The majority of South Yorkshire's twenty-first century residents are oblivious to the unique and fascinating Sand House that graced Doncaster from the mid-1850s until the Second World War. It was created by excavating the ground from around a massive block of sandstone and then hollowing out rooms within, in order to create a 40-metre-long, 12-metre-wide residence equipped with all the mod cons that a wealthy Victorian businessman would want. And yet there is nothing to be seen now of this...

Doncaster has always benefited from its location. It stands on the Great North Road, superseded by the A1, the primary route for all traffic from London to Edinburgh, and due to its strategic geographical importance it emerged as an industrial centre in the mid-nineteenth century. Beneath the town lies a huge coal seam and it was this that prompted Doncaster’s exponential population growth. In the early part of the twentieth century Doncaster became one of the largest coal-mining areas in ...

Wakefield city centre has undergone a complete makeover during the twentieth century, something that still continues today as it tries to come to terms with modern building regulations, commercial and consumer needs, and the requirements of the motorist. Dubbed the ‘Merrie City’ in the Middle Ages, the city has a long history as a prominent market town and epicentre for the wool trade. Wakefield then developed further in the eighteenth century, thanks to its links with the corn, coal minin...

The South Yorkshire town of Barnsley first described as ‘Berneslai’ in the Domesday Book has an illustrious history and has long been associated with the glass-making and coal-mining industries. There are no longer remnants of the previously ever-present Barnsley British Co-operative Society instrumental in aiding the area’s growth as a mining community. Much of the town centre was reconstructed in the 1960s and development continues to this day. Some attractive older buildings still survi...

Please write a review on Smashword if you use this book. If you have criticisms or can suggest improvements please email mail me (address in book)To tour central London, buy a travel card or Oystercard, climb to the top of the number 11 bus and open this e-book.Each stop is indicated and the things to watch out for after each stop are detailed. Suggestions are made about where to get off, what to see and where to take a walk. Connect up with other buses to other sites and t...

In 1963 Dr Beeching's infamous report signalled the end for over 15,000 miles of track, a third of Britain's stations, and for 70,000 jobs, as well as making irrevocable changes to the way of life of many consumers. Much misery was caused and Beeching's name was muddied, but in hindsight the report probably did more than any other single factor to preserve the nation's railway heritage. Without the Beeching cuts, much of the locomotives, stock, tracks, signals and signs wo...

This walk is one of twelve walks in John Wilks' Walks Through History - Birmingham series which contains twelve walks within the city. The whole book is available as an ebook or physical book or you could try this one out first. The book is a celebration of the beauty and poetry of the county. Each walk in this book has been chosen not only because it is a pleasant walk in its own right, but also because it goes past sites which reveal the rich and varied history of the county. Each walk i...

If you  want to see just how far Liverpool has come since hosting the Capital of Culture Year, there is probably no better place to start than down by the Mersey. The central area of the city has managed to pull off that delicate balancing act of keeping the best of the old while shoe-horning in the latest facilities.   'Liverpool One' shopping complex has attempted to create that most elusive of design tricks - creating street precincts rather than the usual central block ...

Stevenage Through Time is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this part of the country. Reproduced in full colour, this is an exciting examination of Stevenage, the famous streets and the famous faces, and what they meant to the people of this area throughout the 19th and into the 20th Century. Looking beyond the exquisite exterior of these well-kept photos, readers can see the historical context in which they are set and through the author's factual captions for every picture...

The railway came to Oxfordshire during the 1840s, the core of the present-day local railway network being completed by 1853. Other lines were subsequently constructed and, despite some branch line closures during the 1960s, these Victorian railways are still serving the public during the first decades of the twenty-first century. Their longevity is a tribute to the energy and vision of the nineteenth-century entrepreneurs who brought the railway system into existence over 160 years ago. Th...

Wednesbury Through Time is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this part of the West Midlands. Reproduced in full colour, this is an exciting examination of the well-known streets and famous faces, and what they meant to the people of this area throughout the 19th and into the 20th Century. Looking beyond the exquisite exterior of these well-kept photos, readers can see the historical context in which they are set, and through the author's factual captions for every picture, a...

Battersea has grown to be a fashionable and vibrant district of south-west London. Referred to as Patricesy in the Domesday Book, Battersea was historically best known for market gardening, providing fruit, vegetables and flowers for the City of London. However, the area moved from rural to urban with the coming of the railways, industry and large-scale housing from the 1840s, provoking a population growth from 4,000 to 120,000 by the beginning of the twentieth century. Glimpses of the pas...