The Fields Beneath

by Gillian Tindall

One of a precious handful of books that in their precise examination of a particular locality, open our understanding of the universal themes of the past. In this case it is Kentish Town in London that reveals its complex secrets to us, through the resurrection of its now buried rivers and wells, coaching houses, landlords, traders, and simple tenants. Fragments of this past can still be found by the observant eye. This book is a brilliant evocation of the complex history of London, city of villages, revealed through this particular study of Kentish Town.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, London

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Gillian Tindall began her career as a prize-winning novelist. She has continued to publish fiction but has also staked out an impressive territory in idiosyncratic non-fiction that is brilliantly evocative of place.

Her The Fields Beneath: The History of One London Village which first appeared thirty years ago, has rarely been out of print; nor has Celestine: Voices from a French Village, published in the mid 1990s and translated into several languages, for which she was decorated by the French government.

Well known for the quality of her writing and the meticulous nature of her research, Gillian is a master of miniaturist history. She lives with her husband in London.

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

A history of Kentish Town, a district whose ship has never quite come in, but which turns out to have done quite well simply by surviving - a 1944 planning document labelled it "an area in need of removal". This is a good book throughout, but possibly at its finest in the last chapter, when it enters the author's own lifespan and runs through to the date of first publication, 1977. She says her last chaper is less local history than material for local historians of the future - but her dry, controlled rage at the 'Brave New Worlders' and their "belief that the ideal human habitat is Welwyn Garden City and that urban habitats of a totally different order should be altered to conform as far as possible to this ideal". The story of how this tide was fought back, and London's unloved suburbs began to rise again, is a fascinating snapshot of a moment in a trend without which my current life, and the lives of most of my friends, would look very different.
There is, of course, also a cost to being from 1977; whenever Tindall says what is 'now' where some historical feature stood before, that present has itself passed into history. A 2011 postscript, oddly situated before the text, provides some updates, but still necessitates a degree of flicking back and forth. Still, this is no fault of book or author, but an inevitable side effect of the very process of constant change which serves as her main theme. And at times, when writing about the survivals of old patterns and legends in the streets of a disregarded London district, there are passages which remind me distinctly of Arthur Machen; I can offer few compliments higher than that.

[Robert Monk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoy this sort of history. Ms. Tindall has written a very specific history, mostly a social history, about one particular district of London: Kentish Town. She basically describes how this particular area *became* a part of London, having once been a rural area outside of the capital. Then coaches came, then omnibuses, then railroads and cars. We get to meet various local characters, see families rise and fall, witness cooperation and disputes among residents. We see the area never quite become fashionable, but never quite turn into a slum either. (Though old people reminisce about how that other street over there -- not the one they lived in, mind you, which was lovely -- was very dodgy.) Really, it's the story of a normal neighborhood, and achieves some of that "universality through specificity" that I enjoy. All told, it's a lot of fun. This edition has a very short post-script, written some 25 years after the original mid-Seventies publication, describing how the predictions of the original publication turned out.

[Rhode PVD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating even if you don't know the area she is writing about. Now this is history!

[Ian Parke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard work but extremely detailed. As I frequently take the train from Sheffield to St.Pancras the book provides a wonderful historical insight into the area. A good read but you will need to be persistent

[Martin Willoughby · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy to read history of one area of London. Could easily apply to any of the old towns and villages subsumed into London.

[Mills College Library]

942.142 T5881 2011

[Brian Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a psychogeography this is. Would be great to do the next 1977-2025 instalation.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great writer, historian and researcher! She's my heroine.

[Stuart Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone interested in urban studies and, specifically, the now "inner ring" of London's Kentish Town.

[Nico Macdonald]

Recommended by Carmen Marrero.

[Justin Cormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kentish Town has a fascinating history that is accidentally well documented.