Over the course of the long eighteenth century (1700-1850) Britain's ruined medieval or ' Gothic' abbeys castles & towers became the objects of intense cultural interest Turning their attention away from Classical to local & national sites of architectural ruin antiquaries & topographers began to scrutinise & sketch record & describe the material remains of the British past an expression of interest in domestic antiquity that was shared by many contemporary painters poets writers politicians & tourists This new illustrated book traces the ways in which a selection of English Scottish Welsh & Irish ruins served as the objects of continuous cultural reflection between 1700 & 1850 drawing together essays on the antiquarian poetic visual oral fictional dramatic political legal & touristic responses that they engendered Thoroughly interdisciplinary in its approach Writing Britain's Ruins provides an accessible & engaging account of the ways in which Britain's ruins inspired writers artists & thinkers during a period of extraordinary cultural richness