The Old Straight Track

by Alfred Watkins, Robert Macfarlane (Introduction)

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, this book outlined its author's concept of "ley lines," supposed pre-Roman pathways consisting of aligned stone circles, standing stones, and prehistoric mounds, used for trading and ceremonial purposes during the Neolithic era. Based on his surveys of the Anglo-Welsh border country, Alfred Watkins believed that in ancient times the country was crisscrossed by a network of straight-line travel routes, with prominent features of the landscape used as navigation points. Watkins's theories have intrigued and inspired generations of readers, from historians to hill walkers, and from amateur archeologists to new-age occultists. This new edition, with a substantial introduction by Robert Macfarlane, and retaining Watkins's original atmospheric black-and-white photographs, introduces a classic antiquarian text to a 21st-century audience. It will appeal to all who treasure the history, the contours, and the mystery of ancient landscapes.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Archaeology, Nature, British Literature, Folklore, Occult

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1925

About the author

Alfred Watkins was an English businessman and amateur archaeologist who developed the idea of ley lines.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1925, this book by Alfred Watkins bought the concept of ley lines to the public. The concept came to him after visiting a Roman excavation and looking at the map to get a perspective on the wider landscape, he saw that a number of features seemed to line up. When he had the opportunity to get to higher ground he had the opportunity to look at the landscape and see that these features had straight paths running between them. He came to believe that the people of this country had made a series of straight paths through the forests with the prominent features being used for guide and navigation.

He first presented this theory of leys at a public meeting in 1921, and went on to develop his theories to present in this book. Controversial at the time, the Antiquity magazine refused to publish even an advert for his book, it captured the imagination of the public. He was an excellent PR man, using pagan rites to demonstrate and promote his work, and it inspired generations of readers and walkers to take a closer look at the country that they walked through. The concept of lines passing over hill and dale were picked up by those seeking to rediscover the the mysticism and ancient ways of the Celts and re-enchant the English landscape.

There was only one flaw though; none of it was really true. It can be proven that given the sheer quantity of ancient and prehistorical sites in the landscape that the chances of them lining up is as much coincidence as it is design. This page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_lin... shows just how a random collection of 137 sites can give 80 or so four point alignments. Richard Atkinson, an archaeologist, has even proved that red telephone boxes could produce their own leys by lining up.

Theories aside, this is still worth reading. Firstly, it is a classic piece of text on the English landscape. Secondly, the eloquent and atmospheric text and the black and white images and maps that are liberally scattered throughout the book giving us a snapshot of the English countryside between the two world wars before big farms and pylons spoilt some of the finest views. At the time the science of excavation was starting to change and improve, Watkins may have prompted people to look at and discover the genuine links between sites in the wider context of the landscape.

[Lenore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing history of topography of England...how roads were laid out, ley lines - not the mystical ones, but the "ley of the land" ley lines, why intersections are called "crosses," how the "Roman Roads" were built on already existing highways, why moats and reflective pools, etc.

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard of ley lines in my teens when i watched a family friend marking points on a map and connecting them with a ruler. Alfred Watkins is the father of ley line theory and this is the classic book on ley lines. He was way ahead of his time, writing this book almost 100 years ago. Sadly it has now been said that his theories are unsound and leys don't actually exist. I wonder what Arthur Watkins would think of their dismissal, and whether he would find the landscape so changed that its now unrecognizable.

[Nick Swarbrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1925, this is a text of its time, an attempt to find patterns in the English (and sometimes other British) landscape of the tracks, tumps, churches and settlements that shape the country. It is more scholarly and less “mystical” (that word is problematic anyway) than much of the work and belief that arise from Watkins’ walking, observations and speculation.
But it /is/ a text from a previous way of looking at archeological data: he is (to be kind) over-enthusiastic on connections in place-names; the chapter on Biblical precedent is (and probably was on publication) oddly uncritical and out of place; and throughout Watkins’ walking leads him to assumptions that a more systematic approach might have presented with more caution. He has a love and a wonderfully keen eye for detail: the Scots pines, the colour names, the persistent stories of underground passages - but the chief use and delight for me of Watkins’ classic was to think of other, later writers - particularly fantasy writers such as Cooper, Garner, T H White - whose ideas are in germ in Watkins’ enthusiasm for the pathways of the early peoples of Britain.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Les Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book. I learned quite a lot from this book which I was unaware of before.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alfred Watkins was the first researcher to really understand the significance of what we now call 'ley lines' in this country. Through what must have been hundreds of hours of research, he collected tonnes of information and put it all together for this lucid and engaging work that seeks to explain and explore the subject in undeniable depth.

