Land Reform in the British and Irish Isles Since 1800 - (Scotland's Land) by Shaun Evans & Tony McCarthy & Annie Tindley (Paperback)

About the Book

Presents a comparative analysis of land issues and impact of reform across the British and Irish Isles, in Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Book Synopsis

This book interrogates land issues and reform across the British and Irish Isles from c.1800 to 2021, with a particular focus on the period c.1830s-c.1940s. It builds on a rich body of work employing comparative approaches towards the 'Land Question' and the history of landed estates, drawing together fresh and original case studies which contextualise the historiographies of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. The contributors draw out similarities but also highlight the distinctive nature of land issues and reform programmes across the four nations of the British and Irish Isles.

From the Back Cover

Presents a comparative analysis of land issues and impact of reform across the British and Irish Isles, in Ireland, Scotland and Wales This book interrogates land issues and reform across the British and Irish Isles from c.1800 to 2021, with a particular focus on the period c.1830s-c.1940s. It builds on a rich body of work employing comparative approaches towards the 'Land Question' and the history of landed estates, drawing together fresh and original case studies which contextualise the historiographies of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. The contributors draw out similarities but also highlight the distinctive nature of land issues and reform programmes across the four nations of the British and Irish Isles. Key themes and issues discussed in the chapters include estate management and relationships between landowner and tenant; land reform agendas; legislative programmes and their impacts; landowner perspectives; and comparisons and contrasts between the experience of reform in the UK. Shaun Evans is Director of the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (ISWE) at Bangor University. Tony Mc Carthy is Visiting Fellow of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University. Annie Tindley is Professor of British and Irish Rural History at Newcastle University.

Review Quotes

the collection illustrates just how 'multifaceted' an issue land was and remains in the British and Irish Isles, and readers should be encouraged to approach the collection in its entirety as an opportunity to interrogate that multidimensionality.--Naomi Lloyd-Jones, Durham University "The Welsh History Review"

This book is a useful collection of essays on land reform in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland since 1800. It emphasizes the key differences between the four nations, arguing that there has been 'an imbalance of intensity between Scotland, Ireland and Wales, where land reform centred on the nature and conditions of tenure, protections and land distribution, and England, where it has been more diffuse, feeding into a multitude of debates, including enclosure, commons, game, housing and conservation'. The book is made up of 14 'original case studies', written by a range of contributors, mainly historians but also including lawyers and estate managers, offering expertise and life experiences outside the traditional domain of academic historians.--Michael Tichelar "Agricultural History Review"

This collection of essays on the politics, projects, and processes of land reform in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England is a very varied, timely and informative contribution to the subject [...] This volume should be essential reading for scholars and students interested in the subject, not least because it explains the legislative developments on both sides of the Irish Sea with great clarity, insightful detail and via broad chronological span.--Henry French "Family & Community History"

Who owned the countryside was a burning political question in the nineteenth and early twentieth century in all the nations of Britain and Ireland. It has never been resolved. This splendid book brings new energy to our knowledge of the historical question and contributes to a necessary discussion about our own times.-- "Richard Hoyle, Visiting Professor of Economic History, University of Reading"

About the Author

Shaun Evans is Director of the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (ISWE), a research centre based at Bangor University to enhance both academic and public understanding of country houses and landed estates in Wales. This includes a portfolio of projects focusing on the historical impacts and influences of these places, especially in relation to the histories and cultures of Wales, its landscapes, identities and global connections, and a sustained effort to make use of this knowledge to make in the spheres of heritage interpretation, cultural tourism, the rural economy, built environment and visitor experience. His own research focuses on gentry culture and landed estates in Wales, 1500-1900. He is also Chair of the North East Wales Heritage Forum.

Tony Mc Carthy is a PhD graduate of the Department of History, Maynooth University. A qualified accountant and former stockbroker, he holds an MBA from University College Dublin, and an MA in history from Maynooth University. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Newcastle University and a former Writer in Residence at the Princess Grace Library Monaco. He is author of The Shaws of Terenure, a nineteenth-century Dublin merchant family and has contributed to a number of other historical monographs. He is currently working on a book on George Wyndham's time in Ireland.

Annie Tindley is Professor of British and Irish Rural History at Newcastle University and Head of the School of History, Classics & Archaeology. Her work interrogates land issues in the modern period including ownership, management and reform. In 2015 she established and became the first director of the Centre for Scotland's Land Futures, an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary research centre, and is the series editor for Scotland's Land, an interdisciplinary book series published by Edinburgh University Press. She is the author of The Sutherland Estate, 1850-1920 (Edinburgh University Press, 2010), and Lachlan Grant of Ballachulish, 1871-1945 (co-edited with Ewen A. Cameron, Birlinn, 2015).