This incredible ‘ordinary’ history of the land beneath our feet reminds us just how precious these paths are, and have been, to the human story of this island. This is a celebration of an ancient network and a rallying cry to reclaim what has been lost and preserve it for future generation.
This sounded like a mundane subject that would not keep my attention…How wrong I was!
This book covers a subject that goes to the very core of our history and I found it detailed and absorbing. I strongly recommend this book. My only gripe was that there were way too many footnotes and that is purely because they were of a quality and interest to be included in the main text.
Great book, good read, brilliant for fans of The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, The Ancient Paths by Graham Robb or Shadowlands by Matthew Green.
With thanks to Michael Joseph Books / Penguin for the very kindly supplied reading copy and with thanks to Gerry for the guest review.
About the Book
Hundreds of thousands of miles of paths reach into – and connect – communities across England and Wales. More than just a practical way for us to walk, ride and cycle, they are an inheritance from our past, revealing how our ancestors interacted with and shaped their surroundings. From Iron Age footsteps to Anglo-Saxon mercenary trails, through Railway Age tracks and Home Army defences, our land reveals a hidden history of us.
But thousands of miles are still missing from our maps, and they will be lost forever unless they are urgently reclaimed. Fighting for these paths’ survival through his work with the Ramblers Association, Jack Cornish has spent years walking and recording these forgotten routes – those that have been lost, those that have been saved and those which remain hidden in plain sight.
The Lost Paths is a history of the people who have used, and in some cases created, these walkways.
About The Author
Jack Cornish is head of paths at the Ramblers Association, Britain’s largest walking charity. In 2017, he walked across the country from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and he has dedicated the last seven years of his life to walking and recording the forgotten routes of England and Wales. He is ten years into an attempt to walk every street in London, where he lives.
[Photo source; Peter Fraser Dunlop]
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