Publication:

Making a Christian Landscape: The Countryside in Early-Medieval Cornwall, Devon and Wessex (2006)

Author(s): Turner SC

  • : Making a Christian Landscape

Abstract: This new interpretation of early medieval landscapes traces patterns of change in the South West from the introduction of Christianity to the Norman Conquest (AD c. 450–1070). It stresses the significance of political and religious ideology in early medieval Britain, both the ‘Celtic’ west and the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ east. Using innovative new research methods, and making use of archaeology, place-name evidence, historical sources and land-use patterns, it challenges previous work on the subject by suggesting that the two regions have much in common. Using modern mapping techniques to explore land-use trends, the book advances a new model for the evolution of ecclesiastical institutions in the region. It also shows that the early development of Christianity had an impact on the countryside that remains visible in the Europe's landscapes today.

  • Short Title: Making a Christian Landscape
  • Number of Pages: 218
  • Publisher: University of Exeter Press
  • Publication type: Authored book
  • Bibliographic status: Published
    Staff

    Dr Sam Turner
    Senior Lecturer in Archaeology