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. 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. 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.

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.īut with the dawn of digital mapping and the Freedom of Information Act, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for them to hide. 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. ‘A formidable, brave and important book’ Robert Macfarlane Who owns England? Behind this simple question lies this country’s oldest and best-kept secret.

Guy shrubsole who owns england