The English Village Explained: Britain’s Living History by Trevor Yorke Read Free Book Online

like Exmoor, were also enclosed at this time as well as many of the heaths of southern England.

    FIG 4.5: Many of the dry stone walls and barns which are a key feature of upland areas like the Peak District and Lake District were erected during enclosures in this period and may not be as old as their rusticated form implies .
    While the farmers built themselves stout new houses out in their fields, so the gentry set about displaying their wealth and status by erecting tasteful, classical country houses. Part of their ambitious schemes was usually to create a large landscaped park around their house, not very practical in the village where most manor houses stood. Some picked a new site away from the huddle of cottages and crofts but many chose to move the whole village instead! Emparkment could therefore be the final nail in the coffin for some struggling villages, which were simply replaced by a home farm. Alternatively it could be a new start for those where purpose-built settlements were provided for the dispossessed, out of sight of the mansion. These estate villages, usually built in brick or stone, were constructed to create a picturesque approach for visiting gentry rather than in benevolence towards the villagers and although they did offer a better standard of accommodation for the lucky ones invited to stay, it was also an opportunity to remove unwanted elements of the community.

    FIG 4.6: A map showing NUNEHAM COURTENAY, OXON before and after the village was removed to make way for a new landscaped park. In this case a new settlement was built along the turnpike road in the 1760s while Nuneham House and a new church were erected on the old site .

    FIG 4.7 GREAT BADMINTON, GLOS: Estate villages are among some of our most attractive, although the hordes of tourists which delight in their quaint and rustic features are often unaware of their relatively recent origins, as with this collection of fine buildings mostly dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, built comfortably out of view of the main house .

    FIG 4.8 STOKE BRUERNE, NORTHANTS: When the Grand Junction Canal arrived in the tiny village, new buildings and houses began to be built around this busy centre, affecting the layout of the village and leaving the older part rather relegated to the west. Industry and turnpike roads could cause similar long-term drift of villages towards the new centres of employment and trade .
The village
    Those villages which had survived the hard times of the 14th and 15th centuries could grow again as the population recovered and then boomed, the extra housing required for them often resulting in encroachment on areas like the green and other common land. As well as the changes enforced by landowners and farmers,many villages were influenced by the presence of a new industry, turnpike roads or canals. Factories, wharfs, inns, stables and housing for workers appeared around these sources of employment, often a short distance from the old settlement, marking a gradual shift away from its original core and towards the new source of commercial opportunity.
The church and parish
    There were dramatic changes to the churches themselves as a result of the break from Rome and over the following century various outbursts of religious fervour saw interiors painted white, crosses broken and stained-glass windows smashed. It became a period of stagnation and decline for most parish churches as the gentry rather ignored them and the attendance of the congregation fluctuated. Now the priest was often the second son of a wealthy family and expected a fine new house. He might take more interest in building his new rectory or vicarage and visiting those of his class rather than in the body of the church and minds of his flock. As a result, dissenting religious groups like Quakers, Baptists and Methodistsattracted increasing congregations and built chapels, simple symmetrical structures, which grew in numbers especially from the late 18th