There is a dumpy, moss-covered stone pillar that I have long been fascinated by. It’s off the beaten track in Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, tucked away from the lochside paths and wooded areas that are typically popular thoroughfares for runners, cyclists and walkers.

Unless you have cause to be meandering along the back road at the Bothwellhaugh football pitches, perhaps taking a shortcut on foot to the Holiday Inn Express or Toby Carvery, there is not many who would have cause to chance upon it.

And, even if you did, at first glance you would be forgiven for thinking this was simply a nondescript bollard, perched forlornly on a grassy verge.

Yet, look a little closer, and you will see a metal plate fastened to this diminutive pillar. An inscription reads: “The Babylon Community – Orbiston (1825 -1828). The first experiment in communal living in Britain”.

The moss-covered tributeThe moss-covered tribute (Image: susan swarbrick) A few further lines of explanation are etched underneath: “This stone pillar forming part of the Community Buildings and later erected at the entrance to Motherwell Inn at Motherwell Cross was gifted to the Town Council of the Burgh of Motherwell and Wishaw by T Allan Chambers, Esq of William Chambers and Sons Limited Motherwell.”

That’s the grand sum of it. There is no detail on how the pillar came to be moved to this particular spot, nor about the people or place that it commemorates.

So, what was the Babylon Community and why was it so short-lived? Many of us will be familiar with philanthropist and social reformer Robert Owen’s revolutionary experimental village at New Lanark in the early 19th century.

Drawing from his ideas, a co-operative community was set up in Orbiston, an area now part of Bellshill, in 1825. Dubbed “Babylon”, its 291 acres are said to have contained a communal main building, dining hall, school, iron foundry, orchard and vegetable garden. It was home to close to 300 people, among their number blacksmiths, joiners, printers, painters, shoemakers, tailors and weavers. There was even a weekly newspaper, catchily named The Register for the First Society of Adherents to Divine Revelation at Orbiston.

The concept was spearheaded by Abram Combe, a utopian socialist, who became an associate of Owen after visiting New Lanark in 1820. Combe went on to become the founder-member of Edinburgh Practical Society, an Owenite group, in 1821.

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Owen had originally bought land from Archibald James Hamilton, whose father owned estates at Dalzell and Orbiston in Lanarkshire. However, he later abandoned plans for the site.

Instead, Owen travelled to the US where he built the community at New Harmony, Indiana. Combe and Hamilton, who knew each other through the Edinburgh Practical Society, decided they would forge ahead with the venture at Orbiston, buying back the land from Owen.

In the few scattered accounts, there is no doubting the passion and strong desire for the project to succeed, yet it was arguably flawed from the outset.

The economist John Gray was an early visitor, having moved to Edinburgh in 1825 with the intention of joining the Orbiston community. Gray swiftly changed his mind. Afterwards he wrote and published a critical report.

His pamphlet, A Word of Advice to the Orbistonians on the Principles Which Ought to Regulate their Present Proceedings (1826), expressed grave concern at the lack of any management plan. It was Gray’s belief that it was destined to fail.

Could Babylon have eventually flourished? Sadly, we will never know. Combe died in 1827, a mere two years after its inception. The community was duly wound up and the land sold on.

A sculpture, titled “The Vet”, tells the semi-fictional tale of a young boy who lived in the Babylon communityA sculpture, titled “The Vet”, tells the semi-fictional tale of a young boy who lived in the Babylon community (Image: susan swarbrick) There is a small nod to its erstwhile existence in a smattering of street names around the Orbiston area of Bellshill, such as Babylon Road, Community Road, Register Avenue and Hamilcomb Road. A quiet reminder of utopia lost.

Which is why it has been so heartening to see a new piece of public art unveiled as part of the North Lanarkshire Stories trail last month. A sculpture, titled “The Vet”, tells the semi-fictional tale of a young boy who lived in the Babylon community at Orbiston, circa 1826.

It can be found next to an existing landmark, the trio of cylindrical stone posts known as the Orbiston Pillars, a short walk from Bothwellhaugh Road in the north-east of Strathclyde Park.

Alongside the information board, there is a QR code to scan and learn more. What a delight to see this intriguing snapshot of history shared with a wider audience at long last.