Daniel Defoe · 1724 · overland
Daniel Defoes account of Great Britain in the 1720s, published in three volumes as a series of letters describing journeys, or circuits, through every part of the island. Part travelogue, part economic survey, it records the towns, trades, ports and industries of a nation on the edge of commercial greatness, from the clothing towns of East Anglia to the coalfields of the north, the Scottish Highlands, the cities of Wales and the far tip of Cornwall. This route follows a grand clockwise circuit of the whole island and back to London.
- 1London
Defoe begins his circuits in London, the great engine of trade whose reach he traces out across the whole island.
- 2Norwich
Through the flourishing clothing towns of the eastern counties to Norwich, then one of the largest cities in England.
- 3York
North into the broad shire of Yorkshire and its ancient capital, York, seat of the north.
- 4Newcastle
On to Newcastle upon Tyne, black with the coal that warms London and drives the nations trade.
- 5Edinburgh
Across the border into Scotland and up to Edinburgh, the old northern capital on its rock.
- 6Inverness
Deep into the Highlands as far as Inverness, at the head of the rough and mountainous north.
- 7Glasgow
Back down the western side to Glasgow, which Defoe judged one of the cleanest and handsomest cities in Britain.
- 8Carlisle
Re-crossing into England at Carlisle, the border fortress-city.
- 9Chester
South through Lancashire to the old walled city of Chester on the Dee.
- 10Cardiff
Into Wales and down to Cardiff, surveying the ports and hills of the principality.
- 11Bristol
Round the Severn to Bristol, the second city of the kingdom and its western gate to the Atlantic trade.
- 12Exeter
West into Devon and the cathedral city of Exeter, heart of the serge and cloth country.
- 13Lands End
Out to Lands End, the farthest tip of Cornwall, where the island runs into the sea.
- 14London
And so the great circuit closes, back to London, the whole island surveyed.