THE OLD STRAIGHT TRACK puts forward his theory that our prehistoric ancestors used local landmarks to craft straight-running tracks throughout the landscape for their own convenience. Many of these tracks are still visible today, despite the Industrial Revolution and the ploughing of fields to destroy evidence. There are different chapters on standing stones, on barrows, on churches, moats and ponds, all of them clearly detailing the author's hypothesis that these sites were once linked in the landscape.

Don't go in expecting this to be an esoteric read - the idea of energy being channelled along ley lines came later. There's no 'magick' stuff here, just straightforward fact, there for anyone with enough interest to see for themselves. I found the author's style very engaging and educational, even though a lot of the stuff from this era has a tendency towards dryness. His theories are clear, well defined and it's obvious that he's spent a lot of time both out in the field and in book research.

If I had a complaint, it would be that his real-life examples are mainly kept to Herefordshire, but we have to remember that just one man wrote this book in the days long before the advance of the internet. All in all, I think it's a remarkable piece of writing that's upped my interest in British history no end.

[Chris Healey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy read overall, like having a chat with a bloke in a pub. If you’re interested, but don’t want all the detail, his overview in chapter 30 is beautifully written. Already making me perceive the landscape with slightly different eyes. Obviously this seeded all sorts of interesting metaphysical interpretations of leys since it was written in 1925. The most interesting (but frustrating) book I read on that - “Alien Energy” by Andrew Collins tied the concept in with Reich’s orgone energy concept.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘What really matters in this book is whether it is a humanly designed fact, an accidental coincidence, or a “mare’s nest,” that mounds, moats, beacons, and mark stones fall into straight lines throughout Britain, with fragmentary evidence of trackways on the alignments.’ —Preface.

This summary by Alfred Watkins – of three explanations for his theory of ancient alignments – was both accurate and perspicacious, given the various reactions that continue to be expressed a century later. Watkins believed the placement of sites and tracks in lines was part of a deliberate design, one that may have remained in the collective consciousness over generations, thus accounting for the physical markers being of different periods separated by hundreds if not thousands of years.

For many fans – especially during and after New Age ideas proliferated in the 1960s – this theory of deliberate engineering was not only acceptable but extendable into more speculative and mystical notions of geomancy, earth magic, Gaia and the like. However, statisticians have long argued that many of his plotted lines (Watkins purloined the term ‘ley’ for his alignments) are coincidental, their apparent significance purely subjective, though certain supporters have resorted to special pleading.

The last definition he gives – a mare’s nest – is an idiom which can be interpreted in two ways: it either refers to a muddle or other complex, disordered or confused situation, or, in this case, a false or illusory discovery, even a deliberate hoax. It’s from this second definition that most criticisms of Watkins’ leys originate: not only are his alignments imaginary (the critics assert) but his theories deserve disdain and even ridicule because the basis of his hypothesis is patently absurd. However, when certain academics resorted to ad hominem insults, based on the fact that Watkins worked for the family’s Herefordshire brewery, their attacks took on a more spiteful tone. In this centenary year is it possible to say where a consensus now lies, and if we can be both more generous and more pragmatic.

[…] imagine a fairy chain stretched from mountain peak to mountain peak, as far as the eye could reach, and paid out until it touched the “high places” of the earth at a number of ridges, banks, and knowls […]

In this review I’d like to give a considered overview of the arguments Watkins made in this publication, discuss their presentation, and offer my assessment of his legacy. I’ll make some reference to my own brush with leys (or ‘ley-lines’) and their advocates in the late sixties, and end with some personal comments on what may count as design, what can be attributed to coincidence, and what appears fake.

Overview
At the outset it’s important to note that Watkins himself (1855–1935) was a man of many talents and abilities. He was both a photographer and inventor of photographic equipment, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society; he was an avid apiarist and member of the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club; and he especially enjoyed travelling around the county and further afield taking a close antiquarian interest in ancient sites.

It was near Leominster in 1921 that he apparently had his vision of lines criss-crossing the countryside, stretching from one significant site to another, lines which he was to theorise marked prehistoric trading routes. He mainly identified the sites in the form of beacons, mounds, moats, what he called ‘mark stones’ – boundary markers – and other features from antiquity such as old camps or hillforts, more recent successor structures such as churches, and natural features such as notches (bylchau, singular bwlch, in the Welsh Marches) on a distant skyline, a pass that a traveller might use to cross over a hill.

