Drowned. Buried by sand. Decimated by plague. Plunged off a cliff. This is the forgotten history of Britain’s lost cities, ghost towns, and vanished villages. From a Neolithic settlement submerged in sand to an abandoned Black Death hamlet, a Norfolk village requisitioned and zombified by the military to a medieval city swept off a shingle island, these are Britain’s shadowlands.
Rising star historian Matthew Green excavates these lost settlements in unusually vivid detail, telling the extraordinary tales of their demise. We experience life before, during, and after oblivion, meeting the humans who lived and died in these unique places, and explore the lingering, beautiful remains.
At a time when our settlements are threatened by pandemics and global warming, its story of human fragility could not be more powerful. Whether evoking the Atlantis myth or Romantic ruins, an ancient Roman metropolis or the modern coastline, Shadowlands peers through the cracks of history at Britain’s secret landscape, transforming our understanding of history by giving a truer sense of the progress of time and presaging our future.
Dr Matthew Green is an historian, writer, and broadcaster with a doctorate from Oxford University. He has appeared in documentaries on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and has written historical features for the Telegraph and Guardian. He is the co-founder of Unreal City Audio, which produces immersive tours of London as live events, audio downloads and apps. His first book was London: A Travel Guide Through Time.
Author photo by Hayley Benoit