Why England remains obsessed with the rural despite its urban reality
In short: By 1881, England had become a firmly urban and industrial nation. Yet, even as modern towns expanded, a deep fascination with the countryside endured. From historical television dramas to shifting demographics, explore the complex tension between our industrial history and our enduring rural imagination.
The demographic shift of England was a slow-moving transformation. Although city-dwellers outnumbered those in the countryside about three decades before 1881, the population only became truly urbanised within expansive, contemporary towns during the 1870s and 1880s. Today, while England remains an urban nation, it has moved away from its industrial roots. Interestingly, the proportion of the population living in rural areas has recently reached a level higher than any time since 1911.
This enduring fascination with the rural is not merely a simple, unchanging sentiment. As Professor Alun Howkins suggests, it is a complex web of competing interests, involving the political left and right, the elite and the popular, and the progressive and the reactionary. This cultural pull is clearly visible in modern media consumption. In early 2011, two BBC programmes focused on rural history—'Lark Rise to Candleford' and 'Edwardian Farm'—drew a combined audience of 10 million viewers.
The popularity of these 'reality' historical formats, produced by companies like Lion Television, highlights a hunger for the past. Series such as 'Victorian Farm' and 'Tales from the Green Valley' used contemporary tools to immerse participants in historic farming life. Whether through the lens of 19th-century industrial decline or the seasonal rhythms of an Edwardian harvest, the English imagination continues to find a central part of its identity in the rural landscape.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Rural Past and Urban Histories, 1881-2011 - Professor Alun Howkins
- Also: A Lark Arising: The Rural Past and Urban Histories, 1881 - 2011
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