brothers also built a workers’ village around the factory. Each house had a garden big enough to grow vegetables. Workers were also provided with recreation facilities like football and cricket fields for the men and boys, and a playground and a garden with a lily pond for the wives and daughters.
The workers were given good wages, medical treatment and pension. Bournville was a multi-purpose factory site. During World War II, the company converted parts of the factory into workrooms to manufacture equipment like pilot seats for fighter planes.
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