An Introduction to English Rural History (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

George Guest

9780267815692: An Introduction to English Rural History (Classic Reprint)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0267815697 ISBN 13: 9780267815692

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

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How English farmland reshaped itself—and who paid the price.

This concise history looks at the move from open fields to enclosed estates, and how workers and smallholders navigated a changing rural landscape.

Beginning in the 1700s, England shifted from the old open-field system to widespread enclosures, driven by acts of Parliament and the ambitions of landowners. The change brought clearer property rights and improved farming methods, but it also squeezed the small yeoman and toppled long-standing village customs. The story follows the rise of a new class of estates and the experiments that transformed crop rotation, livestock quality, and overall productivity, while warning of the social costs for the rural poor.

As agriculture modernized, worker relations and wages became central issues. The text traces the creation of the Agricultural Wages Board, the push for minimum and adjustable pay, and the broader movement of rural trade unions that sought better hours, wages, and control over the land they worked. It also places these developments in the wider context of labor organization and national reforms.

How enclosures changed land ownership, common rights, and village life.
Key reforms and mechanisms that structured farm wages and working conditions.
The rise of rural unions and their role in shaping labor policy.
Connections between agricultural innovation and social change in the countryside.

Ideal for readers of British economic and agricultural history who want a clear, bite-sized view of how farming, land tenure, and labor shaped English rural life.

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