Description
Renowned environmental historian I.G. Simmons synthesises detailed research into the landscape history of the coastal area of Lincolnshire between Boston and Skegness and its hinterland of Tofts, Low Grounds and Fen as far as the Wolds. With many excellent illustrations Simmons chronicles the ways in which this low coast, backed by a wet fen, has been managed to display a set of landscapes which have significant differences that contradict the common terminology of uniformity, calling the area 'flat' or referring to everywhere from Cleethorpes to King's Lynn as 'the fens'.
These usually labelled 'flat' areas of East Lincolnshire between Mablethorpe and Boston are in fact a mosaic of subtly different landscapes. They have become that way largely due to the human influences derived from agriculture and industry. Between the beginning of Norman rule and the advent of pumped drainage, a number of significant changes took place.
The author has accumulated information from Roman times until the beginnings of fossil-fuel powered drainage, bringing together both scientific data and documentary evidence including medieval and early modern documents from the National Archive, Lincolnshire Archives, Bethlem Hospital and Magdalen College, Oxford, to explore the little-known archives of regional interest.
About the Author
Ian Simmons retired from the University of Durham in 2001 and applied himself to the landscape history of the area to which he had been a wartime evacuee. This required different skills from the palynology of earlier years and he was grateful for help with both finance and the interpretation of documents from a number of archives. A number of papers in journals have appeared as well as this book.
Reviews
[A] particularly strong feature is the use of extracts from primary sources that bring the landscape - and the people who managed it - to life. * Medieval Archaeology *
This is a rich and complex book ... worth persisting with, which tells a fascinating story of the evolution of part of the Lincolnshire landscape. * Lincolnshire Past & Present *
[T]his is a useful and highly accessible piece of landscape history that emphasises the richness and variety of an often overlooked and undervalued landscape. * Current Archaeology *
Book Information
ISBN 9781911188964
Author I.G. Simmons
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Windgather Press
Publisher Windgather Press
These usually labelled 'flat' areas of East Lincolnshire between Mablethorpe and Boston are in fact a mosaic of subtly different landscapes. They have become that way largely due to the human influences derived from agriculture and industry. Between the beginning of Norman rule and the advent of pumped drainage, a number of significant changes took place.
The author has accumulated information from Roman times until the beginnings of fossil-fuel powered drainage, bringing together both scientific data and documentary evidence including medieval and early modern documents from the National Archive, Lincolnshire Archives, Bethlem Hospital and Magdalen College, Oxford, to explore the little-known archives of regional interest.
About the Author
Ian Simmons retired from the University of Durham in 2001 and applied himself to the landscape history of the area to which he had been a wartime evacuee. This required different skills from the palynology of earlier years and he was grateful for help with both finance and the interpretation of documents from a number of archives. A number of papers in journals have appeared as well as this book.
Reviews
[A] particularly strong feature is the use of extracts from primary sources that bring the landscape - and the people who managed it - to life. * Medieval Archaeology *
This is a rich and complex book ... worth persisting with, which tells a fascinating story of the evolution of part of the Lincolnshire landscape. * Lincolnshire Past & Present *
[T]his is a useful and highly accessible piece of landscape history that emphasises the richness and variety of an often overlooked and undervalued landscape. * Current Archaeology *
Book Information
ISBN 9781911188964
Author I.G. Simmons
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Windgather Press
Publisher Windgather Press
