Highways of Britain. The M1, the M6 and M25. How did we end up in this position? Chris Cooper takes us through the evolution of our road system starting with iron age track ways and moving on via Roman roads, medieval roads, turnpikes and the coaching era to something we might recognise today.

We go from trying to plot a trackway from one hill fort to another, to following the entire course of a Roman road. We use a coaching era timetable to get from London to rural North Yorkshire and we follow the course of a 17th century strip map. Turnpike toll booths, stagecoaches and coaching inns all feature.

Up to more modern times, what to look for to tell if your road was once different. This book also gives detailed explanations of many of the things we see on many of today’s roads.