ii s. iv. JULY 29, Mil.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
99
0n
An Introduction to the Study of Local History
and Antiquities. By John E. Morris and
Humphrey Jordan. (Boutledge & Sons.)
THIS book is an outcome of the circular which the Board of Education issued in 1908 on the teaching of history in schools, but it should be welcomed by many people who have long done with school life.
The instructions Mr. Morris received " were to write a handy volume which would give a general idea of local history, and of antiquities, so that students may have a sense of proportion in com- paring the great events of our national life with the particular events in one district, and that in visiting a new county they may extend their comparisons." In this task he has succeeded, though, as he says, "much had to be left out," for three hundred and ninety pages cannot be made to contain a detailed description of local history and social development from the days of Palaeolithic man onwards.
Mr. Morris begins his first chapter by the declaration that one may doubt whether it is right to start at the Old Stone Age in such a book as this, but he wisely concludes that it is well to begin at the beginning. His account of the wild people whose remains are found in cave and drift is necessarily brief ; still he succeeds in leaving the impression that once they were not vague shadows, but veritable men with daily needs and daily hopes and fears, who fashioned weapons for killing wild animals, sheltered under banks or in caves, and warmed themselves at fires which they knew how to kindle.
The description of Neolithic life is, of course, far more elaborate, and the fact that the type of features which belonged to the New Stone men still survives in South Wales serves to link the distant world of pre-history with the Britain of to-day. That the New Stone Age introduced domestic cattle should be of interest to every one who knows anything of the scientific farming of the twentieth century. " Cattle-breeding marks a step in civilization, and precedes agriculture. The herdsmen required space, and found the ranges of downs and wolds convenient ; and next they had to think about defence and means to house the cattle. Defence leads to settlement. . . . .Agriculture comes late, sheep-breeding later. It is doubted whether the Stone Age men ever grew corn until the Bronze Age men came and taught them." Twenty pages are devoted to the Bronze-workers, their round barrows (which superseded the long ones), their megaliths, camps, dykes, and linches. The Iron Age before the arrival of the Romans is more briefly treated, but it is shown that the men of that period regularly sowed and ploughed, had chariots and horses, used fine weapons and tools with which they could turn out artistic work, and did not disdain the arts of luxury.
One of the most interesting chapters of the whole book is that on Anglo-Saxon England, and its village life after the sword of the invader had been beaten into a ploughshare. " In ' Domes- day Book' we find that the King, the King's thegns, and the earls held between them most of
the land of England. This state of affairs came
about because the bulk of the population, prefer-
ring to farm rather than to perform their military
duties as free warriors, had lost the art of war and
let the Danes in." To such a condition of things
the Norman overlord, living in a castle which
protected him against his villagers, succeeded
with less dislocation of the former social deve-
lopment than has been supposed. The food-
grower had already become subservient to the
warman who undertook the risks of battle.
The result of the struggle between William the Conqueror's descendants and Wales is de- scribed with the attention it deserves. The wars between England and Scotland no longer attract a disproportionate amount of attention. Mr. Morris points out that it was the Welsh struggle which armed England with the long- bow, destined to serve her so well on the battle- field :
" The men of Gwent were celebrated for their love of liberty and for their use of a rough but powerful bow of elm-wood long before the battle of Cre"cy. Much trouble did they give to the Braoses before they were finally subdued, but, when subdued, were most valuable allies on the English side. Their bow was the true long-bow, not drawn to the chest and aimed high into the a^r, as was the short bow at Hastings, but drawn to the ear and, if used at short range, aimed point, blank. . . .At the battle of Agincourt the English archers carefully aimed at the mailed throats of the Frenchmen, which they were able to pierce. Therefore at once after Agincourt a solid steel or iron gorget came to be used." Notwithstanding fully developed plate-armour, however, England's arrow-flight continued to do good service till the
- ime of the Tudors.
Even with the aid of photographs, it is difficult ay a verbal sketch to give a correct impression of the development of churches and castles. Still, the description of them is adequate.
Mr. Jordan's account of domestic architecture affords a definite idea of the gradual modifications undergone by the English house from home or- foreign influences.
His account of monastery life and monastic- juildings gives a clear outline of what existence must have been like in important abbeys and priories before the Reformation, though what he says suggests unintentionally perhaps that he las no very keen sympathy with cloister life hi practice, however admirable it may be hi theory.
Among other chapters for which Mr. Jordan is responsible is one on industrial England. The subject, with its complicated bearings on social expansion, is one which might well receive the lonour of a laborious volume to itself. The upgrowth of England, traced through the daily employments of its inventors and hand-workers rom the time the first rough flints were shaped or man's use, could not fail to be interesting.
A slight error occurs on p. 148, when the pro- >able site of Brunanburgh is under discussion. ' It is suggested that Athelstan marched by- Ermine Street, crossed the Ancholme by a Roman
- auseway, and took up his ground at Castlethorpe,
.hence advancing against the Danes at Burnham." Castlethorpe, however, lies west of the river, jetween it and Ermine Street. Any commander camped there would have it in his power to gain possession of the one point on the Lower Ancholme-
