The countryside is a gigantic puzzle which contains within its intricate pattern of lanes, woods and farmsteads the keys to its history. This book takes the reader through the process of landscape detection, by way of a journey through a fascinating landscape in the Yorkshire Dales. Richard Muir shows how exploring landscape history can be compared to investigating a crime. The detective analyses different kinds of evidence to construct what happened, when and why. Along the way he or she has to think logically, to interpret all sorts of complex evidence, and be prepared to abandon false trails. Gradually, as the evidence accumulates, the past comes to life. It is much easier to understand how the process works if you actually look at a particular landscape. Ripley township covers only a few square miles, but crams a wealth of features into its tiny territory. The author finds a 'lost' Roman road, reveals field-systems dating from Anglo-Saxon times, and finds oak trees, which may date from the time of Domesday Book, still alive in the deer park. He recreates the appearance of deserted medieval villages, discovers a lost formal garden, and evaluates the impact of landscaping and Parliamentary Enclosure. The end result is a chronicle of the past times of Ripley, the story of a landscape. One of the great joys of landscape history is that the techniques employed here can be adopted by any reader who wants to understand his or her own patch of countryside. This is a book which is sure to stimulate the imagination.

The countryside of the British Isles provides an enormously rich resource to those interested in researching past cultural landscapes. This book is the essential reference for the landscape studies researcher, whether amateur or professional. In 500 entries, it provides explanations of the major terms, features and ideas discussed in the subject. Short entries describe less familiar names and more familiar terminology where the reader may lack a precise understanding. Longer articles discuss the big themes, concepts and approaches. Throughout, the entries are carefully cross-referenced, making it possible to follow a chain of connections. To allow a more in-depth pursuit of a subject, each entry also signposts the most useful further reading. This encyclopaedia is deliberately even in its geographical scope with terminology from Ireland, Scotland and Wales receiving detailed coverage.

Over the last 25 years, archaeologists and historians have been increasingly aware of the importance of woodland in the developing British landscape - in particular, how trees have been a vital component of the living cultural landscape. Ancient Trees, Living Landscapes begins by questioning the myth that in prehistoric times Britain was swathed in a virtually impenetrable wildwood. In fact, from the earliest times woodland has been manipulated and transformed. The author then looks at Britain's great 'landmark trees', before examining the function of ancient trees and hedgerows in the landscape. The Middle Ages saw the multiplication of deer parks, with the special management needed to feed and shelter deer and to give cover to stalkers. These, with their lawns, groves and pollard-studded pastures, greatly influenced the great landscape parks of the eighteenth century, developed by Repton and Lancelot Brown. There are, too, important chapters on the life and work of the Men of the Forest, and on Woodlands of the Mind - the all-important symbolism of trees as well as their utilitarian function in Britain's landscape. Throughout the book Richard Muir, who describes himself as 'a Dalesman by birth, a Scot by inclination', gives equal weight to the evidence from the north of Britain, whereas earlier writers have concentrated on the south. In an age when institutional interests are increasingly pervasive, he stresses the importance of the work of the individual researcher and amateur enthusiast.