Medieval Parks of Hertfordshire

Anne Rowe

"It is perhaps the comprehensive gazetteer that will appeal to the majority of landscape and medieval historians. This is well illustrated often using the 1880s 1st Edition Ordnance Survey and the RAF aerial photographs from the 1940s to demonstrate the persistence of features. The large scale format of the book lends itself very well to this degree of detail permitting close scrutiny of the richness of the landscape not afforded by modern maps... Rowe takes a refreshing look at the origins, distribution and functions of early parks and is not afraid to challenge the findings of some well-respected landscape historians."

Ben Lennon, Institute for Garden and Landscape History, University of Bristol

"There is something in Rowe's book for everyone, from those interested in the history of the county, or of parks generally, to those requiring methodological templates for their own local studies."

Amanda Richardson, Landscape History

 

"In many respects it is a model for future local studies... The maps in the gazetteer are large, clear and well-produced... Above all, the heavily illustrated introduction forms a substantial empirical contribution to current debates."

Stephen Mileson, Journal of Historical Geography

 

 

To date, over sixty medieval parks have been identified in Hertfordshire – a large number for a relatively small county. In this ground-breaking study of parks created in Hertfordshire between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries, author Anne Rowe has adopted a holistic approach to landscape history. The geographical locations of the parks have been determined and, in most cases, mapped using a combination of field- and place-name evidence, old maps and detailed fieldwork. The documentary history for each park has been compiled, including, where available, details from manorial accounts, which provide an insight into park management in medieval times. All the data for each park is presented in a valuable gazetteer, together with the cartographic and field evidence which has been used to locate the parks in today’s landscape.

In addition, Anne Rowe has carried out detailed analysis of the parks and their owners and explains how the parks related to the physical and social geography of the county in medieval times. There was a marked difference in the numbers of parks in different parts of the county: the density of parks in the east was double that in the west. The underlying reasons for this pattern are explored, focusing in particular on the unusual relationship between the distribution of the parks and the distribution of woodland in the county at Domesday. Based on an enormous amount of original work, this meticulously researched book opens a window onto medieval Hertfordshire and illuminates a significant aspect of the county’s landscape history.

 

Anne Rowe is a freelance landscape historian. She edited Hertfordshire Garden History: A miscellany (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2007) and is a contributor to The Medieval Park: New perspectives (Windgather Press, 2007). She has co-ordinated the research work of the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust since 1998, and also teaches courses in landscape and garden history for the Institute of Continuing Education of the University of Cambridge.

 

ISBN 978-1-905313-48-8

April 2009; 288pp; large format

Paperback £18.99 / $37.95