John Billingsley 1747-1811: Entrepreneur turned Agriculturualist

John Billingsley of Ashwick Grove in the Somerset Mendips of south-west England - agricultural pioneer and 'improver'. His story gives a unique insight into eighteenth-century rural life in the west country. Accumulating capital and land while relatively young, he then began experimenting in farming methods, his life-long passion. He is best known for the General View of Agriculture in Somerset, was a key member of the early Bath and West Society and an authority on Enclosure, and was also active in wool, turnpikes, canals, mining, drainage and as co-owner of the Oakhill Brewery. Billingsley was a man of huge energy and great talent, and highly thought of by his wide circle of friends and contacts, many of whom appear in this book.