the agricultural history review history the agricultural contents the A Suffolk farmer in the fifteenth century christopher dyer agricultural The design for the initial drainage of the Great Level of the Fens: an historical whodunit in three parts margaret albright knittl history Scottish crop yields in the second half of the seventeenth century: evidence from the Mains of Castle Lyon in the Carse of Gowrie review mary young Married with children: the family status of female day-labourers at two south-western farms 55 volume joyce burnette Regional agricultural wage variations in early nineteenth-century England margaret lyle Annual list of publications on agrarian history, 2005 i part peter mcshane Review Article: A rare thing: the memoirs of a Breton peasant r. w. hoyle Book Reviews Conference Report a journal of agricultural and rural history 2007 Volume 55, Part I issn 0002-1490 2007 The Agricultural History Review Volume 55 Part I 2007 contents Notes on Contributors iv The frontline of freedom: British farming in the Second World War vi Call for Papers: Land, landscape and environment, 1500–1750 vii Forthcoming Conferences viii A Suffolk farmer in the fifteenth century christopher dyer 1 The design for the initial drainage of the Great Level margaret 23 of the Fens: an historical whodunit in three parts albright knittl Scottish crop yields in the second half of the seventeenth mary young 51 century: evidence from the Mains of Castle Lyon in the Carse of Gowrie Married with children: the family status of female joyce burnette 75 day-labourers at two south-western farms Regional agricultural wage variations in early margaret lyle 95 nineteenth-century England Annual list of publications on agrarian history, 2005 peter mc shane 107 Review Article: A rare thing: the memoirs of a Breton peasant r. w. hoyle 123 book reviews Britain and Ireland Hugh Kearney, The British Isles. A history of four nations rhys jones 126 Bruce M.S.Campbell and Ken Bartley, England on the eve christopher dyer 127 of the Black Death. An atlas of lay lordship, land and wealth, 1300–49 ii agricultural history review C.M.Woolgar, D.Serjeantson and T.Waldron (eds), Food in richard c. 128 medieval England. Diet and nutrition hoffmann Simon Townley (ed.), The Victoria history of the counties j. r. maddicott 129 of England. A history of the county of Oxford, XV, Carterton, Minster Lovell and environs, Bampton hundred part three John Harrop, Paul Booth and Sylvia Harrop (eds), Extent of richard britnell 130 the Lordship of Longdendale, 1360 P.S.Barnwell and Malcolm Airs (eds), Houses and the hearth j. v. beckett 131 tax: the later Stuart house and society Heather M.Beaumont with members of the Hebden History christine s. 132 Group, Pointers to the past: the historical landscape of Hebden hallas township, upper Wharfedale Alysha Levene, Thomas Nutt and Samantha Williams (eds), barry reay 133 Illegitimacy in Britain, 1700–1920 Herbert Hope Lockwood, Tithe and other records of Essex nesta evans 134 and Barking Anne Orde (ed.), Matthew and George Culley. Farming letters, heather holmes 134 1798–1804 James P.Huzel, The popularization of Malthus in early michael turner 135 nineteenth-century England. Martineau, Cobbett and the pauper press Robert Lee, Unquiet country. Voices of the rural poor, alun howkins 136 1820–1880 M.Holland and J.Cooper (eds), Essex harvest: a collection e. j. t. collins 137 of essays in memory of Arthur Brown Paul Brassley, Jeremy Burchardt and Lynne Thompson (eds), r. j. moore-colyer 139 The English countryside between the wars. Regeneration or decline? Elsewhere and General Andrew Chamberlain, Demography in archaeology nancy howell 140 J.R.McNeill and Verena Winiwarter (eds), Soils and societies. karl w. butzer 141 Perspectives from environmental history James Gerber and Lei Guang (eds), Agriculture and rural eric pawson 142 connections in the Pacific, 1500–1900 contents iii Michael Williams, Deforesting the Earth: from prehistory j. m. powell 143 to global crisis. An abridgment David B. Danbom, Born in the country. A history allan g. bogue 144 of rural America J.Bolòs, A.Jarne and E.Vicedo (eds), Condicions de vida joseph harrison 145 al món rural F.Démier, J-C.Farcy, G.Sanz Lafuente, N.Vivier hugh clout 145 and C.Zimmerman, Les sociétés rurales (1830–1930): historiographie, bibliographie, enjeux Margaret E.Derry, Horses in society. A story of animal breeding phillip thurtle 146 and marketing culture, 1800–1920 Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom, The John Deere story. peter dewey 147 A biography of plowmakers John and Charles Deere Moon-Ho Jung, Coolies and cane. Race, labor, and sugar edward rhoads 148 in the age of emancipation Richard Perren, Taste, trade and technology. The development margaret walsh 149 of the international meat industry since 1840 Eric W.Mogren, Native soil. A history of the DeKalb County kimberly 150 Farm Bureau k. porter Conference Report: The Society’s Winter Conference, 2006 jane whittle 151 Notes on Contributors joyce burnette is Daniel F.Evans Associate Professor of Economics at Wabash College in Craw- fordsville, Indiana. She is currently working on analysis of a large sample of farm accounts. Her two most recent publications, ‘The wages and employment of female day-labourers in English agriculture’ (Economic History Review, 57, 2004) and ‘How skilled were agricultural labourers in the early nineteenth century?’ (Economic History Review, 59, 2006) together with the paper in this part of the Review all arise from this project. Address: Dept. of Economics, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN 47933, USA, e-mail [email protected]. christopher dyer is Professor of Regional and Local History in the Centre for English Local History in the University of Leicester. He works on various aspects of the economy, society and land- scape of England in the middle ages, and uses the evidence of material remains as well as documents. His recent publications include Making a living in the middle ages: the people of Britain 850–1520 (Yale UP, 2002; Penguin, 2003) and An age of transition? Economy and society in England in the later middle ages (Oxford UP, 2005). He served as president of the British Agricultural History Society in 2004–7. Address: Centre for English Local History, University of Leicester, 5 Salisbury Road, Leicester le1 7qr, e-mail [email protected]. margaret albright knittl is an Associate Professor Emeritus of York University (Ontario). She received her MSc (Econ.) in 1954 from the London School of Economics specializing in the economic policies of the early Stuart Privy Council. Her article, ‘The entrepreneurs of fen draining in England under James I and Charles I: an illustration of the uses of influence’, published in 1955 in Explorations in Entrepreneurial History laid the groundwork for a fresh look at early drainage projects in England’s eastern fens. She is currently preparing a paper on the differing nature and impact on drainage projects of the customary laws of marshland and fenland communities. Address: 21 Dale Ave., Apt. 723, Toronto, On., m4w 1k3, Canada, email [email protected]. margaret lyle was an organometallic chemist before qualifying as an accountant. More recently she took a second degree in History at Reading followed by the MA in Rural History. She currently works in financial management consultancy, but has turned her interest in large databases to use in the analysis of the answers to the Rural Queries of 1832. Address: 29 The Hawthorns, Charvil, Berks, rg10 9ts, email [email protected]. mary young is Senior Archive and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Archive, Records Management and Museum Services, University of Dundee. She received her PhD (‘Rural Society in Scot- land from the Restoration to the Union: Challenge and Response in the Carse of Gowrie, c.1660–1707’) from the University of Dundee in 2004. With Prof. Christopher Whatley and Dr Karen Cullen she has notes on contributors v co-authored an article on ‘King William’s Ill Years: new evidence on the impact of scarcity and harvest failure during the crisis of the 1690s on Tayside’ (Scottish Historical Rev., 85, 2006) and a chapter, ‘Battered but unbowed: Dundee, c.1603–1727’, which will appear in Dundee 1600–1800, edited by C.A.McKean (forthcoming, 2007). She is currently working on a social history, incorporating oral testimony, of the Lowland Scottish rural community of Abernyte, c.1900–1950. Address: Archives, Records Management and Museum Services, University of Dundee, Dundee, dd1 4hn, email [email protected]. agricultural history review Announcing Supplement 4 The front line of freedom British Farming in the Second World War edited by Brian Short, Charles Watkins and John Martin In the 1930s farming was in the doldrums, unable to cope with the weight of cheap imports into the United Kingdom. By the end of the war, farming had been transformed and farmers were heroes who, albeit with the aid of rationing, had maintained food supplies so well that major shortages – and certainly starvation – had been entirely avoided. So successfully had agriculture performed that the reputation established in wartime came to determine the fortunes of the industry for the following forty years. This pioneering collection of sixteen essays ranges widely, discussing such varied issues as labour supply, mechanization, organic farming, wartime planning and the requisition of land. It asks, for the first time, pertinent questions of agriculture in the Second World War, sometimes arriving at answers which are uncomfortable and revisionist. It points the way to a new under- standing of a crucial industry’s performance in wartime and sheds new light on the origins of its post-war fortunes. Agricultural History Review Supplement Series 4, publication 1 February 2007, 256pp, 28 Figs including 14 illustrations, ISBN 0-903269-04-x : price £17.50 (€30.00) post free from the Soci- ety, or from booksellers.