Craftland

A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades

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Craftland

By: James Fox

Narrated by: James Fox

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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.

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.

'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

'This extraordinary book 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

© James Fox 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Art

Crafts & Hobbies

Customs & Traditions

Europe

Great Britain

Social Sciences

Highlander

Critic Reviews

An impassioned and inspiring account of the extraordinary men and women still doing traditional artisanal work in Britain

Craftland is a book that shimmers with love for a dwindling world of meticulous, patient labour … Lyrical … Deftly written and well researched

Superb … A book with many highlights … [Fox] brings his critical intelligence to platform the usually silent process of mastering a craft. I read the book with admiration not only for the remarkable subjects individually, but also the human spirit that unites them all

If you want to know about Britain and yourself, read this book … This is a tremendous book that urges us – in spite of the seductions of crass modernity – to believe in the craftspeople, living and dead, who made us who we are.

Meet the weavers, watchmakers and wheelwrights keeping Britain’s noble craft traditions alive … Fox effortlessly persuades the reader about the superiority of all things crafted

Utterly enchanting (Amol Rajan)

This hugely absorbing book is so full of stories of crafts and craftspeople and communities, and of creativity over the ages. It’s such an important story to tell and told so compellingly. Wonderful (Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse)

Beautiful, eye-opening and surprisingly moving - a treat to treasure (Lucy Worsley, author of Jane Austen at Home)

A beautifully crafted book – akin to the beautifully crafted objects it describes … What a treat to discover facts and stories that feed the heart and prove that craft is as ever present as it has forever been (Kate Malone, ceramist)

It is so rare to come across a book brimming with fresh news and seasoned with hope. James Fox uncovers a largely hidden history which is still alive all around us today. I read it in two gulps with delight (Andrew Marr, author and journalist)

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