The author shows a breadth of knowledge that does him credit, for his work displays a grasp of botany, history and literature.
He delves into the history of each moor, bringing out the various characters, villainous, tragic and otherwise.who have made their story. In some ways what he provides is an insight into social and economic history, revealing incidents that contemporary history books overlook. For example, we talk of the Peterloo massacre in Manchester in 1819, but how many histories speak of the government's sending in the Husssars [cavalry] to defeat miners on Alston Moor in the same year. I am sixty five and have only just heard of it. Perhaps they don't want to reveal that the troops and therefore the government were outwitted by local knowledge and that integral to the outwitting was the role of the miners' wives, who managed to provide their hiding men with so much food that as moorland winter approached the troops were forced to compromise. Peterloo was tragic, but the government won; at Alston Moor it lost. So that's not history, is it?
Atkins presents us with sad characters, such as the wounded soldier who tried to eke a lonely and impoverished life in High Withens, the house upon which Wuthering Heights was based, as he struggled to rescue his wounded mind and body from the horrors of World War One. He tells of rich men with great ambitions to improve the moors and of how the moor defeated them. Their story is blended with that of poor, small farmers who rented the moorland from the rich and tried to grow corn on it, despite its inadequacy for cereal crops. Sadly Atkins does not link this process to the iniquitous corn laws that caused corn to be overpriced, and there is a lack of political background to the stories.
He tells of the founding of Dartmoor prison and the long suffering of the prisoners of war who constructed it, and he visits the modern prison for a service. The tragedy of the place soon becomes evident.
He speaks of the moors in our time,introducing characters who work on them. The gamekeepers are a group seldom addressed in literature, and we are introduced to them and obtain an insight into their minds. Yet we also meet conservationists bent on protecting raptors from game keepers.We meet characters who have retreated to remote moorland life so as to live what is for them an authentic existence. He describes their lives fairly and without romanticizing them.
Where literary connections are pertinent Atkins explores them. Thus much attention is paid to the Brontes at Haworth, and throughout the book he makes copious references to little known works about the moors which he has read. Thus this is a scholarly work,but a readable one.
Comments
frankbeswick, This is the kind of book that numbers among my favorites for reading carefully. Cultural geography is so fascinating, and it's helpful to find a book which is attuned not only to their famous renditions by the Bronte family but also to such respectively known and unknown events as Peterloo and Alston Moor.
Thank you for the share.
Yes, it is non-fiction. I have given but a sample of the depth of experience in the book. Perhaps I understated a little the author's experiences of walking across what at times and places is difficult territory. Sometimes, in bad weather conditions, the bogs can be grim. The bogs of Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor are particularly dangerous, so if you ever get to go to these places, beautiful in their immense solitude that they are, stick to the paths, please!
I get the understanding here that this is nonfiction. If so, it is of even greater value. I believe you that it is complete enough to be considered of value.
Glad to have inspired you to read it. I found it enjoyable and informative.
Thank you for bringing this book to my attention, Frank. It sounds fascinating and although I may never get around to reading it, I have added it to my list of 'books to read', that ever-lengthening book list that I print off every week and take with out between Library and bookshop. It sounds truly a good read.
In 1832 the landlord of the now non-existent inn,the Moorcock, and his gamekeeper son were beaten to death. The landlord survived long enough to whisper "pats, pats." Pats was a nickname given to Irish travelers, who were known to frequent the moor. No one who apprehended the description of a traveler group seen in the vicinity was ever apprehended and the murders are still unsolved.
A great book review, I never heard of the Saddleworth murders. What is that about?