The Road: A Story of Romans and Ways to the Past

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But the attempt to truly and earnestly show the road as it has been throughout all of its history is such an ambitious one that I can forgive him those topples into pretension, because there is so much that is fascinating and beautiful and wonderful, and I think he gets quite close to what he's trying to do. Weaving in culture and local history, plus countryside insights, this is a thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing read. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Hadley leads us on a hunt to discover, in Hilaire Belloc's phrase, 'all that has arisen along the way'.He explains how roads initially built by the Romans for military and strategic purposes became economic highways for spreading trade, especially in pottery, and ideas. Hadley takes us down a different way, looking through a gentler window on that road's long lost days.

A touchstone into one of the most fascinating periods in British and European history that still has resonance today.Hadley traces the path of a single Roman road in Britain and uses this trek as a tool for explaining much that is possible to know about all such roads in that country. We all think we know about Roman roads because they are straight, but this book shows there is far more to them than that.

The shock and awe experienced by the bewildered Britons that the construction of a rapid troop transport system by a supremely organised and skilled group of soldiers can only be imagined.Then I became overwhelmed with the micro detail of the local landscape and although many of stories and folklore Hadley draws in are compelling, as a reader I ran out of steam! Much like a road itself - there are some interesting bits and then there are some bits where you’re just chugging along and the scenery is pretty pleasant but it’s scrolling past as you go on your way. The joy of this book though is not simply to be found in how Hadley attempts to reconstruct the Roman past from trenches and ceramic shards buried in the landscape. I admit that my pitch barely sounds any better but, well, I'm glad Hadley made it, his agent touted it and William Collins accepted it. Thought there'd be more to it, but there are some interesting historical asides here and there, even if, for some reason, I felt it'd be a lot more focused on the attempt to follow a forgotten Roman road than it was.