And what was the purpose of these markers? They were, he declared, the sighting pegs utilised by the earliest track-makers to create, long before the Romans, routes to travel along. The shortest distance between two points being a straight line, Watkins suggested that prehistoric surveyors mapped out the shortest roads to take from one place to another. These track surveyors with their sighting poles Watkins termed ley-men, a visual representation being the chalk figure of the Long Man of Wilmington, he suggests.

Presentation
In this 1925 publication, reissued in his lifetime and subsequently, through thirty chapters and four appendices, and close on 130 original photographs, sketch maps and diagrams, he argues his case for the existence and antiquity of his vision, mostly centred on Herefordshire and parts of Monmouthshire and Radnorshire but using examples elsewhere in England and Wales.

Whether, in his words, he “rightly or wrongly” uses the term ley – a suffix he finds associated with many placenames where he detects deliberate alignments – in order to designate these old straight tracks, the fact remains that words like ley, leigh and lea indicate clearings in woodland, created for pasturage; at any rate, leys or ley-lines have been happily adopted by ley hunters and generally recognised over the past century.

The upshot is that Watkins based his thesis on three decades of legwork, on his interest in archaeology, history and architecture, and on his research into etymology, folklore and legends. And it’s hard for the non-expert not to be affected by his enthusiasm and sheer piling-up of what he sees as supporting evidence from these different disciplines.

Assessment
But that enthusiasm didn’t then stand up in the face of critical thinking, and even less so now. Though there’s an understandable human delight in avenues and estate ‘rides’, in viewing an eye-catching feature – statue, edifice, stand of trees – as a perspective focus at the end of a straight path, even as a symbolic goal, the sceptical critic will come up with a wealth of counter-arguments and objections, many of which will be entirely justified.

One objection is that anecdote, parallels, folk etymology and wishful thinking do not constitute irrefutable evidence. A country saying, an ambiguous chalk figure of no clear antiquity, similar-sounding but unrelated words, and the eye of faith (as is clear from many of Watkins’ photographs) can too easily be dismissed as nothing but meaningless coincidence. It’s the objective significance of the details that he provides that brings his notions into question.

Then there’s the statistical likelihood of all these alignments that needs consideration. Watkins declared that five points on an alignment were his preferred proof, but occasionally three or four are cited as evidence of a ley. Also, in the decades since he announced his key concept, archaeological and scientific investigations – aerial and ground-level surveys, field-walking and sampling, excavations, even metal-detecting – have multiplied the number of sites that could be taken into account: shrines, inhumations, buried monoliths, and levelled earthworks, for example. A fold-out section of an Ordnance Survey map he includes, covered with his careful lines and circled sites, would nowadays be almost obliterated by cross-hatching.

Finally I want to come to the issue of why old straight tracks might be required in prehistoric times. Watkins mentions astronomical alignments – quite a few of which, incidentally, are now accepted by scholars – but these aren’t practical pathways for travellers, the basis on which his main argument rests. The Romans initially needed stretches of straight roads for military use, but they required precision engineering; Watkins provides no example of such engineering for prehistoric routes.

Instead, most of the ancient routes we observe globally either take the path of least resistance – gentle slopes, natural contours, avoiding obstacles, following paths created by wildlife – or, if on level ground, employ straight stretches for short distances if aiming for a site of evident significance (such as a ceremonial site, a seat of power, or a market). The long-range ‘tracks’ Watkins postulates, he rarely if ever gives proof of existing for more than some tens of yards, let alone existing in actual fact. Along with lack of evidence for continuity – a Neolithic standing stones, a Bronze Age burial mound, the edge of an Iron Age hillfort, a Roman villa and a medieval church spire – can’t reasonably be used as evidence for now forgotten planning stretching over centuries and millennia.

Experience
And yet, when Watkins’ notions re-emerged in later decades they excited new interest. I first became aware of straight tracks via a club called The Ley Hunters in the late sixties when I was part of an amateur Arthurian group, the Pendragon Society. These latter-day ley hunters, who enthusiastically covered OS maps with straight lines joining sites, were at that time fired up by a certain John Michell; the latter had in 1967 first published The Flying Saucer Vision: the Holy Grail Restored, followed two years later by The View Over Atlantis, expounding his more mystical interpretations of ley lines as sacred, geomantic alignments, far beyond Watkins’ more pragmatic explanations.

