Women and the Land examines the pre-history of gendered property relations in England, focusing on the four-hundred-year period between roughly 1500 and 1900. More specifically, the book is about how gender shaped opportunities for and experiences of owning property, particularly for women. The focus is especially on land, residential buildings and commercial property, but livestock, common and personal property also feature. This project is drivenby an explicitly feminist agenda:...

Middlesbrough and Teesside are renowned for their association with the iron and steel industry. Iron has been produced there on an industrial scale since the 1850s, when Cleveland ironstone was discovered in the Eston Hills. By 1866, there were fifty-eight blast furnaces in Middlesbrough, Cargo Fleet, Eston (South Bank) and Port Clarence and the growth and subsequent decline of the iron and steel industry is, in many ways, the history of Middlesbrough itself. Any uninformed visitor could b...

This pocket-sized guide to identifying and interpreting metal and ceramic marks has been improved with the addition of the most recent hallmarks, along with details of the new hallmarking system.Do you attend car boot sales or browse in antique shops in search of bargains? Have you ever wished you knew more about grandma’s silver spoon? Do you envy the experts’ ability to identify and date old hand-me-downs? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, Collins Gem Antique Marks ...

A fascinating account of how the railways came to Surrey and the impact they had on the people who lived in the countyThe book the great days of the steam railways in the county. It shows how and why the lines were built, giving an account of the people who laid the lines and built the stations.

Founded in 1894 by James Wright Beswick, Beswick Pottery remained in the family for three generations before becoming part of Royal Doulton in 1969.As owners and collectors of its products will testify, Beswick aimed to produce well-made ceramics at affordable prices: wares which could be used daily in the home as well as decorative ornaments for animal lovers of all ages to cherish.In this volume Val Baynton explores the range of products, revealing that f...

A dedicated history of a once busy rural station on a branch line of the Great Western Railway.Boxford was for many years a bustling little rural station on the branch line from Newbury to Lambourn. It is closed now, but some of the older residents can still remember the trains rattling through the station.In this book we learn when Newbury West Fields was built and why. The impact the station had on the surrounding area is explained and the type of freight and passengers t...

The nineteenth century was an era of scientific advance like no other in history. And no nation gained more from its forward momentum than Britain and her Empire. Railways were built, bridges constructed, rivers tamed and electricity harnessed, to the great benefit of all But progress was only achieved at high cost. Impatience for achievement too often resulted in catastrophe and disaster. In 1879, the Tay Bridge was the longest in the world and a wonder of its age. But on a stormy night i...

In this quirky and entertaining book, Steve Pope reveals the stories behind some of the world's most remarkable inventions and discoveries - and all of them are British.Presented in an easy to read A-Z format, So That's Why They Call It Great Britain is quite simply crammed full of fascinating facts.For example, did you know we gave the world chocolate bars, fizzy drinks, the flushing loo, computers and the iPod ?We also came up with the cash machine, safari...

The English Industrial Revolution was a triumph of ingenuity and invention. New sources of power, better manufacturing methods and expanding transport systems brought fantastic changes affecting every walk of life. Man and machine worked side by side to produce iron, coal and cotton cloth on a scale never before imagined. In this easy-to-follow and carefully researched book, Stan Yorke explains the machines and processes that helped to create our industrial world, using drawings and diagra...

Did you know?In the eleventh century, Edward the Confessor banished nightingales from the royal palace at Havering-atte-Bower because their singing disturbed his devotions.In 1913, Benny Hucks of Stansted Mountfitchet was the first person to perform a loop-the-loop in an aircraft.On Boxing Day 1946, Hatfield Heath villagers challenged local German and Italian POWs to a football match – and lost 11–0.Brentwood was the first town i...

On the edge of the Warwickshire coalfield, coal had been mined in Nuneaton since the fourteenth century and the town was a centre for quarrying and brick-making too. Coal had been mined in the Stockingford and Griff area of Chilvers Coton for five centuries, and by the mid-1860s, new capital, increasingly efficient mining methods, together with the building of the railways, brought about a golden bonanza of coal production in this area of Warwickshire. The building of railways and roads ge...

For more than five years, Adam Hart-Davis travelled the length and breadth of Britain, bringing to life in his TV series, "Local Heroes", pioneers of science, invention and technology. This book presents 100 of the best stories: ingenious or odd, different or daft, but always entertaining.