England’s Revelry: A History of Popular Sports and Pastimes, 1660-1830

This study looks at the relationship between popular recreations and the spaces in which they took place, and in doing so it provides a history of how England enjoyed itself during the long eighteenth century. Recreations of the period parish wakes and feasts; civic fairs and celebrations; football, cricket and other athletic sports; bull- and bear-baiting; and the annual celebrations of Shrove Tuesday and Guy Fawkes. Through a detailed examination of contemporary sources, Dr Griffin looks at the use of space for recreation in the streets and squares of provincial market towns, in vacant spaces found in industrialising towns and villages, and on the village greens of rural England. With its reappraisal of the impact of the industrial revolution on popular recreation, this is a fascinating study of England at play.