Full Description
Recorded only by dotted lines on an Ordnance Survey map, sometimes marked by a half-forgotten mossy boundary stones, parish boundaries are a fascinating part of our landscape heritage, often preserving the memory of events which happened centuries ago. Local historians, geographers and archaeologists now believe that many are of great antiquity and that the network of parish boundaries has been one of the most enduring elements in the landscape. This book is conceived as a practical handbook: a guide to where to start a study of local territorial boundaries, what questions to ask and how to assess the significance of a particular boundary pattern in historical and archaeological terms. It provides for the first time an introduction to a subject which is attracting the attention of increasingly large numbers of local historians and landscape archaeologists throughout Britain.
Contents
Introduction What is a parish? The ancient parish Township and tithing How old are township boundaries? Boundaries and boundary markers Analysing the boundary pattern Medieval local government: county, hundred and wapentake Ecclesiastical administration: diocese and deanery Parish boundaries in Scotland and Wales Further reading Appendix: place-names recording boundaries
