Agricultural History Review, Volume 53 Part 1 (2005), p. 112

Most works on the early phases of industrialization in the north west focus on the thickening of the rural population and the increase in rural manufacture as an adjunct to agriculture. Stobart adopts a rather different approach and, using the skills of the historical geographer, subjects the urban structure of Cheshire and south Lancashire and the development of an integrated regional economy to detailed and extended analysis. This analysis is placed within the context of theories of urban growth which are established at the outset and scattered throughout the remainder of the text.

Stobart’s argument is developed in chapters on the textile industries, coal-using industries, the service sectorand the spatial integration of the urban system. Overall,Stobart develops a strong case for the centrality of theurban network to patterns of regional economic development and he concludes that we need to ‘fundamentally rethink our conceptualization of economic development’ (p.222). In particular, he calls for concepts of regional economic development to be not only spatialized, but for regional urban hierarchies and the inter-connectedness which characterized the urban structure to be placed at the centre of such analysis. This spatialization of economic systems and the sensitivity to sub-regional economies and structures are major strengths of the work and raise important conceptual issues that others will need to take on board. Furthermore, the focus on the period before the classic industrial revolution is a major strength, even if one cannot help but read the text with a degree of hindsight.

Whilst the book has many strengths, I have many reservations. As the concept of the region is central to Stobart’s analysis and argument, one might have expected some discussion on the definition of the region and some justification for the selection of Cheshire and south Lancashire as the region. My suspicion is that the region was selected because it broadly coincides with the area of jurisdiction of the probate court at Chester, as wills form the major archival resource for the analysis. Perhaps this explains why places such as Frodsham and Malpas are included while other places which were indubitably part of the same regional economy such as Buxton, Garstang, Lancaster and perhaps even Ulverston and Kendal are not. Also, given the importance of urban/rural integration in Stobart’s model, the exclusion of the Fylde, which was probably the region’s most productive arable area in the early eighteenth century, is difficult to comprehend. Moreover, the integrity of the region as Stobart defines it is undermined through the text. In Chapter Three, Stobart establishes a series of distinct sub-regional economic systems, and yet the rest of the book refers to the single region. One is left wondering if indeed we have a single region or a plurality of regions. Furthermore, the interconnectedness of Cheshire and Lancashire is not firmly established. Chester and Liverpool developed the strongest links, undoubtedly the product of the relative decline of the former, and the rapid development of the latter, partly as a result of the relocation of Chester merchants to Liverpool. However, the evidence for further connectedness which would have helped establish the region is not always convincing.

Readers of this journal may be particularly interested to know where the agricultural regime fits in with Stobart’s view of an integrated, interconnected regional economic system. On this issue, Stobart is particularly disappointing. He asserts that ‘commercial agriculture was important across the region, but dominated muchof Cheshire and west Lancashire: ... these specialisms formed the basis of the industrial geography of north-west England during the industrial revolution’ (p.46). He further asserts that ‘western and central Lancashire was, above all, a productive agricultural area ... characterized by arable and mixed farming or market gardening, and by a relatively prosperous resident gentry willing to invest in agricultural improvement’ (p.70). However, at no point in the book does he offer any evidence to support his assertions of a commercial agricultural system and the references to Aikin (1795) are not convincing evidence given the rapid development of agriculture in the late eighteenth century, attested to by a number of studies which Stobart fails to cite. For instance, although cheese production in Cheshire was undoubtedly commercial, and Stobart is right to point out that some of this found its way onto Liverpool and Manchester markets, he fails to mention the cheese trade with London, nor does he refer to any of Foster’s work on the subject.

Stobart’s comments on the marketing of agricultural produce are also underdeveloped and fail to convince that there was a commercial agriculture connected to a complex web of urban networks. He points to an increase in rural food and drink retailers, although there is little evidence of specialized town-based wholesalers of agricultural products. Indeed, only nine of thirty urban settlements had a cheese or corn dealer. It is possible that a single town was home to a large number of such individuals who coordinated agricultural marketing across the region; it is further possible that a large number were based in rural settlements, but Stobart does not develop his analysis to this level. Nevertheless, in the light of Scola’s work on the period after 1770, both seem unlikely. Although the chapter on the service sector contains frequent if sometimes oblique references to agricultural marketing, no firm conclusions about this issue can be drawn from the text. In the end, this discussion turns to the applicability of Christallerian orLoschian ‘theories’, and Vancian ‘ideas’, and to the non-specialist in the field will undoubtedly add confusion.

One final criticism is methodological. Much of the study is based on probate documents which Stobart uses to investigate occupational structure, the interconnectedness of the urban structure and the position within the urban hierarchy of individual settlements. Although this is subject to some statistical analysis, resulting in a great deal of mapping and tabulating of data, the appendix dealing with the methodological problems of using probate sources for this type of work is inadequate. Stobart identifies some of the problems, but fails to identify others, though there is insufficient space to explore this further here. Despite the large probate sample, some of the tables are based on very small numbers and there is sometimes a lack of awareness of chronological change 114 the agricultural within his period. Stobart thinks and writes spatially – and asks us to do the same thing – and yet his chronological thinking is not as acute as it could have been.

Despite my reservations and the criticisms I have levelled at this book, it ought to be recognized for its many strengths. Stobart has made an important contribution to the study not just of this region, but of all regions. Hisconclusions and methodologies, omissions and weaknesses will be debated, but the core concepts of spatializing the region and investigating its internal structures and interconnections are of immense value and will undoubtedly encourage others to adopt similar approaches to their research.