 |
The Lost VillagesHenry Buckton Across the length and breadth of Britain there are more than 3,000 lost villages. These were once thriving communities that fell victim to the pressures of disease, industry, or social and political change and are now reduced to ivy-clad, weather-worn ruins. This book studies some of the more recent villages, including Hallsands in Devon, which was swept into the sea during a violent storm in 1917; Morwellham Quay in Devon and Dylife in Wales, which were copper mining villages that the people abandoned once the ore ran out; Clicket and Stoke Bottom, both deep in Somerset woodlands, which were rural communities revolving around the local mills; Stocks-in-Bowland and Greenbooth in Lancashire, were among villages flooded to create reservoirs to serve major cities; Imber on Salisbury Plain and Tyneham in Dorset, requisitioned to help safeguard the nation but never given back; Penybanc and Panytwaun in Wales, coal mining villages which slid away due to earth tremors; and Moorswater in Cornwall, which was ripped in half by the building of the A38 trunk road. Combining the memories of people who lived in these communities and historical research, The Lost Villages, attempts to rediscover what is was actually like to live in these ghost communities. Although each village is very different, collectively they give us an insight into the social history of our near ancestors. Published by I.B. Tauris ISBN: 978 1 84511 671 2
|
