The Old Straight Track

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.