About the Book

From the presenter of BBC Radio 4's Take Four Books

You scramble up over the dunes of an isolated beach. You climb to the summit of a lonely hill. You pick your way through the eerie hush of a forest. And then you find them. The traces of the past. Perhaps they are marked by a tiny symbol on your map, perhaps not. There are no plaques to explain their fading presence before you, nothing to account for what they once were – who made them, lived in them or abandoned them. Now they are merged with the landscape. They are being reclaimed by nature. They are wild history.

In this book acclaimed author and presenter James Crawford introduces many such places all over the country, from the ruins of prehistoric forts and ancient, arcane burial sites, to abandoned bothies and boathouses, and the derelict traces of old, faded industry.

Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month for April 2025

Shortlisted for The Great Outdoors Reader Awards

Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize

PRAISE FOR JAMES CRAWFORD

The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World

'Crawford travels widely to make his points in a text reminiscent of those of Barry Lopez or Robert Macfarlane . . . A thoughtful consideration of the imaginary lines that hold meaning for so many' - Kirkus Reviews

'Crawford's essays, through vivid accounts of historical episodes and contemporary problems, illuminate how the world acquired its current shape . . . Eye-opening' - Literary Review

Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History’s Greatest Buildings

'Conveys superbly these absorbing tales of hubris, power, violence and decay' - Sunday Times

'Witty and memorable . . . moving as well as myth-busting' - Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement

Scotland from the Sky

'A stunning combination of aviation adventure and historical detective work' - Press and Journal

'Crawford is a genuine, risk-taking adventurer' - Daily Express