Land ownership, according to Guy Shrubsole, is England’s “oldest, darkest, best-kept secret”. His vivid account of our archaic, murky and strikingly skewed distribution of land raises many questions and provides at least some answers.

It is scandalously hard to find out who owns what. About one sixth of the land in England and Wales is not logged at the Land Registry — most likely because it has not changed hands during the 160 years of this ill-funded and sleepy body’s existence. Obtaining each entry costs £3, so the complete data set would cost £72 million. (Using Companies House, by contrast, is free.) The Ordnance Survey’s tight and lucrative grip on mapping makes linking the data to reality on the ground a laborious exercise. Shockingly, individuals