In 1973 a group of Pendragons, including myself, went off in a minibus with John Michell to the Penrith peninsula in Cornwall, looking at its many neolithic monoliths and stone circles. On that ‘expedition’ it was interesting to discover on one or two occasions to discover standing stones previously unmarked on OS maps at the ends of genuine ancient alignments.

A little earlier, in 1971, the conceptual artist and Turner Prize winner Richard Long (soon to be our neighbour next door but one in Bristol) first heard about ley-lines at his exhibition at The Whitechapel Gallery, as he recounted in a 1986 interview.

Someone came up; he saw my lines of walking across Exmoor, the line made by walking and said, have you heard of this man, an eccentric geographer who had a strange theory about invisible lines that connected prehistoric sites across England. That was the first time I had heard of these ley-lines.

Aside from artistic inspiration alignments provided the outcome of the 1973 Cornish expedition, Michell’s The Old Stones of Land’s End: An Enquiry Into the Mysteries of the Megalithic Science (1974), which came with a dedication to the then Prince of Wales, Charles, Duke of Cornwall.

However, I have to say that my interest in the wider, and often wilder, extensions of ley hunting had by now already waned – if it had in truth ever truly taken seed – the more that they were noised abroad; the main virtue of the Penwith stone alignments were that they consisted of near contemporary monuments and monoliths, all within a little over a hundred square miles, some possibly of astronomical significance and several within line of sight of each other. I couldn’t say the same of many of the examples Watkins makes claims for in The Old Straight Track.

Conclusions
What, then, can I say of the author’s vision of “a fairy chain stretched from mountain peak to mountain peak” that doesn’t sound either utterly dismissive or glibly accepting?

I would say that Watkins had an artist’s eye for what could have been, something which those with a deep love of the countryside, landscape and folk traditions might easily imagine as part of an ancient Golden Age. But for a premise to be more than just a dream and become scientifically rigorous it has to be tested and measured against evidence from a range of disciplines, evidence which (as in archaeology) is constantly generated, upsetting accepted patterns, and paradigms (in anthropology for example) which are continually revised, questioned or overturned.

Unfortunately Watkins’ romantic view of prehistoric ley-men out surveying – precursors perhaps of his own activities – was to prove attractive to certain classes of laymen while withering under the glare of scientific scrutiny. The mare’s nest, in fact, as he so presciently feared.

[JackieB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alred Watkins described his theory very clearly and in great depth, but I was unconvinced. He seemed to have fallen victim to confirmation bias to an epic degree. In addition, his attempt to use probablilty to support his theory was woefully inadequate (and I am qualified to make that judgement).

[not an exit]

*blows a kiss to the sky* for gansey

[Sapphira Solstice · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10
The book itself was pretty awful in some senses but the concept and content; absolutely fascinating and mind-blowing.

The book was written almost 100 years ago and this definitely shows. Watkins may be a genius, and that I don’t doubt, but writing is not his forte. He knows the word ‘antiquity’ that’s for sure. The absolute worst thing about the book is the pictures! Firstly, those and all the diagrams referenced throughout the book (about 200 total) were scattered completely illogically on different pages so I had to constantly flick back and forth and had no idea where to find them, very frustrating! The pictures were black and white and very poor quality. This could easily be updated and would lend itself hugely to the reading experience (maybe it even has been updated…! Looks up theoldstraighttrack.com… don’t worry, it doesn’t exist (but it should)).

Those complaints aside (and maybe also the slightly illogical structure of the book), the concept, discovery and evidenced wonder of ley lines is just wonderful.

“How early it was that the beginnings of the ley system came must be a surmise but if it came as soon as man began to import flint or flint implements, it could not well be less than 25,000 B.C., that is, long before the Neolithic period commenced in Britain.” Well, this certainly corrected my completely inaccurate knowledge that humans had only been around for a couple thousand years!!

Watkins gives hugely detailed and convincing evidence and arguments for the ley lines. Prior to reading this book, I thought they were just pathways carrying magical currents but now I know the true meaning that they are very ancient trackways of our ancestors. I love the idea of the subtle remaining indicators – mark stones, notches, castles, mounds etc. There was also some other fascinating history including the origin of some surnames and words in English including Totman, sale, and that blac(k) used to mean white/light!

