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The History of the Countryside Paperback – June 1, 2021

by Oliver Rackham (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 184 ratings
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From its earliest origins to the present day, this award-winning, beautifully written book describes the endlessly changing character of Britain's countryside.

'A classic' Richard Mabey

Exploring the natural and man-made features of the land - fields, highways, hedgerows, fens, marshes, rivers, heaths, coasts, woods and wood pastures - he shows conclusively and unforgettably how they have developed over the centuries. In doing so, he covers a wealth of related subjects to provide a fascinating account of the sometimes subtle and sometimes radical ways in which people, fauna, flora, climate, soils and other physical conditions have played their part in the shaping of the countryside.

'One thing is certain: no one would be wise to write further on our natural history, or to make films about it, without thinking very hard about what is contained in these authoritative pages' COUNTRY LIFE

Previous page
  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  4. Publication date
    June 1, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.38 x 9.13 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1474614027
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1474614023
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A classic of scholarship and imagination...A monumental work, but it is written with humanity, dignity, concern and a great deal of humour―TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

A classic, written with humanity, dignity, concern and a great deal of humour―Richard Mabey, TES

As quirky and rewarding as the English countryside itself ... it is full of answers to questions that others have not had the wit to ask―THE ECONOMIST

He opened readers' eyes to regional differences in patterns of land settlement, the original meaning of the term forest (countryside beyond the common law), the timing of key changes in human management of the landscape, new ways of looking at hedges, ponds and marshes, and, through it all, the balance between the natural world and human activities―GUARDIAN

One thing is certain: no one would be wise to write further on our natural history, or to make films about it, without thinking very hard about what is contained in these authoritative pages―COUNTRY LIFE

About the Author

Dr Oliver Rackham was a botanist and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. An acknowledged authority on the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and pasture. THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE won the 1986 Angel Literary Award, the Sir Peter Kent Conservation Prize and the Natural World Book of the Year Award.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Weidenfeld & Nicolson (June 1, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1474614027
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1474614023
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.28 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.38 x 9.13 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 184 ratings

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Oliver Rackham

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
184 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Polly
5.0 out of 5 stars Hedges throughout the countryside are frequently really ancient - some up to 1000 years old.
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2018
Verified Purchase
I liked the whole book content. Having grown up in England, I was able to imagine and remember things that I had experienced years ago as a youngster. I will be returning this Summer and armed with this book and some related works I will be doing some research into things that had puzzled me all those years ago. My sister has a long hedge running down one side of her garden (used to be farming land) and using information in this book and a related article I can determine just how old it is.
5 people found this helpful
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Kevin D. Perry
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant on-the-ground history of a fascinating countryside
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2015
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Brilliant on-the-ground history of a fascinating countryside. Much food for thought for those interested in land management over the centuries, on up to the present.
One person found this helpful
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J C E Hitchcock
4.0 out of 5 stars A Valuable Book that Will be Welcomed by all Country-Lovers
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2007
This book, written by a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, tells the story of the forces, human and natural, which shaped the landscape of the British Isles. Examples of the sort of ground it covers are given by Dr Rackham in his opening paragraph, when he says that in his childhood he wondered why roads had bends, why lanes were sunk into the ground, what dogwood and spindle were doing in the hedges, why fields were of odd shapes, and why elms stopped abruptly just north of Bungay. (A town in Norfolk, where he grew up). The book represents his attempts to answer these questions, and many others like them.

The book is not written in strict chronological order from the Ice Age to the 20th century (the book was written in 1986); Dr Rackham rather treats each different type of habitat- woodland, fields, heathland, moorland, marshes, etc.- in turn. He describes each type of habitat and then traces its development over time from prehistory to the present. In addition, there are chapters setting out his methods and the type of evidence he relies on, and dealing with Britain's native flora and fauna, especially those species which have become extinct in historical times (bears, wolves, wild boar) or which have been introduced by man (rabbits, fallow deer, pheasants, sycamore trees).

Dr Rackham lays to rest a few well-worn myths about the countryside. It is not, for example, true, as is sometimes said, that mediaeval England was a densely wooded country which a squirrel could have crossed from coast to coast without ever setting foot on the ground, before the dense woodlands were destroyed to provide timber for the Royal Navy. Certainly, prehistoric Britain was almost wholly tree-covered, but the coming of agriculture meant that most of the woods were felled. By the Middle Ages, only about 15% of the country was wooded, a higher percentage than in modern Britain but a lower one than in modern France or Germany. Much of the confusion is due to a misunderstanding of what was meant by a "forest" in mediaeval England. The term did not necessarily imply woodland- Sherwood Forest, for example, was predominantly heathland- but an area in which game, especially deer, was protected by special laws.

Nor is it true to say that the rural landscape is as much the product of deliberate human design as the urban one or, as is sometimes done by those who oppose conservationist attempts to preserve the countryside, that its current appearance is almost entirely modern, the result of the Enclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries. Although Dr Rackham states that his is not primarily a book about conservation, it is written from a conservationist viewpoint, and he exposes the weaknesses of the arguments that the landscape is both modern and artificial. What we now think of as typical features of the countryside are often the result of a complex interplay of human and natural forces. Not all hedgerows, for example, were deliberately planted; many grew up naturally along the line of a fence, which has often disappeared, leaving the hedge as a semi-natural boundary feature.

