‘A Year on the Fosse’ – The Wildlife and History of the Famous Roman Road

This is a book about a road – The Fosse Way – that spears straight through the heart of England for 230 miles. It relates how the Roman invaders constructed the road beside a defensive ditch (fossa) paving the whole length with limestone slabs, and it tells the stories of the villages, market towns and cathedral cities that grew up along the way, and the key episodes that took place along the Roman road that changed British history. It also describes the wildlife to be found in reserves and green spaces along the line of the Fosse, month by month as the seasons unfold.

From the flatlands of Lincolnshire, through the East Midlands Wolds and Warwickshire to the Cotswolds and the sumptuous West Country, this beautifully written book is full of fascinating information, folklore, bird identification and some unexpected tales.

The Fosse Way is like a slice through England revealing its past. And throughout the journey from Lincoln to Exeter, there is an underlying message of the urgent need to protect our woodlands and green spaces, to reverse the decline in biodiversity, and to combat dangerous climate change.

(Rick Thompson / Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd. 2024)

More Info