The setting in England was familiar but foreign, I’m sure for someone reading this and coming from or really knowing the areas mentioned (i.e. Herefordshire), it would be even more magical to read.

I would also highly recommend this to someone with keen historical interest. Hopefully, others can overlook or find an alternative to the mismatched pages/fig. numbers fiasco.

A few memorable quotes from the end of the book:

“The wayfarer’s instructions are still deeply rooted in the peasant mind today when he tells you – quite wrongly now – “You just keep straight on”.”

“Out from the soil we wrench a new knowledge, of old, old human skill and effort, that came to the making of this England of ours.”


I shall dream of the ley lines.

[CJSilvie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, sadly, contains many archeological, historical, and philological points which are either now proven false or were completely surmised to begin with. Take as only one example the assumption, simply put, that because ley men carried staffs, and priests and other figures of power also carry staffs, they are therefore linked. The links to druids also fall flat, though more disappointingly due to the fact that Watkins, as so many still do, took Victorian fabrications as true. In many cases Watkins cannot be held entirely at fault, as he often relied on information gathered from sources which are now outdated or were incomplete, but he did however, as can be seen in examples throughout the book, fall into conjecture and what can only be described as confirmation bias.

The theory of leys itself, is at its best coincidental, and at its worst unjustified. In mountainous regions, Watkins' presumption that we cannot hope to understand the prehistoric mind must at least lead us to assume that they were inherently stupid. It is unfeasible that someone wishing to get to get to the Neolithic axe factory on Pike O'Stickle (one of the largest in Europe, and a site which Watkins himself would surely place on a ley) would scale the 1000 or so foot of scree from the valley floor, or coming from Wasdale drop into the valley only to have the gruelling slog back up again.

This book explores many Neolithic, bronze age, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Roman sites of interest such as mounds, cairns, and standing stones with a detail not too great, nor too shallow, and this is where its value lies. In this expansive view of a landscape, not quite linked by the 'fairy-chain' Watkins hoped it to be, but nonetheless mysterious and enchanting, the reader may find their own questions about solar alignment, the significance of staffs in positions of power, the chronology of the British landscape, and the possibility of a few real leys, which may be better explored elsewhere.

A last point may be made in favour of this book, rather sadly, due to its inherent nostalgia. Watkins' landscape has not only changed with regards to more up to date science, but has itself physically and significantly changed. I know myself of standing stones toppled, mounds dug up and ploughed over, How long before we encroach on these places which are not all deemed worthy of protection? The image of Watkins himself doddering over the landscape is one transformed into bank holiday masses and people searching for mountain zip-lines, or preplanned commercial 'adventure'.

[Arthur Cowslip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book to read once, but only once. Because it's thick with detail you are never going to remember, but the overall concept is interesting and fairly easy to absorb.

Ley lines, then. Arguing about whether ley lines exist or not sometimes feels like arguing about climate change or religion. You are never going to change anyone's mind and it's all to easy to get mired in extreme positions.

There are magic invisible lines of energy connecting various mystical ancient sites all over Britain!

No there aren't, that's totally ridiculous, it's all speculation and woolly thinking!

It's easy to overlook the fact that Alfred Watkins' original thesis was a sober, grounded thing. He mentions nothing mystical at all, and in fact actively discourages it. His theories (ancient navigation systems of marking points and straight paths we can still pick out in the landscape today) are compelling, and he fully admits a lot of it is speculation.

He perhaps overstates his argument a bit (sometimes you feel he is over-reaching and finding patterns where none exist). And the lack of academic rigour is a bit troublesome. But his passion for the landscape shines through and he makes ley hunting sound so accessible you really feel like giving it a go.

[John Manley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking back from the 21st Century there is much to be learnt from this book beyond Watkin's theory of Ley lines. For is it soon becomes obvious how much his ideas about straight line navigation have grown decade after decade into a near belief system. The seed that Watkins sowed grew into a whole wealth of theories about energy lines, earth energy, dowsing and mystical powers. It is a hard jolt reading this book that he saw no more than some ancient means of navigation across the landscape, no more, no less. Did I believe his theory? Initially yes, but I am afraid the linguistic gymnastics he creates to justify many of his claims leaves me very doubtful. Doesn't stop me peering across maps looking for those clues though. And here is a google map link to his much loved Hergest Ridge, a place I must visit someday:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/H...

