The last Primrose Hill Lecture Series event finished with an interesting and insightful conversation between Nicholas Crane and Libby Wiener about Nicholas’s knowledge of the secret history of Britain’s footpaths. Libby Wiener has worked as a political correspondent for iTV; Nicholas Crane is known as a high-profile geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. They discussed the different roles that Britain’s footpaths have played within the UK throughout history.
Nicholas Crane:
At the beginning of the talk Nicholas Crane discussed how the different footpaths within Britain have been shaped since the start of early history. He explained that, originally, the first people crossed over to Britain when the sea separating the different countries was a frozen glacier. When the glaciers melted the people who had crossed to Britain remained there. They were also part of the UK when the globe changed again as countries were connected. When these connected countries broke up again, some of the early people remained in Britain, while new nations formed through the newly established broken up countries.
Initially Britain had less developed footpaths. They were first formed through the viking invasion, while the Roman Empire helped form the new roads, which were mapped up well.
During the medieval periods highway men attacked people travelling along different paths of the country. They kidnapped them and wouldn’t return their captors until their families paid them a quarter of their wealth. The highway men were often high-born individuals, even connected to archbishops or local dignitaries.
Jumping ahead to the 20th century, large parts of the countryside had airport runways built over them for WW2. There are parts of Manchester that still have a lot of tarmac runways built over them. Farmers chose to keep the tarmac runway to use as part of running their farm. A lot of the airport strips have now been removed.
Libby Wiener:
Libby asked Nicholas various historical and geographical questions about Britain’s secret footpaths, as well as how they were first formed. Libby Wiener started off broadcasting for iTV news from Australia from the late 1990s. She then became a royal correspondent. She then went on to become the Europe correspondent for iTV news based in Brussels. Finally, Libby finished her career as a political correspondent for iTV news based in Westminster.
ABOUT PRIMROSE HILL LECTURE SERIES:
The Primrose Hill Lecture Series has been known to be exploring and debating some of the most important issues we face as a modern society. The Primrose Hill Lecture Series are now recognised as being one of London’s leading spaces for bold, lively and informative talks. If you’re interested in learning or engaging about any of the lecture series talks do make sure you book to attend them.
The different lecture series events will be taking place at St Mary’s the Virgin Primrose Hill, Elsworthy Road, London, NW3 3DJ.
© Adam Reeves, 2026, all rights reserved.