ABSTRACT
Landscape history or landscape archaeology - the two terms are virtually interchangeable - has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the last four decades. The subject first emerged in the 1950s: its inception is usually associated with the work of the economic historian W.G. Hoskins, whose immensely successful The Making of the English Landscape was published in 1955, 1 although a number of other scholars were also influential in its development, most notably the historian Maurice Beresford and the historical geographer Harry Thorpe. During the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s the subject grew steadily in popularity, although initially for the most part among those involved in the extramural sector. Indeed, many authors of the volumes in Hodder and Stoughton's county-based Making of the English Landscape series - essentially a spin-off from Hoskins's original book were tutors in extramural departments, including Trevor Rowley (Shropshire), Lionel Munby (Hertfordshire) and Michael Reed (Buckinghamshire). 2 But this period was also marked by the growing involvement of individuals from outside the ranks of economic history or historical geography, especially field archaeologists and historical ecologists. Among the former should be mentioned Christopher Taylor, effectively the second founder of the subject, whose books included Fields in the English Landscape, Village and Farmstead, and The Archaeology of Gardens. 3 The most important of the ecologists were Max Hooper, whose work on hedges was to influence a generation, and above all Oliver Rackham, whose Trees and Woodland in the British Countryside of 1976 was followed in 1986 by his History of the Countryside, which twenty years on still remains a standard text. 4 Since the 1980s the subject has seen both further growth, now more in the mainstream of British university life, and the increased involvement of archaeologists, especially those involved in the study of prehistoric landscapes. Today, landscape history can boast a number of specialised undergraduate and MA courses at British universities, and two academic journals (Landscapes and Landscape History). Each year a substantial array of books is published with (appropriately or otherwise ) the word 'landscape' in their title. 5
