Rural Aesthetics (UK Edition)

Earlier, I wrote about how there is a large element of culture that generally goes unnoticed in and of itself, but that significantly contributes to the general spirit of the nation. I called this ‘low culture’ not as a snub, but because it is less at the forefront of the mind than say, the cultural impact of Star Wars or Pablo Picasso.

I classified architecture as ‘high culture’ – certainly the Sydney Opera House or Empire State Building are – and even in a more general sense, city designs and public buildings change from country to country and make a noticeable, publicly recognized difference. But what gets less coverage is just as important – the rural aesthetic.

As my penname suggests, I am an Anglo-Saxon, and have close ties with England. I will use England as my example here, but have seen the same pattern, though the specifics obviously differ.

For me, the English countryside has three distinguishing, man-made features: Walls, Farmhouses, and the Freedom to Roam.

Walls: Walls in the English countryside are generally drywall, and are everywhere. Not just along well-farmed estates, but in desolate moorland and up mountains in the Lake District or further north along scree-laden slopes that it seems ridiculous anyone would have ever bothered to climb, let alone while carrying and rearranging heavy stones for miles and miles. This is different from Scotland where, in my experience, they only built walls where it was sensible and purposeful to do so.

In addition, stone walls in England have jagged tops. I have been told by locals, though I have never confirmed through any written source, that this is because it prevents heavy buildup of snow. By contrast, Irish stone walls have flat tops. This makes for an interesting transition in the north of England, where walls around Liverpool and then up through Lancashire have quite a few ‘Irish’ walls, a legacy of Irish laborers who came to that area looking for work. Then as one moves westwards towards and across the Pennines, the walls become increasingly ‘English’.

Farmhouses: Old farmhouses too are generally made of stone, as are the outbuildings. It lasts in a way wood does not, especially in a wet climate, and England has had centuries of having to treat local timber as a high-value strategic resource. Up north, the farmhouses increasingly resemble fortresses, which stems from the fact that they often were, back when Anglo and Pict and Scot didn’t let something as trivial as national borders or Common Law get in the way of a good old-fashioned bloodbath.

I have spent less time hiking in the south of England than the north, but the farmland is more prosperous and also closer to the urban centers, and so while there is still a heavy use of stone, they don’t tend to double as a defense against a medium-sized army of sheep raiders. There is an interesting juxtaposition in Yorkshire – particularly around Richmond and York – which were historically very prosperous and it shows in the farm houses. These are very nice fortresses.

Freedom to Roam: Scottish law is similar but slightly different from England & Wales. In all cases though, the general gist is that if a footpath has existed, the public has a right to walk upon it. The public also has the right to ‘roam’ on public lands, where ‘roam’ means the right to walk, to sit and rest, and in a delightfully British way of speaking, the right to picnic and watercolour. If the land is held privately (such as on a farm), the farmer may reroute you but must provide a route through that is reasonable: he can direct you around the edge of a field rather than through it; he can’t send you three miles down the road.

‘Commons’ in England are much more common in the north than in the south, due to urban growth and the enclosure acts back when industrialization was starting up. The Commons today tends to be very marginal land, and when used is pretty much used for sheep grazing and grouse hunting, with little infrastructure beyond the ubiquitous stone walls and the occasional stone cabin that serves while hunting said grouse.

The net result is a web of public footpaths all interconnected to common land such that it is possible to go from Land’s End to John O’Groats on foot without more than few miles of walking on a road.

I guarantee that not once have you been in an argument about whether British people have culture, and someone brought up the freedom to roam and the right to watercolour a pointy-topped stone wall. But in sum, the result is that you can be anywhere in England and not only know that you are in England without a sign or another person, but you can know in broad terms where in England you are. 

It results in a cohesive national identity with all the regional diversity that progressives insist only comes from importing Mogadishu. It is the result of a high trust society where a stranger is still a countryman and so can be trusted onto one’s land to do nothing more but walk across and admire the view. It is lovely, and if you go to England I highly recommend taking time out of the London – Oxford – Stonehenge – Edinburgh blitz and spending as long as you can in the Cotswolds, The Wye River Valley, the Norfolk Broads, The Yorkshire Dales and Moors, the Lake District, the Pennine Way, Snowdonia, West Highland Way... take your pick.