TY - BOOK

T1 - Materialising cultural value in the English lakes, 1735-1845

T2 - a study of the responses of new landowners to representations of place and people

AU - Denman, Derek

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - This thesis explores responses to the cultural construction in the developingidentity of the English Lakes from 1735 to 1845, through studies of threelandowners. The principal focus is Derwentwater. The Greenwich Hospital heldestates from 1735 to 1832, Lord William Gordon from 1781 to 1823, and JohnMarshall of Leeds, the flax spinner, from 1810 and 1845.The study classifies the identity of the English Lakes and its inhabitants withRegions of Romance, as a territory increasingly occupied by the romanticantithesis of the dominant thesis within the modern age. The cultural identity ofthe English Lakes is considered as a construction of Throsby’s cultural values,established through discourse and overlaid upon economic values. Thisanthropological approach to culture recognises both aesthetic and social culturalassets. The acquisition, management and disposal of landowners estates areexamined to evidence the materialisation of cultural values, whether through theagency of discourse, the influence of others, or personal experience.During the eighteenth century the Hospital responded to criticism minimally,by planting the Derwentwater shore. Lord William Gordon responded strongly todiscourse by creating a picturesque park which demonstrated his taste and values,and by completing the picturesque occupation of Derwentwater by 1787.Wordsworth influenced the choice and management of John Marshall’s extensiveestates from 1811, providing an early materialisation of the principles inWordsworth’s Guide. In the early nineteenth century the Hospital protected theirKeswick woods, before selling the estate in 1832 at auction to John Marshall at alow price.The study demonstrates a significant and growing intervention by theselandowners to materialise aesthetic cultural value, but with little response to socialcultural values, though cultural landscape was preserved. An early private path ofintervention in the English Lakes is demonstrated, which feeds into the later andbetter known public path.

AB - This thesis explores responses to the cultural construction in the developingidentity of the English Lakes from 1735 to 1845, through studies of threelandowners. The principal focus is Derwentwater. The Greenwich Hospital heldestates from 1735 to 1832, Lord William Gordon from 1781 to 1823, and JohnMarshall of Leeds, the flax spinner, from 1810 and 1845.The study classifies the identity of the English Lakes and its inhabitants withRegions of Romance, as a territory increasingly occupied by the romanticantithesis of the dominant thesis within the modern age. The cultural identity ofthe English Lakes is considered as a construction of Throsby’s cultural values,established through discourse and overlaid upon economic values. Thisanthropological approach to culture recognises both aesthetic and social culturalassets. The acquisition, management and disposal of landowners estates areexamined to evidence the materialisation of cultural values, whether through theagency of discourse, the influence of others, or personal experience.During the eighteenth century the Hospital responded to criticism minimally,by planting the Derwentwater shore. Lord William Gordon responded strongly todiscourse by creating a picturesque park which demonstrated his taste and values,and by completing the picturesque occupation of Derwentwater by 1787.Wordsworth influenced the choice and management of John Marshall’s extensiveestates from 1811, providing an early materialisation of the principles inWordsworth’s Guide. In the early nineteenth century the Hospital protected theirKeswick woods, before selling the estate in 1832 at auction to John Marshall at alow price.The study demonstrates a significant and growing intervention by theselandowners to materialise aesthetic cultural value, but with little response to socialcultural values, though cultural landscape was preserved. An early private path ofintervention in the English Lakes is demonstrated, which feeds into the later andbetter known public path.

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

PB - Lancaster University

ER -