Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent unused condition. No notes or highlighting. Small amount of dust marking on top. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> This is an examination of the changing patterns of landscape exploitation and management around the Severn Estuary in South West Britain. It aims to illustrate how a wide range of natural and human processes have combined to shape a distinctive area of countryside notably through land reclamation. Three central themes in this study are firstly the importance of wetlands as examples of ‘marginal areas’ secondly the concept of integrating a wide range of source material in interrogating the present or ‘historic’ landscape and thirdly the need to examine landscapes on a regional scale. The study area is dominated by coastal wetlands derived from reclaimed saltmarshes and peat bogs. The term ‘wetland’ is widely applied to a variety of ecosystems ‘dominated by water in their formation development and ecological functions’ (Gosselink and Maltby 1990: 296) with ‘perennial water- tables at or near the surface’ (Orme 1990: 42) and which as a result have “temporary or permanent waterlogging’ (Moore 1990: 95). In their natural state wetlands offer a wealth of resources while when reclaimed they provide rich agricultural land. The landscape of today was produced through the construction of sea-walls and the subsequent enclosure and drainage of the area so protected from inundation. (SP)