Who owns England? : how we lost our green & pleasant land & how to take it back

'a Formidable, Brave And Important Book' Robert Macfarlane Who Owns England? Behind This Simple Question Lies This Country's Oldest And Best-kept Secret. This Is The History Of How England's Elite Came To Own Our Land, And An Inspiring Manifesto For How To Open Up Our Countryside Once More. This Book Has Been A Long Time Coming. Since 1086, In Fact. For Centuries, England's Elite Have Covered Up How They Got Their Hands On Millions Of Acres Of Our Land, By Constructing Walls, Burying Surveys And More Recently, Sheltering Behind Offshore Shell Companies. But With The Dawn Of Digital Mapping And The Freedom Of Information Act, It's Becoming Increasingly Difficult For Them To Hide. Trespassing Through Tightly-guarded Country Estates, Ecologically Ravaged Grouse Moors And Empty Mayfair Mansions, Writer And Activist Guy Shrubsole Has Used These 21st Century Tools To Uncover A Wealth Of Never-before-seen Information About The People Who Own Our Land, To Create The Most Comprehensive Map Of Land Ownership In England That Has Ever Been Made Public. From Secret Military Islands To Tunnels Deep Beneath London, Shrubsole Unearths Truths Concealed Since The Domesday Book About Who Is Really In Charge Of This Country - At A Time When Brexit Is Meant To Be Returning Sovereignty To The People. Melding History, Politics And Polemic, He Vividly Demonstrates How Taking Control Of Land Ownership Is Key To Tackling Everything From The Housing Crisis To Climate Change - And Even Halting The Erosion Of Our Very Democracy. It's Time To Expose The Truth About Who Owns England - And Finally Take Back Our Green And Pleasant Land. Title Page......Page 2 Copyright......Page 3 Epigraph......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Introduction......Page 6 1 This Land Is Not My Land......Page 9 2 England’s Darkest Secret......Page 18 3 The Establishment: Crown and Church......Page 30 4 Old Money......Page 46 5 New Money......Page 65 6 Property of the State......Page 81 7 Corporate Capture......Page 107 8 A Property-Owning Democracy?......Page 119 9 In Trust for Tomorrow......Page 136 10 An Agenda for English Land Reform......Page 152 Picture Section......Page 169 Appendices: Figures on who owns land......Page 185 Footnotes......Page 193 Notes......Page 194 Index......Page 225 Acknowledgements......Page 246 Image credits......Page 248 About the Author......Page 249 About the Publisher......Page 250