Interpreting the Landscape

Michael Aston0415151406, 9780415151405, 9780203442128

After millenia of human habitation, a majority of places in Britain have had a local history written about them. However, up until the twentieth century these histories have almost exclusively addressed more parochial issues, such as the life of the manor, rather than explaining the features and changes in the landscape in a factual manner. Much of what is visible today in Britain’s landscape is the result of the influence both of social and natural geological processes, and can be interpreted through fieldwork as well as from old maps and documents. Michael Aston uses a wide range of source material to study the complex and dynamic history of the countryside; his points are illustrated with a profusion of aerial photographs, maps, plans and charts. He shows how to understand the surviving remains as well as offering his own explanations for how our landscape has evolved.

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Table of contents :
Book Cover……Page 1
Title……Page 4
Contents……Page 5
List of illustrations……Page 7
Preface……Page 9
Introduction……Page 10
How do we know what we know?……Page 14
Early landscapes……Page 22
Estates and boundaries……Page 33
Status in the landscape……Page 45
Deserted villages and after……Page 54
Surviving villages……Page 72
Farms and hamlets……Page 83
Sites and patterns……Page 92
Land uses……Page 104
Field systems……Page 121
Communications;the links between……Page 139
What does it all mean?……Page 150
Bibliography and references……Page 155
Index……Page 166