The second volume of The Cambridge Urban History of Britain examines when, why, and how Britain became the first modern urban nation - the wonder of the Western world. The contributors offer a detailed analysis of the evolution of national and regional urban networks in England, Scotland and Wales, and assess the growth of all the main types of towns - from the rising imperial metropolis of London to the great provincial cities, country and market towns, and the new-style leisure and industrialising towns. They discuss problems of urban mortality and migration, the social organisation of towns, the growth of industry and the service sector, civic governance, and the rise of religious and cultural pluralism. This is the first ever comprehensive study of British towns and cities in the early modern period, the culmination of a generation of research on perhaps the most important social and geographical change in British history.

‘The result is a useful compendium …’

Source: The English Historical Review

‘On the whole few collected volumes contain so much good scholarship as does The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, and it will be, no doubt, the starting-point for any future research in the field of British urban history.’

Source: London Journal

‘… the area surveys will doubtless prove to be of great value for students of landscape history, particularly for the purpose of contextualising local studies of towns and their hinterlands … this is an important, landmark publication in British urban history … every county and city record office should have one, for not only will The Cambridge Urban History of Britain volumes become the first port of call for landscape historians starting out with a new research project, but they doubtless will become the authoritative yardstick against which to check and compare our work.’

Source: Society for Landscape Studies