The South Downs

by Peter Brandon

The South Downs has throughout history been a focus of English popular culture. With chalkland, their river valleys and scarp-foot the Downs have been shaped for over millennia by successive generations of farmers, ranging from Europe's oldest inhabitants right up until the 21st century. '... possibly the most important book to have been written on the South Downs in the last half-century ... The South Downs have found their perfect biographer.' Downs Country

248 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 1998

Reviews

[Snicketts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember this author as a guest lecturer when I was at Uni. I think it was part of the People in the Landscape module and his passion and deep knowledge of the Downs was quite inspirational. I remember him going off on a tangent every third sentence and him sparking my love of place name meanings with his theories.

All that passion is condensed into this book, and although his horror at what has become of the Downs is obvious, it never detracts from his love of Sussex or of his curiosity to know more.

To anyone who doesn't know the Downs, this must come across as a dry book with a lot of information about sheep and crop yields, but there are still nuggets of folklore or dialect or anecdote to discover.

I first read this book years ago when I was studying archaeology and I relied on quoting from it for several essays. When I came to buy a copy last year, I had to go to the second-hand online stores to find one. To my utter delight, the book I bought had the Sussex University stamp inside the cover and several passages that I had underlined (very lightly) all those years ago. That made me happy.

[James Huggett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well rounded overview of the history of the settlement of the South Downs. Although it has more information than I’ll ever need on shepherding and sheep breeding there is an endless bibliography of useful sources and inspiring historical writers and artists from the local area to springboard into.