Watling Street

Higgs, John

£9.99

A journey along one of Britain’s oldest roads, from Dover to Anglesey, in search of the hidden history that makes us who we are today. Long ago a path was created by the passage of feet tramping through endless forests. Gradually that path became a track, and the track became a road. It connected the White Cliffs of Dover to the Druid groves of the Welsh island of Anglesey, across a land that was first called Albion then Britain, Mercia and eventually England and Wales. Armies from Rome arrived and straightened this 444 kilometres of meandering track, which in the Dark Ages gained the name Watling Street. Today, this ancient road goes by many different names: the A2, the A5 and the M6 Toll. It is a palimpsest that is always being rewritten.

Publish Date: 12/07/2018
ISBN: 9781474603485 Category: Tags: ,

Description

A journey along one of Britain’s oldest roads, from Dover to Anglesey, in search of the hidden history that makes us who we are today.

‘A bravura piece of writing – Bill Bryson on acid’ Tom Holland

Winding its way from the White Cliffs of Dover to the Druid groves of Anglesey, the ancient road of Watling Street has gone by many different names. It is a road of witches and ghosts, of queens and highwaymen, of history and myth, of Bletchley Park codebreakers, Chaucer, Boudicca, Dickens and James Bond. But Watling Street is not just the story of a route across our island. It is an acutely observed exploration of Britain and who we are today, told with wit and an unerring eye for the curious and surprising.

Additional information

Weight 290 g
Dimensions 200 × 136 × 21 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

371

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

914.2048612 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K