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Hutton, Ronald "The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles. Their Nature and Legacy." Blackwell, Oxford, 1991 (reprinted 1993, 1995) Pbk, xxiii, 397pp. Illus, notes, index. ISBN 0-631-18946-7. (Cost £10.00 from 2nd hand book dealer)

This title was the first of Prof. Ronald Hutton's explorations into the world of British paganism and the possible survivals from the ancient times, through folk beliefs and magic, into the present day. As this title suggests the bulk of this book is a consideration of both the historical and archaeological evidence and texts covering the period from the first prehistoric tombs through the "golden age" of the megaliths, the subsequent "decline" to the Iron Age and consideration of the Romans and subsequent invaders who all brought their own beliefs until the old religions were finally superceded by the Christian faith.

Generally speaking the text has aged well, although Hutton acknowledges in his introduction to the paperback edition that the text even then (2 years after the first publication) was in need of revision, and subsequent discoveries and debates among historians mean that the text is now due for a thorough overhaul. That said it probably still represents the best overall discussion of the subject, not least for its academic rigour and for its insistence on "the evidence". Inevitably the book deals some fairly heavy blows to the now discredited (in academia) theories of those such as Dr Margaret Murray, Sir James Frazer, Robert Graves and Marija Gimbutas regarding the old faiths. Quite simply it would better if such books were re-assigned to the speculative fiction section of people's collections. Very entertaining and often admirable achievements from a literary or artistic point of view, but history they ain't.

Hutton's work clearly distinguishes the general periodisation of British antiquity, showing that even by the first millennium BCE the vast majority of the celebrated monuments had fallen into disuse, indicated the probability that the religion/s that had been the ideological foundation for them had changed or mutated pretty drastically. What it does not necessarily mean is that this was due to substantial population change, it could simply have been down to indigenous peoples adopting new fashions or developing new cosmologies and theologies. What is pretty certain is that the fashion for creating massive stone monuments went out of favour throughout the British Isles and was supplanted by less substantial or long-lasting structures - almost certainly of wooden construction.

Indeed although Hutton does his best, he shows that we simply have no proper evidence for what the ancients actually believed, even down to the Roman times. We have the archaeological evidence of funerary arrangements (where they have survived), thousands of enigmatic structures and a few fragmentary observations by outsiders who clearly had little proper understanding of what they all meant. He does make tentative suggestions about what some of the phenomena but has to conclude that we'll probably never know what the ancient peoples actually believed, or what ceremonies they performed or who undertook what tasks.

There is also the problem relating to lumping peoples together, especially under the rubric of "Celtic". Whilst there is good evidence that people on continental Europe considered themselves "Celts", it has been argued elsewhere that it simply was never applied by anyone in the British Isles to themselves. One therefore has to take care when transferring evidence from the other side of the Channel regarding Iron Age belief systems. What I think there is ample evidence of is the highly localised nature of the deities and spirits. It is estimated from research in Gaul that over 350 separate deities have been named and identified. And, on a smaller scale the same is true of the British Isles. One suspects therefore that we are not dealing, at any time, with an all-powerful belief system that encompassed the entire archipelago. At the same time, styles of monument do change everywhere suggesting at least, a degree of cultural interchange.

As for the survival of pagan religions, there seems little doubt that indigenous religions were swept away in the late Roman / early English era, with later eruptions of paganism with the Viking invasions, but effectively the old religions had all died out by the time of the Norman Conquest. What continued, right up to the start of the Industrial Era, were a variety of magical practices, folk medicine, folk customs and practices, all of which changed and evolved over time, but all of which occurred in a fundamentally Christian context. 

In the final chapter Hutton has a brief look at the then newly burgeoning neo-pagan religions that had started to become more popular in Britain and across the Atlantic, and shows that the notion that these were is some sense a rebirth of the old religions to be a fanciful conceit. Instead they should be seen as a perfectly legitimate new religion, or series of religions as the believers start to develop their belief systems, which draws on a wide variety of sources, including now discredited historical and anthropological ones in an eclectic way to find ways of working which work for the practitioners and provide meaning for their rituals and beliefs. A such they are no better or worse than any other religion that has ever existed, being the creations of fallible but enterprising human beings. (Readers will, of course be aware of "Triumph of the Moon", Hutton's more recent investigation of contemporary paganism and historical roots.)

In short Hutton has written a most important work. It really should be required reading for all who allegedly follow ancient religions or who write on earth mysteries and the like. It would also greatly benefit those, like myself, who have not kept up with the advances in academic history and archaeology but are interested in the ancient ways. As mentioned above it shows how much (and how little) we know of the ancient British religions. As such it serves as a useful corrective for those claiming historical authenticity for their current beliefs, whilst equally showing that their wide scope for re-interpretation of what meagre evidence there is, for our and every succeeding generation.

Highly recommended, if becoming a little dated.

8/10

Richard Alexander