Landscapes of Britain is an anthology, composed in visual terms, of the chief processes, both natural and man-made, that have led to the making of the rich variety of landscapes that we see in Britain today.
The fifty landscapes illustrated here demonstrate clearly the dual roles played by man and nature in the evolution of the scenery, and are selected to explain the diversity of Britain's scenic features. Man is a relative newcomer to the scene, but over the past 5000 years he has wrestled with and tamed the natural landscape to such an extent that in many areas only his influence seems apparent.
The greater part of Landscapes of Britain is concerned with history, but begins with examples of the natural processes - water, ice and volcanic activity - which shaped the main features of the landscape before Man began to reshape it, beginning with the first prehistoric settlements, and continuing through the Saxon and Norman influences, medieval times, towns that have failed and villages that have been completely deserted. Each of the fifty landscape features is richly illustrated with photographs and maps.