On 8 July 1618 Ben Jonson set out from London to walk to Edinburgh.  Details of his journey were unknown until the recent discovery in Chester Archives of a manuscript account of Jonson's ‘Foot Voyage’ written by an anonymous fellow walker.  We now have a full picture of the people he met, and the places he visited, as he made his way northwards to York, Durham and Newcastle, then on into Scotland to Edinburgh, finally crossing the Forth for a whistlestop tour of Fife.

Jonson was then at the height of his career, and the welcome given to him on the road was fitting for a man of such fame. At Belvoir Castle, Welbeck Abbey, and other grand houses he was welcomed and banqueted by the nobility and gentry. In market towns and northern cities the civic elite turned out to entertain him. In Scotland, throngs mobbed him on Edinburgh’s High Street as they toasted his journey’s end, while nobles and town dignitaries feasted him in their palaces and houses.

The researchers currently completing an edition of the 'Foot Voyage' for publication by CUP next year would like to invite you to join them, and Ben, in a digital recreation of the walk this summer.

•    Jonson’s ‘Foot Voyage’ will be tweeted and posted day by day from 8 July to 5 October 2013 (Twitter) (Facebook)

•    you can accompany him up the Great North Road, sharing his experiences of historic sites and the tales he was told, the colourful characters he met, plenty of generous hospitality, and lots of great British summer weather

•    you can find out more about the walk and the project on the linked website and blog



This project has been undertaken by James Loxley and Anna Groundwater (Edinburgh) and Julie Sanders (Nottingham), and is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.