The Recreational Use of the Countryside: An Investigation into Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Problems posed by Increasing Leisure and Urban Growth

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the growth and changing nature of leisure from the nineteenth century to the present day in the form of paid holidays and a shorter working week and then to take an aspect of that leisure, namely recreation in the countryside, and to outline the problems and conflicts that have centred around this activity since the nineteenth century. This involves an appraisal of countryside access during Britain's industrialisation in the nineteenth century and the remedies advocated to safeguard both the countryside and the recreational access of the inhabitants of urban centres, in particular, London. This entails an investigation of increased public mobility through public transport and cat-ownership; the interest groups involved in maintaining countryside access, as well as the new town movement and the introduction of a statutory green belt policy. The contemporary aspect of the thesis stresses the conflicts that have arisen between countryside conservation and public utilisation for recreational activities and looks at the position of statutory and voluntary bodies on this matter. Solutions to the conflicts posed are then examined,, including the establishment of the Lee Valley Kegional Park Scheme, the potential reclamation of derelict areas, and the multiple use of natural resources. Having outlined the contrasts between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with regard to countryside recreation, present tosearch methods are examined in the light of investigations concerning leisure and social class and attempts to construct predictive recreational models for future planning purposes. This leads on to a look at future prospects with a summary of the problems discussed and potential solutions.