The Making of the English Landscape

by W. G. Hoskins

Paperback, 1970

Status

Available

Call number

911.42

Publication

Pelican / Penguin Books Ltd (1970), Paperback, 328 pages

Description

Deals with the historical evolution of the English landscape as we know it. It dispels the popular belief that the pattern of the land is a result of 18th-century enclosures and attributes it instead to a much longer evolution. This book traces the chronological development of the English landscape from pre-Roman days to the eve of the Black Death, onwards to the Industrial Revolution and up to the present day. With the help of photographs and charts, Professor Hopkins discusses the origins of Devonshire hedge-banks and lanes, the ruined churches in Norfolk and lost villages in Lincolnshire, Somerset's marshland ditches, Cornwall's remote granite farmsteads and the lonely pastures of upland Northamptonshire.

User reviews

LibraryThing member fotofacade

Would it be sad to say that one of my 'comfort' books is 'The Making of the English Landscape' by W G Hoskins. I think I read in the flyer that one critic said that it was rare that a single book comes along and heightens your consciousness of your surroundings. That's why every now and then I have

to dip back into it to bring me back to that ethereal state of awareness - or else I'm in danger of being numbed by the effects of today's busy and stressful lifestyle.

I think the book was originally written in the 1950's but it is still revolutionary in its outlook - with its main tenet that even the wildest moors of Britain have been shaped by the hand of man. Even more remarkable is the fact that with a little insight you can still see the marks that our ancestors left over 10,000 years ago.

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LibraryThing member RMMee

As a keen student of local history, I am used to looking at history post industrial-revolution, along with a smattering of older items, such as castles and the like. I also had a basic knowledge of the development of green roads, and later turnpikes, and other forms of transportation. But Hoskins

looks far deeper than that, at the way that towns developed and why they differ so much, at field history, and at the abandonment of some townships. If I were to criticise the book at all (and it is something that the author himself admits to), it is that his best examples all tend to come from the same parts of the country. For much of the book, it is the making of the Cornish and East Midlands Landscape. That said, it is well worth anyone reading, whether they have an interest in, or a love of, the English countryside, or local history. And the Folio Society edition which I read is in itself a beautiful version.

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LibraryThing member Steve38

Rightly regarded as a classic in its field an early pioneer in the field of landscape studies. First published in the mid-50s and only now beginning to show its age. A meta-study bringing together many strands to help us interpret and understand what we see around us. Using not only the obvious

sources of old maps and records but also poetry and landscape painting. In the sixty years since its first publication there are changes to the landscape that we can all see. The industrial north has been de-industrialised and cleaned up. Slag heaps from coal mines can only be seen in old photographs. And the network of six and eight lane motorways has carved new marks into the land. What will the next half century bring?

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LibraryThing member heggiep

This thorough and thought-provoking book has sent me back to my local history books. A good thing.

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