Village England: A Social History of the Countryside [Paperback]

The romantic imagery of village England and the prominence that this commands in English cultural identity is well known. Yet just how accurate is this notion of the rural idyll in which the organic nature of village life was gradually undermined, and destroyed, by social and economic factors? Trevor Wild's text explores the evolution of village England from the earliest times to the present. Drawing upon both contemporary accounts and scholarship, he provides an engaging and revealing account of the major transformations affecting the English village. Of particular interest is the book's coverage of the more recent past, with the whittling away of the great estates, the appearance of such institutions as the village hall, and the development of alternative systems of power such as the councils.Trevor Wild is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Hull, where he was Senior Lecturer in Geography before his retirement.

List of Figures  vii
List of Plates  vii
Preface and Acknowledgements  xi
Introduction  xv
OneOrigins, Organic Quality and Geographical Context  1
TwoThe First Transformation: Village England and the Parliamentary Enclosures  22
ThreeVillages of Poverty and Rioting: Rural England in the Bleak Age  45
FourHigh Farming and the 'Ordered' Rural Society  70
FiveVillages in Decay: Rural England in the Agricultural Depression  87
SixVillage England in the Inter-War Years  114
SevenThe Second Transformation: Village England in the Post-War Era  149
Epilogue  176
Notes  179
Bibliography  190
Index  197