[Sean Canty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Archaic and humourless 1925 book that I read because 2025 marks its centenary, to find out if it deserved its classic status. I wish I'd just read the first few chapters then skipped forward to the final chapters and the outline.

Watkins argues the word "ley" once meant track (not cultivated field as it did later) in the Bronze and Iron Ages and that the credit for the straight roads the Romans left behind were should go to peoples on the British Isles before them who laid out the original straight routes using ancient surveying methods. It's full of conjecture, ropey history and etymology, and late-Victorian eccentric antiquarianism. Rob MacFarlane's preface in the most recent edition explains why (spoiler alert) Watkins' arguments have since been proven wrong.

By the book's 50th anniversary, ley line theory had been co-opted by neopagans and mystics, and I'd find reading about the theory's afterlife at that stage far more interesting.

[Cecilie Larsen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I avoid interpretation of place-names as much as possible in this book, and only do so where it aids in the explanation of the sighted track, but then give the evidence with some fullness.

p. 242
I actually laughed out loud when I read this line about 3/4 of the way through the book. Pretty much all the book consists of is Watkins raddling off long lists of place-names that he's derive some sort of interpretation from.
Do yourself a favor and instead of slouching through this tome, stick to the foreword, introduction and last chapter. If something in the last chapter confounds you, you can always go back and skim.
Though, I suppose the book would have been much more interesting if you're were actually personally familiar with all the places Watkins "researches".

[Helena Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read his book decades ago and was as fascinated then as I still am now, having discovered and mapped my own ley lines in my last work on Co. Wexford, Ireland on Ireland's most haunted house, Loftus Hall (Loftus - The Hall of Dreams). Watkins coined the term "ley line" used to refer to energy lines that run through sacred sites also known as energy lines or "dragon lines" in China.

He was well ahead of his time as indeed, recent scientific trends have confirmed that everything IS made up of energy so knowing about energy lines is essential, especially when studying the past.

A must for all history and archaeology lovers!

[Claire O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me a while to read, dipping in and out of it. It posits the theory of that prehistoric man-made features of the land such as barrows and standing stones lining up marking straight tracks or ley lines. His theories have been debunked but I find it quite plausible that the ancestors could have used this system and I enjoyed reading about his interests that support his theories such as place names, folklore and seeing the photos of the physical evidence. I look forward to visiting some of the places featured and I will read up more on the subject and plan to look into energy lines too.

[Äsruþr Cyneaþsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As expected -- a fair development of the original archaelogical and anthropoligical theory of ley-lines. There is no New Age fluff here. This work is purely focussed upon ley-lines, rather than energy grids. As an insight into how Neolithic people may have planned and developed trade routes and processional pathways, Watkins makes a good offering.

[Matthew Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating study of the many ancient tracks and green lanes as recorded in the early 19th century. Once you know what you're looking for you soon begin to spot our oldest routes. I recommend a modern annotated copy, as these often give locations with map series, grid references and even sat nav guidance.

[Robert Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published 93 years ago, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the pre-history of Britain. Watkins erudite style covers the straight tracks, leylines and names that cities gained before the Roman invasion. Its a delightful little gem & one I'm bound to dip into again & again.

[Blunt Of Mercia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The type of book that could only be written by an Englishman. Mad. Dare I say, spurious. But it remains interesting from a historical perspective— and also, since belief in ley-lines became some sort of a spiritualist fad. (I don't know how— they're very dull and a reasonable hypothesis at bottom.)

[Terri Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read on ley lines.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very English psychogeography and eclectic reasoning of the landscape.

[Trice]

Rec: Ben Aaronovotch’s The Hanging Tree chapter 13: “Angry Birds”

[Stephen Gamble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired me to write a jig...

https://youtu.be/1GkrC2NEQXQ

[Tim Bagshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. I'm a keen walker and notice many things around me as I walk. The idea of straight lines and aligned features in the landscape, built or placed by ancient peoples to guide their way is appealing - and exploring old forgotten pathways is something I'll be doing more of in the months to come.

[Paul Gallear · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank god that is over with. Just stubborn, bloody-minded obstinacy prevented me from abandoning this book half way through. I suppose it is unfair to be too harsh because I did enjoy some aspects of it, such as those chapters dealing with place names. But the rest I found to be tedious and uninteresting speculation.

It is a well-liked book which will continue to be read, just never by me again.

[Fiona Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another must for ley hunters - one of the first books to bring ley hunting to the fore.