Gardens and Gardening in Early Modern England and Wales

Jill Francis

Price
£35
Type
Print
Publicaton Date
June 2018
Standard Number
9780300232080
Distributor
Yale University Press
Specifications
416 pages, 254 x 190 mm
Illustrations
200 colour

The extravagant gardens of the 16th- and 17th-century British aristocracy are well-documented and celebrated, but the more modest gardens of the rural county gentry have rarely been examined. Jill Francis presents new, never-before published material as well as fresh interpretations of previously examined sources to reveal gardening as a practical activity in which a broad spectrum of society was engaged – from the laborers who dug, manured, and weeded, to the gentleman owners who sought to create gardens that both exemplified their personal tastes and displayed their wealth and status. Enhanced by beautiful and compelling illustrations, this book contributes to a broader understanding of early modern society and its culture by situating the activity of gardening within the wider social and cultural concerns of the age, reflecting the anxieties, hopes, and aspirations of people at the time.

About the author

  • Independent Scholar who teaches history at the University of Birmingham and the University of Worcester