This is another one of my BookXcess books and I got it mainly because the idea of a history of neighbours sounded intriguing, even if it was about the idea of neighbours in England.
Cheek By Jowl is a history of neighbourhoods and the idea of “neighbours” from thirteenth century to present day England. It focuses more on the urban areas, where the lower-to-middle class worked, and has a ton of information. Generally, though, what I understood was that the idea of neighbours helping each other out tended to occur among poorer communities and out of necessity (you’d also be giving up the concept of privacy). As people started moving into their own homes and the welfare state started to step in for people’s basic needs, the urge for privacy grew stronger and the concept of a good neighbour as being someone who would help in all situations started to weaken (especially after WWII ended and there was no more pressing need to pull together).
What I liked about this book was the sheer amount of information presented. Cockayne gives us court case after court case, refers to other studies, and generally just pulls together so much information that you need to stop now and then to process it. It can feel like you’re just being presented bits and pieces while you’re reading the book, but I finished the book feeling like I had a pretty good overview of how the concept of neighbours have evolved over time in England.
In this case, the weakness of the book is the same as its strength – it can feel hard to keep track of an overarching narrative of how things have changed because there are so many details – A man asking his lodger to take care of his children after he died (the man ended up living as the widow’s husband); who lived in Number 3 at Little Collingwood street; J.T Newton expressing his annoyance in the Manchester Guardian, it’s easy to just get lost in all these fascinating stories.
One idea that I liked was brought up at the end of the book – the idea that the definition of a good neighbour differs from person to person. When I was younger, I used to run in and out of my neighbour’s place. After we moved, our neighbours have become the people we make small talk with, not really the people that we learn how to make cornbread from. But in this situation, there’s no “good neighbour” or “bad neighbour” – in the past, the house was some distance away, while we live in a black of flats now, so our definition of a good neighbour has changed.
Overall, I found this to be a fascinating read. It can be a bit information-heavy, but I can see myself returning to this and finding more insights in the book. I really hope more people tackle this subject – it would be fascinating to see how the concept of neighbours have evolved in different societies.
You May Also Like…
The Village News by Tom Fort – A history of villages in England and their possible future, this book touches on the concept of the neighbour while discussing the village and provides a nice complement to Cheek by Jowl.
Fairacre Series by Miss Read – When you live in a small village, your neighbours are huge part of your everyday life. The Fairacre series is a heartwarming take on village life, and possibly a good way application of what this book (and The Village News) discusses in fiction form!
Wow! This is a fascinating subject and I have many thoughts, but too long to share here.
To bring the American perspective, in traditional American culture, we do like to help our neighbors, but we expect people to be self-reliant, so we HATE to put a feeling of obligation on anyone. I found this out when I moved to SE Asia, where people don’t mind creating obligation at all (ha ha), much less privacy is needed, and you have far more duties to the community.
As in the book, in the U.S.A. also, institutions like clubs, churches, and family are breaking down as a first line of defense against economic trouble, as individuals are being encouraged more and more to rely directly on the State. But I think we are farther behind in this process than Britain is.
Singapore is somewhat similar – our government has always encourage everyone to rely on family and social institutions first, but (my theory: with the growing influence of American culture), we’ve also been getting more pressure here for the government to expand the social safety net.
I suppose there’s no right or wrong, it’s all what the people of that country want
This sounds like such an interesting read! Especially given that it’s about my country haha, we definitely have a lot of opinions about neighbours here hahaha
Hahaha I don’t know why but I can find books about obscure British history subjects quite easily but not about others (like one about ghosts, about villages, etc)
That’s a super interesting topic for a micro-history! I grew up rural, and having neighbours – at all – is a bit of a weird experience. Especially living in my current apartment, where I can look across the alleyway (it’s a New York view) straight into my neighbours’ kitchens. (One keeps their blinds closed. The other scowls at me.)
I don’t know why, but your current ability to see your neighbours reminds me of the show Friends! Or maybe it’s just the NY association :p
Ha ha! It’s exactly like friends! – Though, my neighbours are much less interesting.
This does sound fascinating. I imagine it would be similar to the history of American neighborhoods. It’s so different now from when I was growing up. Not everywhere I’m sure, but in a lot of places. I live on a cul de sac and don’t know all our neighbors. We wave to each other when we are out at the same time, but rarely do we talk. An elderly couple lives nextdoor and the husband is very friendly. I think he knows everyone on the street. He sometimes stops and chats with us, occasionally bringing Mouse a toy. The neighbors in the corner house are the ones we interact with the most probably thanks to Mouse. They have a boy her age and in the same grade in school. I like to think we all look out for each other to some degree. When the neighbor across the street had a car break in, they came over to ask if we’d seen anything and to warn us. Another neighbor let us know our garage door had been left open all night.
Your neighbourhood sounds nice! I feel like the idea of a good neighbour has adapted to the times.