Medieval Devon And Cornwall: Shaping an Ancient Countryside (Landscapes of Britain)

The countryside of Devon and Cornwall preserves an unusually rich legacy from its medieval past. The chapters in this book explore the origins and development of the different elements which go to make up this historic landscape - the chapels, crosses, castles and mines; the tinworks and strip fields; and above all, the intricately worked counterpane of hedgebanks and winding lanes. Between the time of the Kingdom of Dumnonia in the sixth and seventh centuries and 1700, a series of revolutions transformed the structure of the South West Peninsula's rural landscape. The book tells the story of these changes, and also explores how people experienced the landscape in which they lived and how they came to imbue these places with symbolic and cultural meaning.