Description

A beautiful new edition of a classic work of landscape history, in which Alfred Watkins introduced the idea of ancient ‘ley lines’ criss-crossing the English countryside.

First published in 1925, The Old Straight Track described the author’s theory of ‘ley lines’, pre-Roman pathways consisting of aligned stone circles and prehistoric mounds, used by our Neolithic ancestors.

Watkins’s ideas have intrigued and inspired generations of readers – from historians to hill walkers, and from amateur archaeologists to new-age occultists.

This edition of The Old Straight Track, with a substantial introduction by Robert Macfarlane, will appeal to all who treasure the history, contours and mystery of Britain’s ancient landscapes.

Publisher Review

'A stimulating historical mediation on landscape' * Daily Mail * 'Robert Macfarlane in his introduction to this new edition [...] is respectful, finding new relevance in Watkin's writing. The result is to fold Watkins, the counter-cultural mystic-modernist, into the cultural landscape, laying the track for others to follow' * TLS * 'A remarkable book ... Alfred Watkins [was a] visionary who saw beyond the bounds of his time' -- John Michell 'Watkins re-enchanted the English landscape, investing it with fresh depth and detail, prompting new ways of looking and new reasons to walk' -- Robert Macfarlane