First survey of one of the most important pre-modern farming systems, and its effects on society and landscape. A landmark volume... essential reading for all those interested in social, agricultural and landscape history, as well as in East Anglia's past. Professor Tom Williamson, University of East Anglia. England in the medieval and early modern periods was farmed under a wide range of agrarian regimes, each of which was both engendered by, and had in turn a determining influence upon, innumerable aspects of society and landscape. Reconstructing the complex history of these systems - how they actually worked on the ground, how and why they first developed and how they evolved over time - is thus crucial for our understanding of the lived experience of past generations and the physical environments which they inhabited. But studies of past agricultural regimes which are detailed enough to highlight their full social, economic and environmental character and implications, are surprisingly thin on the ground. This innovative book dissects the character of one key example - the foldcourse system of East Anglia - from its genesis in the early Middle Ages to its demise in the nineteenth century. It casts a mass of new light on an institution that structured rural life in one region of England, over many centuries. But it also provides important new insights into the nature of early farming systems more generally, and the intricate balance of human agency, and environmental structures, that shaped and sustained them.

'Old Bill' began as the cartoon creation of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather: born amidst the carnage of WWI 'Old Bill' lampooned life within the trenches and went on to become a beloved character within the play The Better 'Ole which filled the music halls of the United Kingdom. But who was 'Old Bill'? Certainly, there was no agreement amongst professional historians. So, when John Belcher was handed a collection of documents and photographs by an elderly relative, he was both surprised and intrigued to discover that 'Old Bill' was apparently his great uncle, Thomas Rafferty. This discovery set the author off on a journey to find out more. Who exactly was this remarkable man, a Lance Corporal in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment who had died at the Second battle of Ypres? What was his connection with Bruce Bairnsfather? Why had Bairnsfather denied to his widow Kate that he had known Rafferty as 'Old Bill'? Kate would, all the same, eventually be acknowledged and accepted by the public as the wife of 'Old Bill' and be presented with a Commemorative Peace Medal. Over time, however, Rafferty - the man behind the myth - was quietly forgotten. This book is the culmination of several years' research by John Belcher, his great nephew, that collates a range of evidence to establish Rafferty's claim to be the real 'Old Bill' of the western trenches. All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to charity.

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