Agricultural History Review, Volume 51 Part 1 (2003), p. 125

In an important and timely reassessment of the model farmsteads consciously built and planned as complete units, but often dismissed as trivial and impractical, this volume builds on an English Heritage survey of planned and model farmsteads. Research on surviving examples or documentary references has identified over eight hundred sites widely distributed over England’s arable and mixed farming regions.

The author identifies the preconditions necessary for the movement, unique to Britain, to develop: the rise of the great landlords; the development of leases; the establishment of the landlord and tenant system, which split the use of capital between land and buildings on the one hand, and stock, crops, labour and manures on the other. Though much landlord wealth came from outside agriculture – property, mining, manufacturing, banking and shipping – the scale of investment suited only estates of over 3000 acres which incorporated mixed farms of over 200 acres.

Many great estates have archives of plans and documents, enabling their steadings to be precisely dated and firmly attributed not only to nationally-known architects such as Samuel Wyatt but also to versatile provincial land agents and architects like John Douglas in Cheshire and Frederick Chancellor in Essex. In some cases, sources of ideas and designs can be linked to the work of contemporary architectural and agrarian writers or to the RASE farm prize competitions. A strength of the study is that it avoids concentrating on well known examples and features estates, such as the Strutt farms in Derbyshire, which are little-known outside their own locality.

The emphasis is on motivation, design, and function, rather than structural technicalities. With an eye for practical detail, the author clearly elucidates the development and evolution of farmstead layout, showing the favoured courtyard arrangement to have originated in the combined influences of medieval English traditions and the Palladian villa farm.

The earliest phase, 1790–1840, affected newly-enclosed or reclaimed land which awaited infrastructure, notably in Northumberland and East Yorkshire, where labour was scarce due to industrialization. Cereals were the main 126 the agricultural enterprise, hungry for manure produced by yarded cattle. The study highlights the distinction between horse-powered threshing in the mechanized north of England and hand-power in the labour-surplus south. Siting of motive power is shown to influence the orientation of the barn in relation to the yard. Wherever landlords were transforming estates, landscape enhancement with classical or picturesque designs, often sourced from pattern books, was part of the project. The freshness of the newly-built farmsteads is recaptured in the high quality colour photography.

Dr Wade Martins considers mid-nineteenth century examples, especially of the decades 1850–1870, to be of most value to agricultural historians. In this ‘industrial phase’ utility was the priority and technological advance more widespread, leading to greater involvement in plan-ning by land agents and engineers. More livestock accommodation, especially for beef cattle, prompted renewed interest in mechanized crop and feed process-ing, efficient process flow, and economy of labour. In the late nineteenth century, highly specialized dairying farmsteads were constructed in districts convenient to urban markets, such as Cheshire. There was marked interest in reducing building and maintenance costs, seen in the popularity of iron-framed barns clad with corrugated iron. Planned and model farms were now widespread in mixed farming areas and, though not necessarily profitable, the innovation was known and potentially influential countrywide.

Although the complete database is located in the National Monuments Record, county summaries describe the more important examples. However, a differently arranged index would have improved the book as a working tool. Sites are currently indexed firstly by parish, then holding, then county. If re-ordered by county/ parish/holding, the index could be more easily used in conjunction with the county synopses. Regrettably, proof-reading has been lax. There are spelling and captioning errors and, more seriously, a number of references in the notes are missing from the bibliography.

A wealth of carefully-chosen photographs and plans, combined with textual descriptions, make the farmsteads accessible, illustrate the dovetailing of enterprises and allow exploration of the relationships between the different functional parts. The plans emphasize the sharp contrast between the adaptable general purpose buildings of today and the highly specialized structures with preciselynamed functions of the planned and model steadings.

Concisely summarized chapters trace factors which emphasize regional and sectoral differences within English farming, set in a clear context of time, place and personages. The author has produced an accessible, reasonably-priced source book which teases out the history review influences behind the sometimes fanciful facades whilst bringing out the social, economic and agrarian background.