OWPG’ s Roly Smith reviews the latest outdoor books
book reviews Roly Smith
OWPG’ s Roly Smith reviews the latest outdoor books
Common People: A Folk History of land rights, Enclosure and Resistance
Leah Gordon & Stephen Ellcock Watkins Publishing, £ 26.99( hb)
This weighty 240-page tome is an attractive pictorial, mainly photographic, account of the enclosure of what was once common land in England, and the centuries-old struggle to reclaim it.
The story starts with the Norman Conquest and the parcelling out of the land by William the Conqueror to his cronies, through to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, Gerald Winstanley’ s Diggers, Northamptonshire poet John Clare and the Enclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries, right up to the Right to Roam and trespass movements of today.
Along the way, through the photography of Stephen Ellock and artwork by various artists over the years, it highlights rural rebels and traditions, vagabonds, and even common-or-garden allotments, although quite why the iconic Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout in 1932 is classified under the latter heading eludes me. And nowhere in the book does it mention the rather important fact that five trespassers were actually imprisoned after the event.
The equally important but often overlooked Winter Hill trespass of 1896, in which up to 12,000 people demanded their right to access Col Richard Ainsworth’ s grouse moors near Bolton, is more comprehensively covered in the“ Arise
Albion!” chapter about mass protests. The Kinder Trespass receives a passing mention here, but again there’ s no reference to the subsequent imprisonments.
The chapter introductions by Leah Gordan and Annabel Edwards are detailed and comprehensive, and one of the real highlights of this important, welcome and far-reaching book.
Hadrian’ s Wall and its Trees
Ed. David Breeze Archaeopress, £ 29.99( pb)
Mention trees on Hadrian’ s Wall and it’ s a fair bet that most people will think of one in particular. The senseless felling of the Sycamore Gap in 2023 rightly attracted worldwide indignation and outrage, and it is covered with appropriate gravitas in this handsome book, which is graced by line drawings by former Guild committee member Mark Richards.
Unfortunately, as happened in its predecessor, Hadrian’ s Wall in our Time( 2024), Richards’ drawings are too often blown up to an extent which destroys their definition. And I found the absence of captions to most of the pictures rather frustrating. But this richly-illustrated book has fascinating contributions from about 50 distinguished scholars, archaeologists, artists and heritage specialists about the arboreal attractions of the Wall. It explores how trees have shaped the story of Hadrian’ s Wall from their use in Roman construction work and everyday life to their appearance in art, myth, and conservation in more modern times. The essays range from studies of ancient
woodlands and Roman carpentry to reflections on individual trees that have become landmarks in their own right. One example is the venerable yew in the churchyard at Beltingham, which possibly even predates the Wall and is attributed with having“ an animal energy” by Guild member Susie White in the accompanying essay. In addition to the major contributions by Breeze and Richards, contributors also include three members of the Birley family, which has spent several generations excavating and reconstructing the fort at Vindolanda; Paul Frodsham, former archaeologist with the Northumberland National Park, and Tony Gates, current chief executive of the National Park. The trunk of the felled tree now forms the centrepiece of an installation by artist Charlie Whinney at The Sill, the National Park’ s National Landscape Discovery Centre at Twice Brewed. The book expertly weaves together science, history, and emotion, demonstrating how trees, both ancient and modern, continue to give meaning to the Hadrian’ s Wall landscape, in what the editor calls“ a testament to renewal and continuity.”
Free Roaming – The Compleat Trespasser
John Bainbridge Self published, £ 8.99( pb)
This is the third, expanded edition of the author’ s seminal The Compleat Trespasser, first published in 2014, and it re-examines the issues dealt with previously, bringing the story of the Right to Roam movement and threats to the countryside bang up to date.
It’ s a sad fact that the English and Welsh public still only have the right to roam
4 OUTDOOR FOCUS Spring 2026