The Hornsey Enclosure Act 1813, David Frith, Hornsey Historical Society, 2021, 92p [13 colour maps and 16 illustrations], £12-00, ISBN 978-0-906794-57-9.

This publication by the Hornsey Historical Society may seem to be a very specialist work relating to a very specific location. Whilst that is strikingly self-evident, the reality is that this is a very important and useful piece of scholarship.

What David Frith offers us is a masterful case study in how to research, report and analyse an Enclosure Act, and therefore to appreciate how it will have affected a local landscape. His explanation is so careful that any reader seemingly unfamiliar with the wider extent of Hornsey parish to Muswell Hill, Crouch End and Highgate will begin to feel that they do understand and appreciate how the wider Hornsey landscape was transformed by enclosure.

His choice of maps and other illustrations make this a masterclass in how to carry out such research. He has brought all his technical skills as a town planner to bring us this extraordinarily well-explained topographical exercise.

The outcome is that what David Frith has achieved is to provide a model for anyone else embarking on an investigation into how enclosure has occurred at any other location. This is strongly recommended to a much wider audience.