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The Lake District was, until the 19th century, a remote, neglected and inaccessible part of England. Before the arrival of good road and rail networks and tourism it had been home to successive generations of very tough people: prehistoric peasant farmers, small Roman garrisons, Norse and Saxon settlers, monastic tenants and, after the Dissolution of the monasteries, the doughty farming families of yeomen or 'statesmen' and communities of miners and quarry workers. Each group has left its powerful imprint on the landscape and there is an exceptional legacy of prehistoric and Roman monuments, interesting medieval castles and monastic buildings and a wealth of post-medieval buildings in stone, as well as plenty of relics to attract the industrial archaeology enthusiasts. It is fitting that the Lake District should be the subject of one of the four volumes in the National Trust Histories series since the charity manages so man! y properties in the region and has done so much to conserve its beauty. There are scores of books which delight in the loveliness of the Lake District but very few which tell the visitor in uncomplicated terms about the creation of the landscape. There are also very few scholars who understand this story as well as Chris Bassinger and his account will add a new dimension to the pleasure and inspiration that so many derive from this remarkable north-west corner of England.

The name 'Wessex' is full of echoes of the ancient past - of Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill - and of the regional novels of Thomas Hardy. The ploughing up of traditional downland pastures and the removal of ancient hedgerows, woodlands and wetlands from the vales have changed some of Hardy's windswept grasslands and dairy-rich lowlands. Even so, Wessex contains some fine countryside and a wealth of monuments of different ages. Besides the glories of the prehistoric legacy, there is much else to absorb in the later landscape: the great churches of Salisbury Cathedral and Sherborne Abbey; famous mansions such as Wilton and Longleat; remarkable castles such as Portland and Corfe; the picturesque villages of Lacock and Milton Abbas; as well as important industrial monuments in Bradford-on-Avon and Swindon. In this lavishly illustrated book, one in a series of four National Trust histories, Humphrey Welfare explains the creation of the Wessex landscape and introduces the region's rich heritage of buildings and archaeological sites, some of them well-known and hugely popular, while others that are virtually overlooked.