Journey 6
Daniel Defoe
Colchester
What were the roads like for Defoe?
In his Tour, Defoe describes the road from London into East Anglia as being “most worn with wagons, carts and carriages. These roads were deep, in times of floods, dangerous and at other times in winter, scarce passable.”
He saw that improving them would boost trade. Heavy goods could be moved more easily, and wagons would get to market more quickly.
Nick sets out to see if anything remains of the perilous byways Defoe longed to upgrade. Using a 1695 map, he finds a boggy, rutted track north of Colchester. Over 300 years old, it’s exactly the kind of route Defoe would have passed down: scenic, but totally impractical.