School of Historical Studies

‘Countryside’ is one of the most-used words in landscape and environmental management in the UK. Much thought has been given to definitions of landscape, but the word countryside is almost taken for granted. In landscape-related texts and planning documents ‘countryside’ and ‘landscape’ are often treated as synonyms even though they mean very different things. This may not be a big problem within the UK where at least the approximate meaning is understandable, but more awareness of the use of concepts will be necessary as use of the English language for cross border cooperation and international publishing grows within the international community. This paper examines the origins and recent evolution of the term “countryside” in the UK. It argues that countryside it is a distinctively British notion and like the word ‘heritage’, has come to be a loaded term that carries a very particular set of assumptions that often treated as givens. Care needs to be taken when used in the context of other countries, and even in the UK it needs to be used with greater understanding than has sometimes been the case.

Two national reviews of the HLC programme have been carried out. The first, and the one that you can download here, is 'Taking Stock of the Method' [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/hlc-taking-stock-of-the-method/] . The report explores the development of the HLC approach and methodology up till 2002. It is accompanied by a companion volume 'HISTORIC LANDSCAPE CHARACTERISATION: TEMPLATE PROJECT DESIGN' that was put together shortly after the report in 2002.