Agricultural History Review, Volume 60 Part 1 (2012), p. 136

We all tend to like books full of high-quality photographs, maps, images of old portraits and other fascinating material, and this is such a book. There can be no doubt that Tony Stephens knows his area and shares this knowledge enthusiastically with us. Craven was the name of a British kingdom. Its modern geography is usually taken to refer to the area of the Yorkshire Dales that runs south from Whernside to the Lancashire boundary, west to meet Cumbria and east to the watershed between Wharfedale and Nidderdale. From this substantial area Stephens has selected five towns (Burton in Lonsdale, Long Preston, Giggleswick, Settle and Rathmell) and two dales (Langstrothdale and Littondale). This is perhaps where the problems start, for – although we are provided with some truly splendid detailed maps – there is no map of the whole area to help those less familiar with this part of the north of England to put the discussions into context and understand how his subject areas relate to each other. A considerable proportion of the introductory chapter is devoted to explaining the documentary resources, which are generally illustrated with first-class images of the originals alongside a transcript; similar illustrations appear in later chapters. The five townships are each allocated a chapter, with chapter seven (which is longer than the others) devoted to both dales. There follows a remarkably brief conclusion given the complexity of what goes before. The volume ends with a relevant glossary, a list of abbreviations, the footnotes to the text and a bibliography. There is no index, which seems a significant weakness in a book dealing with complex and geographically widespread material. Each chapter moves between topics and seems to be driven by the documentary resources, which are often of great value. The Long Preston chapter for instance, mentions The Frameing Boke and generated deep envy in this reviewer that such a resource was available to the township’s historians. (This remarkable manuscript is thought to date to about 1590 and sets out detailed information as to who was responsible for which roads.) These top-quality resources are used liberally to generate an insight into his areas of interest. Each township is discussed over a lengthy timescale with some very detailed considerations of specific buildings and fields for which we are given maps and photographs of exemplary relevance, quality and labelling. Some of these more concentrated discussions are perhaps shorter than we might like. It is worth noting that there is more space devoted to the inhabitants of some towns than might be anticipated in a work dealing with landscapes.

We are never told why Stephens selected these townships rather than any of the others, which are, on the face of it, equally interesting, and we are left with a sense of an opportunity missed. Craven is a truly beautiful and fascinating place, with a long and rich history, but no narrative emerges from Stephens’s book. His resources are excellent but diverse; a more selective use of these, based upon narrower themes and shorter timescales, could have produced a clearer story. The relatively high number of photographs of walls immediately brought to mind Martin Wildgoose’s work on Roystone Grange, and this is clearly an aspect of Craven’s history worth pursuing. (Wildgoose’s work is discussed in R. Hodges, Roystone Grange: 6000 years of a peakland landscape, 2006.) The extremely detailed texts, together with the associated maps and photographs, which form an important component of the landscape discussions, generated a similar feeling that these minute descriptions based upon a comprehensive local knowledge could be a major strength. However, after all the caveats, this is a book one would be glad to possess and which is excellent value for its price.