The Old Weird Albion. A Journey Into the Heart of the English South

"A woman stands at the edge of a cliff, looking out to sea and the horizon. Dancers welcome the Sun in a circle of trees. A dowsing rod turns without warning. A church bell. Footsteps." The Old Weird Albion is conceived as a series of movements across the South Downs of Hampshire and Sussex; a poetic essay interrogating the high, haunted landscape of the English South. Justin Hopper traces memories, myths and forgotten histories from Winchester to Beachy Head, joining New Age eccentrics and accidental visionaries on the hunt for crop circles, ancient chalk figures and eerie suburbs: the ruins of prehistoric pasts and utopian futures. Hopper casts himself as the outsider – an American initiate searching for an English heritage – and mixes doubt with desire in pursuit of mystical encounters in the Downs. Illustrated by Mairead Dunne. Cover artwork by Leah Fusco. Justin Hopper is a writer of landscape, memory and myth. His journalism, poetry, audio projects and curated exhibitions have appeared in both his native USA and adopted UK home. He lives in Constable Country with his partner and their son. Praise: