on blackamoor

Description

The great heights of the North York Moors have for centuries been a palimpsest for English geology and history. The membrane of the moors displays the markings and tracks of a multitude of ‘buried centuries’. In this book the author creates an intimate archive of the moorland; its passages, its stones, its tribes, its flora and fauna and weather in order to understand his own history and the potential extinction of human beings in the face of nature. This personal journey takes the author through geologies, genealogies and lost memories as he explores not just the labouring poor of the moorland but also its antiquaries, witches and kings. From Cold Moor to Blakey Topping, following the lines of ancient burial howes and stones, this journey reveals more than just a landscape – it is a journey to the very heart of England and in this age of ecological disaster and social collapse it offers clues to our future from out of the deep time of history, geology and biology.