{"title":"Francis Pryor","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrancis Pryor\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a unique blend of historical insight and personal experience, exploring the landscapes and heritage of the Fens and ancient Britain. His works delve into the rich archaeology and natural history of these regions, bringing to life the story of Stonehenge and the evolving relationship between people and their environment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect a thoughtful fusion of \u003cem\u003ehistory\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ehome \u0026amp; garden\u003c\/em\u003e, where archaeological depth meets the beauty of rural living. Pryor’s writing invites you to discover the quiet mysteries of the Fenland landscape and its enduring significance through time.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-fens-by-francis-pryor-9781788547093","title":"The Fens","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Francis Pryor brings the magic of the Fens to life in a deeply personal and utterly enthralling way'\u003c\/strong\u003e TONY ROBINSON.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Pryor feels the land rather than simply knowing it'\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eGUARDIAN\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInland from the Wash, on England's eastern coast, crisscrossed by substantial rivers and punctuated by soaring church spires, are the low-lying, marshy and mysterious Fens. Formed by marine and freshwater flooding, and historically wealthy owing to the fertility of their soils, the Fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire are one of the most distinctive, neglected and extraordinary regions of England.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis Pryor has the most intimate of connections with this landscape. For some forty years he has dug its soils as a working archaeologist—making ground-breaking discoveries about the nature of prehistoric settlement in the area—and raising sheep in the flower-growing country between Spalding and Wisbech. In \u003cem\u003eThe Fens\u003c\/em\u003e, he counterpoints the history of the Fenland landscape and its transformation—from Bronze Age field systems to Iron Age hillforts; from the rise of prosperous towns such as King's Lynn, Ely, and Cambridge to the ambitious drainage projects that created the Old and New Bedford Rivers—with the story of his own discovery of it as an archaeologist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAffectionate, richly informative and deftly executed, \u003cem\u003eThe Fens\u003c\/em\u003e weaves together strands of archaeology, history, and personal experience into a satisfying narrative portrait of a complex and threatened landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46850042527980,"sku":"9781788547093","price":25.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/21999973482824.jpg?v=1759077332"},{"product_id":"a-fenland-garden-by-francis-pryor-9781801101615","title":"A Fenland Garden","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe story of how Francis Pryor created a haven for people, plants and wildlife in a remote corner of the fens.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1992, the archaeologists Francis and Maisie Pryor acquired a large field in a remote corner of the Lincolnshire fens. The soil was exhausted by half a century of intensive cultivation; yet within a few years, Francis and Maisie would build a home here, and transform an arable desert into a haven for plants, people and wildlife. Taking their inspiration from different elements of the English gardening tradition, they set about creating a garden that was ambitious in scope but human in scale.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Fenland Garden\u003c\/i\u003e is shot through with the empirical wisdom of a writer with a special relationship with landscape and the soil. Francis’s account of the garden at Inley Drove is counterpointed by nuggets of fenland lore, by walks in the woods with the dogs Pen and Baldwin, and by vignettes of the plantsman’s trials and tribulations. Above all, this is the story of bringing something beautiful into being, of embedding a garden in its local landscape, and reclaiming for nature a small patch of English ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47462575767788,"sku":"9781801101615","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781801101615-a-fenland-garden.jpg?v=1775016579"},{"product_id":"stonehenge-by-francis-pryor-9781035924943","title":"Stonehenge","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beautifully illustrated account of the history and archaeology of an iconic feature of the English landscape, as part of the stunning Landmark Library series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePerched on the chalk uplands of Salisbury Plain, the megaliths of Stonehenge offer one of the most recognisable outlines of any ancient structure. Its purpose—place of worship, sacrificial arena, giant calendar—is unknown, but its story is one of the most extraordinary of any of the world's prehistoric monuments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eConstructed in several phases over a period of some 1500 years, beginning c. 3000 BC, Stonehenge's key elements are its 'bluestones', transported from West Wales by unexplained means, and sarsen stones quarried from the nearby Marlborough Downs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis Pryor is one of Britain's most distinguished archaeologists. In \u003ci\u003eStonehenge\u003c\/i\u003e, he delivers a rigorous account of the nature and history of the monument, while also placing the enigmatic stones in a wider cultural context. He explores how antiquarians, scholars, writers, artists, 'the heritage industry'—and even neopagans—have interpreted the site over the centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47559017365740,"sku":"9781035924943","price":26.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781035924943-stonehenge.jpg?v=1776926489"},{"product_id":"a-fenland-garden-by-francis-pryor-9781801101608","title":"A Fenland Garden","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Fenland Garden\u003c\/em\u003e is the story of the creation of a garden in a complex and fragile English landscape – the Fens of southern Lincolnshire – by a writer who has a very particular relationship with landscape and the soil, thanks to his distinguished career as an archaeologist and discoverer of some of England's earliest field systems.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt describes the imagining, planning and building of a garden in an unfamiliar and sometimes hostile place, and the challenges, setbacks and joys these processes entail. This is a narrative of the making of a garden, but it is also about reclaiming a patch of ground for nature and wildlife – of repairing the damage done to a small slice of Fenland landscape by decades of intensive farming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Fenland Garden\u003c\/em\u003e will be informed by the empirical wisdom of a practising gardener (and archaeologist) and by his deep understanding of the soil, landscape and weather of the region. Francis's account of the development of the garden will be counterpointed by fascinating nuggets of Fenland lore and history, as well as by vignettes of the plantsman's trials and tribulations as he works an exceptionally demanding plot of land.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAbove all, \u003cem\u003eA Fenland Garden\u003c\/em\u003e is the story of bringing something beautiful into being; of embedding a garden in the local landscape; and thereby of deepening and broadening the idea of home. And it will be told in Francis's friendly, engaging and always informative and authoritative voice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47595500241132,"sku":"9781801101608","price":59.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781801101608-a-fenland-garden.jpg?v=1777898367"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/francis-pryor.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}