Wild History

Explores forgotten, abandoned places across Scotland, revealing their hidden stories of the past, from ancient forts to derelict industry. 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