For thousands of years, our ancestors held a close connection with the landscapes they lived in. They imbued it with meaning: stone monuments, sacred groves, places of pilgrimage. In our modern world we have rather lost that enchantment and intimate knowledge of place.
James Canton takes us on a journey through England seeking to see through more ancient eyes, to understand what landscape meant to those that came before us. We visit stone circles, the West Kennet long barrow, a Crusader round church and sites of religious visions. We meet the Dagenham Idol and the intricately carved Lion Man figure. We find artefacts buried in farmers' fields. There is history and meaning encoded into the lands and places we live in, if only we take the time to look.
Our natural world has never been under more threat. If we relocate our sense of wonder, veneration and awe in the landscapes we live in, we might just be better at saving it.
Dr James Canton is Director of Wild Writing at the University of Essex. He is the author of The Oak Papers (2020), Ancient Wonderings: Journeys into Prehistoric Britain (2017) and Out of Essex: Re-Imagining a Literary Landscape (2013), which was inspired by his rural wanderings in East Anglia. He has written for the Guardian, reviews for the TLS and Caught by the River, and is a regular on television and radio.
@jamescanton | @jrcanton1 | jamescanton.co.uk
Title: Grounded: A Journey into the Landscapes of Our Ancestors
Author: Canton, James
ISBN: 9781838855871
Binding:
Publisher: Canongate Books
Publication Date: 2023-02-02
Number of Pages: 272
Weight: 0.3701 kg
A vivid exploration to the hearth-heart of the sacred places of our past - brimming with warmth and gentleness -- KEGGIE CAREW
Canton's research (chiefly in local historical and archaeological records) and his observations, paint a convincing picture of the English landscape and the people who lived in it. He assumes a role somewhere between that of an archaeologist, ghost hunter and pilgrim * * Financial Times * *
A personal exploration - both the literal act of journeying and mental voyage - around sacred spaces in Britain -- JOHN LEWIS-STEMPEL * * Country Life * *
To know what we are, and so how to behave and to thrive, we need to know where we've come from. Canton is an acute, gentle, companionable and elegiac guide through our past - and so through our present and future. He lets the land and our ancestors' bones speak. Their lessons could not be more urgent or exhilarating. You should join him in this sacramental journey -- CHARLES FOSTER
Canton's gift for vivid description makes this journey - this excavation of place and purpose - a captivating and ultimately anchoring one. Grounded is a joyful peer beneath the surface to where our own roots channel those of ancient time: it has brought new meaning to my everyday rituals of walking and seeing -- MATT COLLINS
PRAISE FOR JAMES CANTON Intensely alive to the landscape; its pasts, people and creatures -- ROBERT MACFARLANE
Canton's writing has an exquisite, somewhat dreamlike quality -- Peter Wohlleben
James Canton knows so much, writes so well and understands so deeply . . . Knowledge and joy -- SARA MAITLAND
An enchanting piece of nature writing and a meditation on finding connection in a disconnected world * * Independent * *
[An] ode to nature . . . In such turbulent times, Canton's meditation . . . is a reminder to stop, take a breath and take note of our surroundings * * Radio Times * *