Seeing the hills, the crofts, villages and ruins only tells half the story. The people who worked, walked, lived and died here are the other half.
Postal paths span the length and breadth of Britain – from the furthermost corners of the Outer Hebrides to the isolated communities clinging to the cliffs of the Rame Peninsula in south-east Cornwall. As far back as the 1660s, postmen and women have been moulding and forging paths to deliver posts to homes across Britain, no matter how remote.
A chance remark by a farmer about a Postman’s Path led Alan Cleaver on a quest to discover more about this network of lanes, short-cuts and footpaths in the British landscape. What he found, through his walks, conversations and painstaking research, was more than just beautiful scenery. It was an incredible, forgotten slice of social history – the remarkable tales and toil of rural postmen and women trudging down lanes, over fields, and even across rivers to make sure the post always came on time.
From women like Hannah Knowles, who began her job delivering letters in 1912 and would only miss three days through illness over the next 62 years of service, to WW1 veteran Matt Bendelow, who managed his 9-mile delivery route on one leg, Postal Paths paints a vivid picture of the people who not only served their communities but, more often than not, built them.
From the rolling fells of Cumbria to Kent’s shingle coast, Postal Paths is a journey through Britain’s past – and its future.
Published: Monoray Books 24 April 2025
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