Watling Street: Travels Through Britain and Its Ever-Present Past

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.