Craftland

Author: James Fox

Format: Hardback

A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades

Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year
Shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards Non-Fiction Award 2025

Britain was once a craft land. For generations what we made with our hands shaped our identities, built our communities and defined our regions. Craftland chronicles the vanishing skills and traditions that used to govern every aspect of life on these shores.

'Impassioned and inspiring' — Sunday Times Book of the Week

'Full of stories of crafts and craftspeople and communities, and creativity over the ages. Wonderful' — Michael Morpurgo

'Beautiful, eye-opening and surprisingly moving - a treat to treasure' — Lucy Worsley

From the Isles of Scilly to the Scottish Highlands, James Fox travels the length of Britain to seek out the country's last great craftspeople.

Stepping inside the workshops of blacksmiths and wheelwrights, cutlers and coopers, bellfounders and watchmakers, we glimpse not only our past but another way of life: one that is not yet lost and might still shape our future.

For as long as there are humans, there will be craft. It is all around us, hiding in plain sight, animating even the most ordinary things. Fox shows that Britain is still a craft land, if only we have eyes to see it.

'Extraordinary ... will leave you awestruck' — Xand van Tulleken

'Brimming with fresh news and seasoned with hope. I read it in two gulps with delight' — Andrew Marr

About the Author

James Fox is an academic, best-selling author and multi-award-winning, BAFTA-nominated broadcaster, known for his many acclaimed BBC documentaries. He is an art historian at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Creative Director of the Hugo Burge Foundation, a charity dedicated to supporting the arts and crafts across Britain. He is also the author of the celebrated The World According to Colour: A Cultural History.

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