The book argues that established European football histories do not correspond with the facts. Football, as played by the "masses" previous to the public school codes is almost always portrayed as wild and quite barbaric, but Harvey shows evidence suggesting this view to be a serious over-simplification. This book provides a very detailed picture of the European football played outside the confines of the public schools, revealing a culture that was every bit as sophisticated as that found within their prestigious walls. Indeed, the administrative body created by public schoolboys, the FA,...

The Howgill Fells in Cumbria represent one of the most erosionally active landscapes in Britain. The bedrock geology of folded Silurian mudstones is not especially easily seen. The direct effects of Pleistocene glaciation are limited and not as well developed as in the neighbouring Lake District, although glacial meltwaters did have an important impact. However, it is in its post-glacial landscape that the Howgills are exceptional. The steep hillslopes of the headwater valleys are riddled by networks of erosional gullies, many active during the last few thousand years but now stabilized,...