W. G. Hoskins

William George Hoskins was born at 26–28 St David's Hill, Exeter, Devon on 22 May 1908: his father, like his grandfather, was a baker.[1] He won a scholarship to Hele's School in 1918, and attended the University College of South West England where he gained BSc and MSc degrees in economics by the age of 21.He found the trade statistics to be dull lecture material, but he enjoyed the evenings that he spent teaching archaeology and local history at Vaughan College.[5] Hoskins sets out his stall in the introduction with "No book exists to describe the manner in which the various landscapes of this country came to assume the shape and appearance they now have...".[6] The brief concluding chapter contains only one image, Plate 82, "The completed English landscape" showing a tall tree in a wide open field, a strip of hedges and villages just visible in the distance.The chapter laments the damage caused to parts of the English landscape, mentioning bulldozers and tractors, nuclear bombers and by-passes, and ends by celebrating again the wealth of detail within a few hundred yards of Hoskins' study window at Steeple Barton.
In The Making of the English Landscape , Hoskins explains features like the distinctive ridge and furrow pattern in open field system farming, seen here at Wood Stanway , Gloucestershire.
ExeterCullomptonThe Making of the English Landscapelocal historianEnglish Local Historylandscape historyhistoricalenvironmental conservationHele's SchoolUniversity College of South West EnglandeconomicsUniversity College, Leicesterurban historyvernacular architecturelocal historyVictoria County HistoryUniversity of Oxfordridge and furrowopen field systemWood StanwaySteeple BartonPenelope LivelyWilliam BoydW. H. AudenpalimpsestDartmoor Preservation AssociationUniversity of LeicesterHorizonLandscapes of EnglandBritish AcademyRoyal Institute of British ArchitectsRoyal Geographical SocietyUniversity of ExeterDoctorate of LettersSt Anne's College, Oxfordblue plaqueJonathan CapeMacmillanStamp, L. DudleyDavid & CharlesFaber & FaberFrancis PryorPugh, R .B.Thirsk, JoanBeckett, J. V.