Agricultural History Review, Volume 69 Part 1 (2021), p. 152

This short book, in the series entitled ‘Palgrave Studies in Economic History’, is also a Palgrave Pivot series book, designed to facilitate the rapid publication of material longer than a journal article but shorter than a monograph. It has a different format to many academic texts, each short chapter starting with an abstract of disjointed sentences, almost mirroring the style of late nineteenth / early twentieth century texts.

Eric Jones addresses a number of issues which he feels have been ignored or given insufficient attention in the past, by challenging current thinking on the subject of landed estates. These include the erosion of public rights of way by such estates through addressing the economic impact rather than the architectural or landscape view. As for blood sports, he considers that they are an ‘abuse of animals’ representing status and the opportunity for male bonding. Similarly, he examines the abuse of social oppression, through the treatment of estate staff and tenant farmers. This economic study of landed estates also considers the investment of profits made in industry elsewhere into the land, during the nineteenth century.

In the first chapter, Jones reviews how the landed interest came to exist following the Restoration in 1660: whilst it already existed at this point, the opportunity to buy back lost lands or to invest in available confiscated lands, established the system of landed estates which this book examines. With the end of the Civil War, he notes that disputes were no longer settled by violence between different factions, but rather through legal or political solutions. He proposes that the conversion of merchants and manufacturers into landowners was a process which reduced the impetus of commercial activity, resulting in resistance to change and the re-direction of commercial profits into leisured activities in the rural environment, potentially harmful to the overall economy.

As an example of the investment of industrial profit, chapter 2 examines the purchases made by Lancastrian cotton manufacturers. These were made initially in Lancashire, then elsewhere in the north of England, before progressing to the south of England, where a provisional view based on Gloucestershire and Herefordshire is presented. Associated with these land acquisitions were the purchases of furnishings and paintings for the ‘big houses’, also providing status symbols: whilst these items are viewed as having potential resale value, estates were expected to provide an annual return from farm rents. The latter however were often consumed by landscaping costs and ornamenting the owner’s private space. Further, for those who bought land during periods of agricultural prosperity, there was the opportunity to remodel their estate by rebuilding farmhouses and bringing farm buildings up-to-date.

Chapter 3 moves the focus from the landowners to the lower orders of servants: in particular, the way that landowners treated them, in terms of the social segregation achieved through separation of housing and reorganized household layouts, so that servants could do their work unseen. In a chapter entitled ‘Expelling the people’, the impact on the local inhabitants of the actions of landed estate owners is examined. The usual descriptions of walled estates, villages demolished and villages relocated to provide privacy and far-reaching views are again rehearsed. It is noted that the agricultural depression of the later nineteenth century had little effect, in that money other than farm rents was funding many of these estates.

Under the heading of ‘Road Capture’, chapter 5 considers how roads within parks and estates were closed and new ones forced to be developed: this is exemplified by the right-angled bend in the road, with the park gate on the corner. The same issue applied to footpaths but on a larger numerical scale. Once again, such actions were taken to increase the privacy afforded to the landed estate owner.

The next chapter considers the hunting, shooting and fishing aspects of rural estates. With a late focus on the fox and pheasant as targets, the conflict between maintaining both on the same estate is described. Further, the balance between agriculture and sport is examined: in particular, it is noted that when farm rents fall during periods of agricultural depression, the renting out of sporting rights enable some estates to survive economically. As to why such activities are pursued, Jones suggests that male bonding and the affirmation of status through privileged access to land and water are at the root of such sports. The next chapter moves on to present two poaching cases from the Savernake estate in Wiltshire: these are used to exemplify the harsh enforcement of the Game Laws designed to protect landowners’ sporting resources.

Examining the inequality existing in the countryside alongside the associated institutions, chapter 8 considers the migration of workers from the south of England to the coalfields and factories of the north, along with the interruption caused by the agricultural depression from 1880 to 1940, in which he suggests that ‘market towns … became backwaters with backwood societies to match’ (p. 94). By reviewing the history of landed society over the past 370 years, Jones argues that the continuity of the estate system since the Restoration resulted in social stagnation. He concludes that the system is, and has been, a ‘social and market failure on a grand and enduring scale’ (p. 122).

References in the text are non-existent: there are no footnotes or endnotes to enable the reader to undertake further research, only a list of sources and further reading at the end of each chapter, in which there is not one single primary source, despite reference being made to sources in a local record office (p. 84). At one point when considering employment in stone picking, Eric Jones states that ‘There are so many [instances] that it is needless to document them’ (p. 41), yet on the same page, he notes that ‘abstractions [need to be] given faces to allow the individuals of the past to re-emerge’. At one point (p. 75), the author draws on works of fiction to make a point.

Overall, this book presents an orthogonal view on landed estates, one which many might challenge, if only the sources used had been explained.