Monday 14 April 2014

Read in 2014 - 12: Vanishing England

This work of non-fiction accompanied me on my train trips to and from work for many weeks, and it is one of the few instances when I wished I had it as a physical book instead of an ebook, or at least its "full" version - mine came without illustrations. There are so many of them mentioned in the text, and they would so nicely complement the words, that I now went through the online HTML version at Project Gutenberg and browsed it for them.

Photo found on the internet; my kindle copy has a very simple cover.

"Vanishing England" was written by Peter H. Ditchfield (1854 - 1930) and published in 1910. The author bemoans how the change of times, needs of an ever-growing population and ever more industrialized society are wreaking havoc with what he loves most about England.

The book is neatly divided into chapters about walled towns, castles, churches, mansions, cottages, prehistoric remains, inns and pubs, bridges and crosses. But it is not limited to buildings and structures. It also talks about vanishing customs, fairs, documents and scenery. 

A lot of the time, what the author complains about as ugly (because too modern), is now, more than a 100 years later, considered quaint and oldfashioned. Sometimes, he seems to be a bit unrealistic about his dreams of a "better" past, wishing for the country people to remain forever in their traditional dwellings without any modern comfort, and preferably, in the mental state of their forefathers, too, when they had not yet developed a taste for pleasures such as train trips to the Seaside.

But mostly, what he says rings true, and with a bit of an effort, many old buildings could have been saved from destruction. I especially liked what he says about the old English village:
I have said in another place that no country in the world can boast of possessing rural homes and villages which have half the charm and picturesqueness of our English cottages and hamlets. They have to be known in order that they may be loved. The hasty visitor may pass them by and miss half their attractiveness. They have to be wooed in varying moods in order that they may display their charms—when the blossoms are bright in the village orchards, when the sun shines on the streams and pools and gleams on the glories of old thatch, when autumn has tinged the trees with golden tints, or when the hoar frost makes their bare branches beautiful again with new and glistening foliage. Not even in their summer garb do they look more beautiful. There is a sense of stability and a wondrous variety caused by the different nature of the materials used, the peculiar stone indigenous in various districts and the individuality stamped upon them by traditional modes of building.
In other chapters, he is very realistic about how dangerous and cruel life really was for most people; not just when they were engaged in battles and wars, but daily life with its horrible treatment of even the pettiest of crimes (or mere suspicion).

In the chapter about inns, of course there is also talk of inn signs, which made me think of John's (Scriptor Senex) posts about the subject.This illustration from the book is for you, John:

I also learned some ethymology in this book. Did you know where the word "tawdry" comes from? I do now:
Fairs have enriched our language with at least one word. There is a fair at Ely founded in connexion with the abbey built by St. Etheldreda, and at this fair a famous "fairing" was "St. Audrey's laces." St. Audrey, or Etheldreda, in the days of her youthful vanity was very fond of wearing necklaces and jewels. "St. Audrey's laces" became corrupted into "Tawdry laces"; hence the adjective has come to be applied to all cheap and showy pieces of female ornament.
When it was written, the National Trust had started its work only 15 years ago, and is often referred to in the book as having saved this or that building from being pulled down, with the amount of money spent mentioned as well, which makes for quite interesting reading.

This is one of the books that will remain on my kindle for future reference.

20 comments:

  1. It's difficult to find the balance between preserving the past and keeping up with the needs of the present.

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    1. It certainly is, and I very much appreciate it when coming across an old building that has been renovated well, without losing its individual look and feel.

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  2. I am able to get this free kindle book here and have just done so. I'm definitely an Anglophile, and thank you for the recommendation, as well as the hint about seeing the illustrations at Gutenberg. (I'm a Germanophile, too, and have ancestors from both places as well as Scotland and France.)

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  3. I'm excited about all the other free kindle books by this author!

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    1. I've seen them, too, Kristi, and possibly will download the one about English Villages. It's a shame, though, that we have to go elsewhere for the illustrations.

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  4. Hey! The Star Inn is in Alfriston, E. Sussex and it is not far from my in-laws in Eastbourne! I believe that Paul McCartney lives near there in Peasmarsh. It is my dream to see him around there someday!
    Alfriston is a lovely spot to visit if you are ever in the area!
    I would love this book, I know I would. Love learning about "tawdry", thank you!

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    1. Oh, I do get things mixed up! Peasmarsh is near RYE, which is a lovely village also! Alfriston is near Polegate, (just outside Eastbourne) and Richard has relatives who live there too! Alfriston has a lovely children's zoo, Druzillas, that I remember with fondness. :-)

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    2. I am sure Alfriston is a lovely place to visit, but Sussex is quite far off from Yorkshire, where I usually spend all my time while in England, what with wanting to see the family and there being so many beautiufl places to discover, too.
      When I was writing the review, I was thinking of you, Kay, knowing that you'd like this book :-)

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  5. Thanks for the tip. I downloaded the version with images to my computer for now.

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    1. You are welcome, and did well getting the version with images.

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  6. I just looked up the author and Peter Ditchfield was an Anglican Priest, so I know I would like him!

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    1. I found a short biography of his, too, where it said that he was a Reverend, and much beloved by the people of his community.

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  7. Maintaining a balance between 'progress' and retaining what's perceived as the beauty of the past is a difficult one and, of course, also varies with people's perceptions of what is beautiful, what is worth preserving and what should be replaced and by what it should be replaced. Life is rarely simple. I suspect my heart may be with the author but my head in a more realistic place.

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    1. That balance is indeed difficult to achieve. I just don't like it when people see all the poverty and backwardness of a place and think of it as how "quaint" and "picturesque" it all is, such as in places where tourists go (think Cuba), and then return to their hotel rooms where they get angry when even the smallest detail is not as luxurious as they demand it to be (air conditioning and so on).

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  8. He was complaining about change already then, imagine what he would say now? Things change so rapidly that it's hard to keep up.

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    1. He would have probably been a very unhappy man, if he was alive today and travelling to the places he describes in the book.

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  9. It is amazing to me that such a book was written so very long ago - a time we all look back at as England being so perfectly beautiful. Just shows, doesn't it? People are always looking back at so-called better days, though it does sound like he was aware of the bad side as well.

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    1. That's true, just like each generation thinks their Elders don't understand them, and each elder generation thinks the young ones are all crazy and irresponsible etc.
      I think what Mr. Ditchfield found so shameful was that although there often were the means (financially as well as the techniques) to keep and restore an old building to its former glory, they weren't applied, because people preferred something more up-to-date which he found ugly in style.

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  10. This book sounds fascinating, and I admire that Great Britain has preserved some of its countryside, cottages, old farms, etc. My husband and I spent several weeks exploring England and Wales and rented a new camper van to do it. We live in California where 50 year old buildings are often torn down, so how will we ever have truly old buildings!

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    1. Your exploring of England and Wales sounds great, I am sure you made many fascinating discoveries and saw some places where you wish you could have stayed longer.
      Well, it all depends on how things are built; some are just not made to last very long from the start. In my town, we've had cheap supermarket buildings that looked shabby only a few years after they were erected, and when planning wasn't done properly, one even had to come down 10 years after construction because it was unsafe.

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