Author Archives: cow
The Sound Of History by Roy Palmer
The Sound Of History
By Roy Palmer
This is an amazing book. Not specifically about land but it has a chapter on the topic.
I cannot stress enough what a legend this man and his writings are. This is not the first book of his you should read but it is certainly one you want on your reading list.
(1649*) The World Turned Upside Down by Leon Rosselson
This song about The Diggers of 1649 is most famously known via Billy Bragg’s version.
Leon Rosselson who penned the track is a prolific songwriter who is still very much around and performing – check out his website here – http://leonrosselson.co.uk/
This Land Is Our Land by Marion Shoard
This Land Is Our Land
by Marion Shoard
The definitive book on land both past and present, although it has sadly not been updated since the 80’s.
It gets a bit heavy going in places but the first third, which is a history from Roman times to the present, is totally gripping and a must read for anyone interesting in land and land rights.
I had to take quite a few breaks whilst reading it as sections of it made me really angry and/or sad.
(1834*) Tolpuddle Man by Graham Moore
Graham Moore has written a number of brilliant songs about historical figures and events including one about Tom Paine and this one about the Tolpuddle Martyrs who got on the wrong side of the establishment for starting a workers’ union in the 1830’s.
His album is really good and can be bought from the usual suspects – iTunes, CD Baby and Amazon.
His website is https://grahamoore.blogspot.com/. Here is the track on youtube:
The Long Affray: The Poaching Wars in Britain by Harry Hopkins
The Long Affray: The Poaching Wars in Britain
by Harry Hopkins
Published in 1985, this life changing book was given to me by Sam Lee.
“A beautiful telling of the age-old battle between peasant and landowner where for the price of a rabbit or a pheasant men were murdered, transported as convicts and executed.
This ancient struggle over game was not just about food for the poor poachers and their families, it was about social rank and the power of the landed gentry, the burgeoning class politics of the time and the harsh realities of rural life.”
Photos from The Rose And Crown in Walthamstow on 5th April 2013
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- Ariane Hadjilias and a spellbound audience
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- The wonderful Walthamstow audience, over 150 people came and most of them managed to fit in somehow.
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- Hugh Lupton in full flow
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- Robin Grey singing ‘The Manchester Rambler’ by Ewan Maccoll in Walthamstow
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- Ru Litherland shares a little bit of guerrilla poetry about the Zapatistas
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- Mark Brown performed an abbreviated version of the original Diggers Song and well as demonstrating his brilliant harmonic playing
A People’s History Of England by A.L. Morton
A People’s History Of England
by A.L. Morton
A leading Marxist historian, book written in 1938. Recommended reading by Roy Palmer.
A.L. Morton’s wikipedia page – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._L._Morton
An absolutely riveting, disturbing and fascinating read which turned my world view of history on its head. You can download a pdf of the book from https://libcom.org/files/England-part-1_0.pdf
Photos from Hogacre performance in Oxford on 14th September 2013
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- We manage to fit just over a hundred of Oxford’s finest in the room. This meant taking out all of the furniture including the book-shelves, piano and fire-grate.
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- Food for a hundred and thirty people was magic’d up by an amazing team of volunteers.
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- Jackie Singer and Phil Pritchard teach the room their new ending to ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ by Leon Rosselson
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- A close up of that lovely food spread
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- Hannah Fenton produced the event in Oxford and what an amazing job she did of it
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- Laura Burns captivating the audience with a story about The Highland Clearances in Oxford
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- Robin Grey setting the scene
Oxgrow, Cultivate and Abundance Oxford – Hogacre Common Ecopark – Oxford, Oxfordshire – 14/09/13
The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker
The Many-Headed Hydra
by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker
This book gives much food for thought, bringing a fresh perspective to number of themes such as slavery and pirates which help put English peasant struggles of the time in a wider context.
Whilst I would highly recommend it, I would also advise with some caution as the scholarship is not as widely respected as it might be.
This review from the Guardian does a good job and it worth a look – http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jan/27/historybooks
The Permaculture Festival – Cecil Sharp House – Regent’s Park, London – 14/07/13
Harvest by Jim Crace
Harvest
by Jim Crace
This is the only fiction book I have in this section at the moment and it is a gem.
Set in medieval times, the story concerns a village about to be enclosed for sheep farming.
Books on Peterborough and The Fens
Here are the books which Hazel Perry brought along to the workshops localising the show for Peterborough…
Free Thinkers and Troublemakers: Fenland Dissenters / Harry Jones / Published by the Wisbech Society & Preservation Trust / ISBN 0951922076
Peterborough: A Story of City and Country, People and Places / (Peterborough City Council, published by Pitkin) / ISBN 1-84165-050-1
From Punt to Plough: A History of the Fens / Rex Sly / The History Press / ISBN 978-0-7509-3398-8
Peterborough (Britain In Photographs) / Lisa Sargood / Budding Books / ISB 1-84015-247-8
Peterborough Through Time (A Second Selection) / June and Vernon Bull / ISBN 978-1-84868-990-9
The Lost Fens / England’s Greatest Ecological Disaster / Ian D Rotherham / ISBN 978-0-7524-8699-4
Peterborough / HF Tebbs / ISBN 0900891300
Open House 2013 – Open House – Elephant And Castle, London – 19/05/13
Community Food Growers Network Spring Feast – Ye Olde Rose And Crown Theatre Pub – Walthamstow, London – 05/04/13
Utopia by Thomas More
So powerful re-reading the words of Thomas More from ‘Utopia’ now I understand the historical context of his words.
The first part of the book is largely a critique of the society around him written in a fictional form to protect him from persecution…
“your sheep that were wont to be so meek and tame, and so small eaters, now, as I heard say, be become so great devourers and so wild, that they eat up, and swallow down the very men themselves.”
http://www.bartleby.com/209/55.html
In short, communities were deprived of their access to land to make way for sheep. The wool from these sheep became the first resource to be mass produced and traded leading to massive accumulation of excess capital in the hands of a few large landowners.
This excess capital could be invested in ships which laid the foundation for empires and slavery bringing along the second big accumulation of excess capital.
Read the wikipedia entry here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book)
Who Owns England? by Guy Shrubsole
The blog Who Owns England? by Guy Shrubsole and Anna Powell Smith has been a near constant source of excellent original research into the state of land ownership in England for the last few years. It was happy news when the learnings from this project were augmented in summer 2019 with the arrival of an eponymous book written by Guy.
Now it would be amiss of me to state at this point that both Guy and Anna are good friends of mine and I was one of the people who read Guy’s draft and fed back into the book’s journey. Luckily, I genuinely thought and do think that this is a really great read which draws the reader through the important information Guy and Anna have uncovered, illustrated with insights, stories and more than enough linguistic colour to be really quite compelling.
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