Contrary to the "Enclosure Act Myth", many features of the landscape are very old. Dr Rackham distinguishes between two types of English lowland scenery, what he calls "Planned Countryside" and "Ancient Countryside". The former, which prevails in a band stretching from Dorset and northern Hampshire north-eastwards through the East Midlands to northern and western East Anglia, Lincolnshire and the East Riding, was the area which was once dominated by the tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages, of open-field farming. The latter, which prevails throughout the rest of lowland England, mostly in the West Midlands and the South-East, was the area where this tradition was less strong and where there was a larger number of smaller fields. It was the Planned Countryside landscape which was largely affected by the Enclosure Acts; the Ancient Countryside kept many more of its traditional features. Even today there are many differences between the two types of landscape; Ancient Countryside, for example, has more roads and public footpaths, more areas of heathland, more ponds and more ancient hedgerows. Villages in Planned Countryside tend to be larger, but fewer in number.

The book is highly informative, and contained much that was new to me. I had not, for example, appreciated that before the coming of man the dominant woodland tree in most of lowland England was neither oak, nor ash, nor beech, but small-leaved lime. Oak predominated in the upland areas of England and in much of Scotland and Wales. Nor had I realised that wild boar became extinct as long ago as the mid-thirteenth century, victims of the destruction of their woodland habitat and of reckless over-hunting. King Henry III had 300 killed for his Christmas feast in 1251, at a time when they were already on the verge of extinction.

I would have two complaints about the book. The first is that it I would have welcomed more illustrations, preferably in colour. The second is that Dr Rackham tends to concentrate on certain areas at the expense of others. England is treated in greater detail than Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and certain regions of England in greater detail than others. I would have liked to see other parts of the country get as much attention as East Anglia (doubtless singled out for special treatment because the author is a native of Norfolk and a resident of Cambridgeshire). Nevertheless, this is a valuable book that will be welcomed by all country-lovers who wish to understand the countryside as well as appreciate it.
24 people found this helpful
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Jennifer L. Forbes
5.0 out of 5 stars a very nice book, well put together
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2015
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thank you , a very nice book , well put together , great pictures, and in good condition, I think its new,,
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B. Dombrowski
5.0 out of 5 stars Best backgrounder for understanding what you're looking at
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2015
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Encyclopedic to say the least, well organized on both the large scale & small scale levels & a pleasure to read.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Ian K
1.0 out of 5 stars Poor printing, cheap paper, photos are useless, unclear font
Reviewed in Canada on March 30, 2022
Verified Purchase
Lots of info but the book is so poorly published on cheap paper that the ink bleeds and makes it hard to read. Some photos and drawings are almost unreadable
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Andrew James
5.0 out of 5 stars A gem of a book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2012
Verified Purchase
As a keen walker and very amateur naturalist I have more than a passing interest in the countryside. I'm into trees, birding, dragonflies, botany to mention just a few. Beyond that though, as I walk through the countryside, I'd like to understand how it has been formed. I've spent a lot of time wondering why things are like they are. Why does my local wood have large holes in the ground? why are some trees pollarded? why is that large nettle bed where it is and what is this ridge and furrow all about? It's all very well being able to identify birds and dragonflies and grasses and sedges, but there are far bigger mysteries out there to struggle with. Then I found this book. It goes some considerable way in explaining how the countryside has formed. Reading it has given me the considerable pleasure of being able to go out and solve a few mysteries.

I've owned this book for ages, in fact as a collector of books I have both paper and hardback editions. This is simply the finest book I've read on the subject by some considerable margin and Oliver Rackham is undoubtedly an absolute legend. Not only is this book a joy to read, it is an absolute mine of information. You will not find a better book. The very fact that Oliver Rackham books are so eminently collectable is testament to the genius of the author. Don't mess around, if you're interested in our fantastic countryside, then you have to own this book.
15 people found this helpful
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Kevin Dawson
5.0 out of 5 stars Authorative and Thought Provoking.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 5, 2010
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I've owned a copy of this book for some time and recently purchased another from Amazon as a gift to a friend who both works as a tree surgeon and teaches the subject.It was the only way I could of think of to stop him relentlessly borrowing mine !
This is an authorative and thought provoking book dealing with the development of the British countryside . The author encourages the reader to interpret evidence carefully with reference to social history and with the addition of a little common-sense before coming to conclusions .For instance whilst championing a method of aging hedgerows known as Hoopers Law he councils that for it to work properly it must be considered along with other local evidence rather than simply being taken at face value .
Accepted rural wisdom regarding certain landscape features does not always withstand the author's scrutiny but is never debunked without the offer of alternative explanations .
The book emphasises that the landscape has not evolved at a convienient,simple and easily chronicled pace. Many influences have interacted at varying levels to produce a jumble of archaeological messages that need to be interpreted with thought . This book will not only educate the reader it will provide fuel for that thought .
9 people found this helpful
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Diana L. Stagg
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative & Readable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2009
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This informative book is a must for anyone interested in the development and evolution of our countryside. It covers everything around us from ancient pollarding techniques and forestry; designer parks; celtic field systems; historical hedges and highways; heaths and moorland; to anything water. It helps us to look at familiar local landmarks around us with a new understanding. It also includes eight illustrated and well-described walks that explain exactly how to decipher what we are looking at.

Oliver Rackham's highly respected knowledge ensures this is a valuable reference book on the subject, and his clear writing skills make it an easy and fascinating read in its own right. It is beautifully illustrated with numerous maps and plans, some diagrams and a wealth of high quality photographs.

I initially borrowed this book from the library, but decided it was a must to own a copy. I now constantly dip into it for information, or just curl up and read it for pleasure.
20 people found this helpful
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Keith Batten
5.0 out of 5 stars I noticed so much more around me when I read this book.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2024
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I can see and appreciate so much more of Mother Natures amazing impact on the world around me, now that the author has explained how it all came to be. Thank you Oliver
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