After millenia of human habitation, a majority of places in Britain have had a local history written about them. However, up until the twentieth century these histories have almost exclusively addressed more parochial issues, such as the life of the manor, rather than explaining the features and changes in the landscape in a factual manner. Much of what is visible today in Britain’s landscape is the result of the influence both of social and natural geological processes, and can be interpreted through fieldwork as well as from old maps and documents. Michael Aston uses a wide range of source material to study the complex and dynamic history of the countryside; his points are illustrated with a profusion of aerial photographs, maps, plans and charts. He shows how to understand the surviving remains as well as offering his own explanations for how our landscape has evolved.
