The Rural Economy of the West of England

Between 1787 and 1798 the agricultural writer and land agent William Marshall (17451818) published a number of works on the rural economies of England covering Norfolk his native Yorkshire Gloucestershire the Midlands and the South. This two-volume study appeared in 1796 and investigated the farming geography public works and produce of districts in Devon Somerset Dorset and Cornwall. Volume 2 looks in detail at the upland areas of Cornwall and Devon at Dartmoor North Devon the vales of Exeter and Taunton and West Dorset. The coverage includes aspects of the laws surrounding land ownership the chemistry of the soil notes on the dairy industry and suggested improvements to farming practices. The result is a richly detailed survey of the area in the Georgian period and an important record of rural and agricultural life so often overlooked by other contemporary chroniclers.