England's Revelry by Emma Griffin
This study looks at the relationship between popular recreations and the spaces in which they took place, and in doing so it provides a history of how England enjoyed itself during the long eighteenth century. Because the poor lacked land of their own, public spaces were needed for their sports and pastimes. Such recreations included: parish wakes and feasts; civic fairs and celebrations; football, cricket and other athletic sports; bull- and bear-baiting; and the annual celebrations of Shrove Tuesday and Guy Fawkes. Three case studies form the core of this book, each looking at the recreations and spaces to be found in different types of settlement: first, the streets and squares of provincial market towns; then the diverse vacant spaces to be found in industrialising towns and villages of the west Midlands and West Riding of Yorkshire; and finally the village greens of rural England. Through a detailed examination of contemporary books, diaries and newspapers, and records in over forty archives, Dr Griffin addresses the questions of what spaces were used, and what was the interaction with those who used and controlled the land. The industrial revolution has been seen to have had a negative impact on popular recreation; through its innovative use of the concept of space, this book provides a welcome alternative to this traditional view.
A masterly piece of scholarship, based on assiduous and detailed research, yet written in an accessible style* Roger Munting, Sport in History *
This monograph builds upon Emma Griffin's excellent 2001 Cambridge PhD thesis and offers a cultural history of parish wakes and feasts; civic fairs and celebrations; football, cricket and other athletic sports; bull - and bear - baiting; and the annual celebrations of Shrove Tuesday and Guy Fawkes day in the long eighteenth century. [It is] an important and useful, as well as an entertaining, read. * Continuity and Change *
...an important and useful, as well as an entertaining, read. * Patrick Driscoll, Cambridge University Press, Continuity and Change *
This monograph builds upon Emma Griffin's excellent 2001 Cambridge PhD thesis and offers a cultural history of parish wakes and feasts; civic fairs and celebrations; football, cricket and other athletic sports; bull - and bear - baiting; and the annual celebrations of Shrove Tuesday and Guy Fawkes day in the long eighteenth century. [It is] an important and useful, as well as an entertaining, read. * Continuity and Change *
...an important and useful, as well as an entertaining, read. * Patrick Driscoll, Cambridge University Press, Continuity and Change *
EMMA GRIFFIN is Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of East Anglia. She has previously taught at Cambridge and Sheffield and held visiting fellowships in New York and Paris. She is the author of England's Revelry: A History of Popular Sports and Pastimes, 1660-1800 (OUP 2005) and Blood Sport: A History of Hunting in Britain Since 1066 (Yale 2007) and has appeared on BBC radio and television.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780197263211 |
| ISBN 10 | 0197263216 |
| Title | England's Revelry |
| Author | Emma Griffin |
| Series | British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monographs |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2005-10-20 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Prizes | Winner of Winner of the 2005 Lord Aberdare Prize for Sport History. |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |