The countryside of Devon and Cornwall preserves an unusually rich legacy from its medieval past. This book explores 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 AD 500 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: how they came to imbue places with symbolic and cultural meaning. Contributors include: Ralph Fyfe on the pollen evidence of landscape change; Sam Turner on the Christian landscape; Peter Herring on both strip fields and Brown Willy, Bodmin Moor; O. H. Creighton and J. P. Freeman on castles; Phil Newman on tin working; and Lucy Franklin on folklore and imagined landscapes.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of Illustrations
• Dedication
• Foreword: Harold Fox
• 1. The Medieval Landscape of Devon and Cornwall: Sam Turner
• 2. Palaeoenvironmental Perspectives on Medieval Landscape Development: Ralph Fyfe
• 3. The Christian Landscape: Churches, Chapels and Crosses: Sam Turner
• 4. Cornish Strip Fields: Peter Herring
• 5. Medieval Fields at Brown Willy, Bodmin Moor: Peter Herring
• 6. Castles and the Medieval Landscape: O.H.Creighton and J.P.Freeman
• 7. Tinworking and the Landscape of Medieval Devon, c.1150–1700: Phil Newman
• 8. Imagined Landscapes: Archaeology, Perception and Folklore in the Study of Medieval Devon: Lucy Franklin
• Contributors