I suck at geography

[The Judge]

Good links! ** The Medieval Suffolk one is especially interesting -- thanks, AMB. I was pleased to see the bit about "the damage caused by unringed pigs" -- ie the destructive rooting I was talking about in my last post. To stop the pigs doing that, they put rings through their noses (as in The Owl and the Pussycat).


** A sausage pun...

 

[Pyan]

That's Troutbeck Tongue, about 15 miles from my home town, and one of the first hills I ever climbed.
I'd call it a fell, though, not a hill or mountain, and it's sheep country. The sheep are on the higher land, and a few cows and crops are on the walled-off fields near centre. Often the main crops grown are grass, for hay and silage, and root-crops such as swedes, all for winter feed, because then it's much more likely to look like this:

 

[chrispenycate]

I like the idea of forced farm labourers -- and I love the idea of a magic castle!

As for the farms, I'd definitely shove cattle in there somewhere, and probably a load of sheep on the hills.

NB You saying about pigs has started me thinking. I've never thought of English medieval or earlier periods having pig farms as such -- ie high density like we get nowadays. I've pictured in my mind as just every village hovel having its own pig, fed with swill etc. But thinking about it, they must have had some numbers gathered together, otherwise we wouldn't have needed swineherds, which is a good old fashioned occupation. I shall now spend the rest of the evening wondering about where they herded them and why...

Herded them onto the woodlands to root up their own acorns and beechmast (or chestnuts, and often fungi). Still do, where I am right now (not in the city. In the countryside, middle of the mountains). One guy would collect up pigs from everybody's sties, keep an eye on them while they foraged, then drive them home. Not a high status job, but more restful than goatherd.

 

[Mouse]

Thank you all for the pig info! I'll be keeping the mention of pigs to a minimum.

 

[Abernovo]

Hey, Mouse! Just got back from involuntary internet hiatus. If you have heath/moorland, the soil might be poor, so you might want something like birch trees, rather than heavy beech types. You might get beeches closer to the towns, though, where the soil is better, the land flatter and better quality for farming crops. Lining the roads, for instance. Some of the old estates used to plant them along the drives to create a covered road to the big house - it created an idea of status, due to all the work, and then as they grew, to show how long the family had invested in the property.

Sheep and goats are good for slopes, although they can decimate the foliage, which is sometimes the only thing holding the slope together. Pigs are great under tree cover, and trees can add protection from the elements for other livestock, including sheep and cattle. Incidentally, if it's an upland area, you might expect to see more primitive breeds of livestock. They tend to be hardier and smaller than the 'improved' breeds which were mainly developed in the last three centuries.

You know where I am, so any time you have a question, feel free to drop me a line.

 

[Mouse]

Awesome. Cheers, Aber!

 

[Sally Ann Melia]

Always worth drawing youR land as a map as per Tolkien, and then stick with it.

Sd

 

[nightdreamer]

Oh, I'm a stickler for geography. There is a spot in The Lastchild with some questionable geology, and it drives me crazy even though I'm sure 99% of readers would never notice. I'm not sure it's a big problem, anyway. Ever look at Terry Brook's maps. They're a geological nightmare; one just has to assume that the laws of geology are different in Shannara. Rivers don't cut through mountain ranges and mountains don't make boxes. Still, look how popular he is. It's probably one of those esoteric matters that won't concern most readers a whole lot.

 

[Vertigo]

I'm with you Nightdreamer! I hate mountains in, frankly, impossible configurations not to mention coastlines that don't conform to the nearby land eg. river estuaries that make no sense. Niggly maybe but those sort of things do bug me. Actually that was always one of my complaints about Tolkien's Mordor. Although to be fair I believe it wasn't meant to have been formed naturally.

 

[Gumboot]

I think one of the confusions might be that "moor" has two distinctly different usages, when relating to geography.

In modern geography, "moorland" is upland characterised by acidic soil, low-growing vegetation, and heavy fog.

However what complicates things is that the old English word Mor also applied to marshlands, hence "Sedgemoor" (which isn't actually a moor).

Heath is somewhat similar to Moor, except that Heath is a lowland feature, thus tends to have poorer draining soil, and is boggier.

So... to summarise:

-Acidic soil
-Low-growing vegetation
--Upland, well-drained = Moor
--Lowland, poorly drained = Heath

There's still some degree of debate over where exactly the line between moor and heath lies.

 

[Gumboot]

Oh, I'm a stickler for geography. There is a spot in The Lastchild with some questionable geology, and it drives me crazy even though I'm sure 99% of readers would never notice. I'm not sure it's a big problem, anyway. Ever look at Terry Brook's maps. They're a geological nightmare; one just has to assume that the laws of geology are different in Shannara. Rivers don't cut through mountain ranges and mountains don't make boxes. Still, look how popular he is. It's probably one of those esoteric matters that won't concern most readers a whole lot.

You can't really blame Brooks. He was shamelessly copying Tolkien.

 

[AMB]

I think one of the confusions might be that "moor" has two distinctly different usages, when relating to geography.

In modern geography, "moorland" is upland characterised by acidic soil, low-growing vegetation, and heavy fog.

However what complicates things is that the old English word Mor also applied to marshlands, hence "Sedgemoor" (which isn't actually a moor).

Heath is somewhat similar to Moor, except that Heath is a lowland feature, thus tends to have poorer draining soil, and is boggier.

So... to summarise:

-Acidic soil
-Low-growing vegetation
--Upland, well-drained = Moor
--Lowland, poorly drained = Heath

There's still some degree of debate over where exactly the line between moor and heath lies.

Heathland near where I live:

Canford Heath
Talbot Heath
Upton Heath
Broadstone Heath

There is more, but you get the idea.

I live near a lot of heathland. Most of it is dry, and heath fires are pretty common. So, while I agree that there is debate about the line between heath and moor, one thing I would not call a heath is boggy or poor draining.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I only started the first Brooks' book and got bored with it (the plot was too neat and convenient), but what struck me about the map was The Midlands. It conjured up a fantasy version of Birmingham.

 

[Gumboot]

Heathland near where I live:

Canford Heath
Talbot Heath
Upton Heath
Broadstone Heath

There is more, but you get the idea.

I live near a lot of heathland. Most of it is dry, and heath fires are pretty common. So, while I agree that there is debate about the line between heath and moor, one thing I would not call a heath is boggy or poor draining.

Ooop, I misread my source. You're quite right, both moor and heath is categorised as having free-draining soil (heath being sandy). Wet heath becomes boggy not because of soil drainage but because of the height of the water table or the drainage of the sub-soil structure (impervious rock or clay). Fire is a very real concern for dry heath!