David S. Johnson

Liming and Agriculture in the Central Pennines: the Use of Lime in Land Improvement from the Late Thirteenth Century to C.1900 (Bar) David S. Johnson

This book focuses on the historic use of lime as a soil additive, and sets liming in the context of agricultural land improvement alongside draining, paring, marling and the use of other soil conditioners. It examines the time frame during which liming is known to have been practised, and investigates whether or not widespread liming was largely a phenomenon of the era of parliamentary enclosure. It looks into the spatial extent within which land was limed, whether dominantly moorlands and upland wastes or lowlands as well; and investigates the possibility that liming was not just undertaken where limestone bedrock occurs but also more widely. Finally it considers the possibility that the benefits of liming may have been appreciated at all levels of the farming hierarchy rather than just by landowners and their stewards and agents. The reseach draws on the results of fieldwalking and excavation, as well as surveying techniques from landscape archaeology and extensive archival research.