Overview
- An important text from a world leader in British and World economic history
- Analyses the means whereby the estate system was maintained, including study of the investment of industrial fortunes in landed estates; exceptionally close use of regional material; examination of landscape and wildlife effects
- Includes novel discussion of the demolition of villages and of ‘road capture'
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History (PEHS)
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About this book
Based on a detailed investigation of local sources, this book examines the history of the landed estate system in England since the mid-seventeenth century. Over recent centuries England was increasingly occupied by landed estates run by locally dominant and nationally influential owners. Historically, newcomers adopted the behaviour of existing landowners, all of whom presided over a relatively impoverished mass of rural inhabitants. Preferences for privacy and fine views led landowners to demolish or remove some whole villages. Alongside extensive landscape remodelling, rights-of-way were often privatised, imposing a cost on the economy.
Social and environmental implications of the landed system as a whole are discussed and particular attention is paid to the nineteenth-century investment of industrial profits in estates. Why was the system so attractive and how was it perpetuated? Matters of poverty and inequality have always been of perennial interest to scholars of many persuasions and to the educated public; with this important book surveying environmental concerns in addition.
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Keywords
- Landed estates in English history
- Rural inequality
- Road capture
- Demolition of villages
- Mid-Seventeenth century England
- Poverty in English history
- Agricultural history
- Environmental history
- Economic history of landed estates
- Cotton industry
- Domestic service
- Glorious Revolution
- Labour migration
- Social apartheid
- Amenity motive
- Privacy motive
- Public assets
- Efficiency of social institutions
- Redistribution of wealth
- Rural poverty
Table of contents (9 chapters)
Reviews
“Eric Jones, one of the most respected and original economic historians of our age, has produced an indignant and sparkling indictment of landed estates in rural England. He mercilessly dissects the economic follies, environmental destruction, and social travesties committed by a callous gentry class in search of luxurious mansions, hunting grounds, and rustic views.” (Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University, United States)
“Landed estates and their owners have long dominated the political, social and economic control of the English countryside. In this masterly survey of their development since the mid-seventeenth century, Eric Jones uses a potent mix of well-chosen case examples and select economic concepts to draw out their character in a way that convincingly challenges past ideas about them.” (Robert Dodgshon, Aberystwith University, Wales)
“Jones presents an overview of the English landed estate system from its medieval origins to the influx of industrial capital in thenineteenth century. He demonstrates that it was not only the concentration of capital in the landed class which defined and perpetuated social inequities, but also how the capital was deployed in re-shaping the countryside to service the leisure as well as the business interests of the land owners and their upwardly mobile tenants.” (Patrick Dillon, University of Exeter, United Kingdom)“Landed estates have been a defining feature of English society for centuries. In this book Jones examines aspects of their impact that have hitherto been typically less well explored in the literature, such as the estates’ roles in the erosion of public rights of way, in the socially destructive remodelling of the landscape, and in the environmental harm wrought by blood sports.” (Gary Magee, Monash University, Australia)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Eric L. Jones is Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University, Australia. He has spent a lifetime working and publishing extensively on the economic history of agriculture and environmental history.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Landed Estates and Rural Inequality in English History
Book Subtitle: From the Mid-Seventeenth Century to the Present
Authors: Eric L. Jones
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Economic History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74869-6
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-74868-9Published: 05 April 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-74869-6Published: 22 March 2018
Series ISSN: 2662-6497
Series E-ISSN: 2662-6500
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 129
Topics: Economic History, Agricultural Economics, Environmental Economics