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Home > Landscape history Studies in Regional and Local History > A Lost Frontier Revealed
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A Lost Frontier Revealed

Regional separation in the East Midlands

Author: Alan Fox

Price: £18.99 (free postage)

"

“I found this book exciting and stimulating. As a test of the Phythian-Adams hypothesis it is ground-breaking in its detail... I recommend the book to anyone interested in local history, local societies and how these interact.”

-Evelyn Lord,
The Local Historian

About the book

“Fox has produced a scholarly and detailed study of one area of the country; and one which clearly has its own wider regional characteristics. He indicates how much there is still to say about Phythian-Adams' theories of regions and borders, and at how many levels it may apply. The obvious final thought is to call for more, similarly detailed, local studies, so that we can start to assess in greater detail how unique this area of the country was. This book will be of interest to those working in local social and economic history and, like the rest of this series, is priced to be readily accessible to all.” Alysa Levene, Local Population Studies

“Alan Fox's in-depth depiction of a social-spacial fault-line between Leicestershire and west Lincolnshire provides a highly methodical, meticulously researched, well-grounded and very welcome test of Phythian-Adams's hypotheses about regional 'societies'. It is based on rigorous and exhaustive parish-by-parish analyses, including a phenomenal family reconstitution of fourteen parishes in this border area.” H.R. French, Agricultural History Review

Even today, a traveller through the length and breadth of England is soon aware of cultural differences, some of which are clearly visible in the landscape. It is advocated by the eminent English historian Charles Phythian-Adams that England, through much of the last millennium, could be divided into regional societies, which broadly coincided with groups of pre-1974 counties.

These shire assemblages in turn lay largely within the major river drainage systems of the country. In this unusual and probing study Alan Fox tests for, and establishes, the presence of an informal frontier between two of the proposed societies astride the Leicestershire-Lincolnshire border, which lies on the watershed between the Trent and Witham drainage basins.

Many studies of rural landscapes tend to emphasise medieval and earlier times, but here the stress is on the early modern period.

  • More about the book

    On either side of the proposed frontier, seven contrasting countrysides are distinguished; three in Leicestershire, three in Lincolnshire, with the seventh, former heath land, spanning the county boundary.

    Diversity in the underling geology and differential rates of enclosure resulted in marked contrasts in settlement distributions and population densities of the seven countrysides. Patterns of wealth, poor-relief, the local economy, land ownership and land use reveal further distinctions, but the crucial area was the heathland which separated two neighbouring societies. On either side of this frontier, echoes of traditional cultural differences, particularly of customs, folklore, dialect and vernacular architecture, can still be experienced today.

    The evidence presented suggests a strong case for a cultural frontier zone, which is announced by a largely empty landscape astride the border between the contrasting settlement patterns of these neighbouring counties. The author finally adds further proof for the existence of this divide backwards and forward in time from the early modern period. It is hoped that this original approach will encourage researchers to identify other regions and their frontiers by adopting similar methods.

  • View the table of contents

    Contents


     List of figuresvii
     List of tablesx
     General Editor's prefacexi
     Acknowledgementsxiii
     Abbreviationsxiv
     Part 1: Introduction 
    1The hypothesis3
     Regional societies3
     Regional subdivision of England3
     Belonging4
     The characteristics of regional societies and their frontiers9
     Rationale and summary10
    2The Test Area11
     Historical background11
     The physical background17
     Lincolnshire18
     Leicestershire25
     Part 2: A countryside divided? 
    3Land and people of the proposed frontier45
     Population density in the seven ‘landscapes’48
     Trends50
     Enclosure history56
    4Economic characteristics and contrasts61
     Wealth and poverty61
     Occupations and paupers64
     Land use69
     Land ownership73
    5Cultural expressions78
     Popular culture and folk traditions79
     Vernacular architecture82
     Dialect87
     Different word use in probate inventories91
     Conclusion95
     Part 3: Mechanisms of segregation 
    6Personal spatial loyalties99
     The People101
     The links104
     Neighbourhoods108
     Isolines110
     Using a formula110
     Marriage horizons and the seven ‘landscapes’111
     Marriage horizons and enclosure113
     Marriage horizons and land ownership114
     Summary of marriage horizons116
     Marriage licences and bondsmen117
     Bondsmen in probate administrations120
     Wills122
     Real estate in wills126
     Family reconstitution127
     Occupations of the migrants136
     Summary137
    7Kinship and dynastic moulds138
     Dynastic families138
     Occupations of dynastic families139
     Single-parish dynasties140
     Two-parish dynasties142
     Three-parish dynasties145
     Conclusion149
    8County and town polarities150
     Transport in the Midlands150
     Roads through the proposed frontier zone154
     Urban fields of influence158
     Hiring fairs162
     Conclusion166
     Part 4: Conclusion 
    9Overall judgement and findings169
     The effect of the county boundary170
     A frontier in other periods?172
     Place-names172
     Surname evidence177
     After the eighteenth century179
     Appendix183
     Bibliography189
     Index203

  • About the Author/s:

    Alan Fox

    Dr Alan Fox has a PhD in English Local History at the University of Leicester where he was made an Honorary Visiting Fellow in 2003.

ISBN: 978-1-902806-97-6 Format: Paperback, 224pp Published: Apr 2010

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