The English countryside is still with us

Another non-native resident of England has recently had a more hopeful experience of that country than the previous commenter:

I live in London which has its own problems. Our Mayor is a Marxist by the name of Ken Livingstone. Back in the day he was a hard core leftie/union type who then combined that with the most masochistic type of multiculturalism imaginable (and all the other assortments—gay pride parades, African festivals etc).

I don’t know what it is about big cities that makes them magnets for people of Livingstone’s type. Just a half hour’s drive away is Surrey or Winchester which is almost a different world.

Rural England is still quite conservative. I remember going into the country a few times recently and even wondered if I was in the same country! I almost had tears of joy in my eyes. The way an archaeologist would react upon accidentally running into ancient Roman ruins! The difference here is that the civilization is still alive—even after decades of assault, which is a remarkable thing in itself. But it has lost its voice. In the past, the voice of the country and of rural England and of its traditions was the Conservative party.

The difference between the English of the country and the English of the urban jungles is quite striking. I am pleased to tell you that the real England I always wanted to see, which I always imagined when reading Sherlock Holmes in my grandfather’s library is still alive in some form. It is not in great health but it is alive.

In fact, this supports my own experience. When I was in England twice in recent years, London seemed like a multicultural metropolis, more like New York in its diversity than unlike New York in its Englishness. But driving out of London, to East Anglia, the Cotswolds, Wessex, Devonshire, I saw a flourishing English countryside and small towns, with a feeling of God and the past and nature. So I’m happy to hear that this is still true.

The American-English reader who spoke in another entry of England’s lost counterculture writes:

I hate to be a bearer of bad news but the English countryside has undergone huge changes in recent years. I know this personally as I spend part of my year in rural Shropshire with real live country people.

Firstly there are huge problems with Tinker Travellers (usually Irish and not to be confused with proper gypsies) who have taken over huge tracts of land both legally (by buying it) and illegally (by squatting on it which starts a legal process which takes years to resolve). When the Travellers come into the area there will usually be a increase in littering, burglary and violence. Murders have occurred in rural areas where the Travellers have moved in. And of course house prices immediately go down when an area gets “invaded”. Up until a few years ago the Travellers would move on but recently they have found it more to their liking not to.

Secondly there is a huge drug problem among many young people and the social problems that go with that.

Third, the law banning hunting has financially hurt many farmers besides interfering with their way of life.

Fourth, there is an increasing amount of immigrants coming into the small towns and this is creating tensions. To think that immigrants are only in the big cities is naive. Of course the big cities are still the core of the problem but slowly immigrants of many backgrounds are spreading out to the towns in the English countryside. Bigger towns are more susceptible. Few immigrants are farmers, so the very small rural areas are not yet affected(except by Travellers).

Finally there is a increasingly lost sense of general community and civility. The image of a loving “everyone looks after everyone” rural countryside is now just that, an image. Many city people move to the countryside expecting real community and are quickly disappointed.

Of course, all these factors varies from area to area.

In the small rural area which I visit, there is now a supermarket the size of a football field. The small shops I used to love have disappeared. My closest friends have had to move due to problems with Travellers. Civility has definitely decreased and bad manners and impoliteness are not uncommon.

I’m not saying it’s all bad in the English rural countryside but it certainly has gotten worse in recent years. Few rural people would dispute that.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 28, 2006 06:17 PM | Send