Writing the History of Somerset

This volume, inspired by the work of County Historian Robert Dunning, is concerned broadly with the history of Somerset from the early middle ages to the twenty-first century. Providing a critical appreciation of Dr Dunning’s extensive contribution to the local and regional historical and historiographical development of the county, it seeks also to extend that contribution in a series of original studies drawing on the county’s abundant record collections and archaeological and antiquarian sources. The essays in this fascinating volume explore monastic, parochial, religious and heretical themes across the County of Somerset as well as the cultural, economic, and political lives and interests of lay landowners, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, identifying the wide variety of influences and inventions, ranging from agricultural to land-surveyance and cartography. At the same time, they place a new focus on particular communities, their activities, and the breadth of their connections within and beyond mere localities.  A final retrospective assessment of Dr Dunning’s researches and personal and intellectual generosity reminds us how fortunate we have been to be his readers since the 1960s.