The late 18th and 19th centuries saw great changes to the old rural way of life, for this was the age of the Industrial Revolution.   Many people left the countryside to look for work in the cities.

 

Ancient common fields were divided up and enclosed by hedges, and the character of the countryside changed forever. 

 

Into this dynamic period was born John Clare, the son of a farm labourer, at Helpston near Peterborough, in 1793.   In the 1820s, Clare's first book of poetry, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, was published, celebrating the rural tradition and everyday life of country people and animals. He is perhaps best known today for his collection The Shepherd's Calendar.  John Clare developed a mental illness and spent the last 22 years of his life in Northampton Asylum; but his love of the country lived on in his poetry, and he remains a famous English poet.