Preface

Summary

This book began in the early 1980s, when devolution had disappeared from the Westminster political agenda and elected local and regional government was under serious challenge. It was finished in the week that the first meeting of the Council of the Isles brought together representatives of the Westminster administration with Welsh and Scottish ministers, and those from Eire and Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and Man. That transformation might obscure the context in which it was initially imagined. Yet even as the Council of the Isles met, regional government remained one of the two pledged reforms for which Tony Blair’s government admits actions have not even begun to be taken. The book sprang initially from a determination, originally formed during my A-level years, to examine the centralist assumptions of the vast majority of the scholarly work to which I was exposed, not just on ‘British’ history but on English. Nick Henshall’s teaching supported it. My ambition was further encouraged as I went through undergraduate study, especially by Penry Williams, and it finally took shape as a DPhil. thesis begun in 1989. Chris Haigh was an excellent supervisor, with a deep knowledge of the subject and the willingness to encourage me into the unorthodox. Steve Gunn proved the perfect internal examiner, offering comments that immeasurably improved the work over the last few years; and now as the editor in charge of this book always a friendly source of advice. Cliff Davies’s generosity in discussing early Tudor politics and society has been particularly stimulating and helpful.

I have been fortunate to work in some very supportive environments. The sources for this book have their homes in excellent archives and libraries. Whatever one thinks of the Citizen’s Charter, the staff of Cheshire County Council Record Office deserve their Charter Mark, and not just for their patience with young researchers. The staff of Chester Archives, the John Rylands University Library Manchester (Special Collections; especially Peter McNiven and Dorothy Clayton), and the Bodleian and Brotherton Libraries in Oxford and Leeds also deserve a special mention. Further, New College, Oxford, and the History Faculty there provided a good place to begin the work.