An Atlas of Northamptonshire presents an historical atlas of the greater part of Northamptonshire (the first quarter having been published as An Atlas of Rockingham Forest). It presents in map form the results of fieldwork and documentary research undertaken since the mid-1960s to map the landscape of the whole of Northamptonshire prior to enclosure by Parliamentary Act. This is the first time a whole county has been completely studied in this way, and the first time a whole county has had...

Yorkshire is well known for its miners, pudding and cricket, but 'Yorkshire, A Very Peculiar History' scrapes beyond the surface and past the cliches. Featuring a host of characters from Yorkshire past and present, it's not all grit and grime! Tracing Yorkshire's history back through Roman and Viking rule, to the various tribes which populated the area in prehistoric times, this book covers the largest county in England from all angles. Featuring quirky tales of Yorkshire's crucial role in...

THE SECRETS OF SITE RESEARCH FINALLY REVEALED…Now you can quickly learn how to put your metal detector's search-coil in the right place every time.Find productive sitesIf nothing much ever happened where you search, then all you can expect your finds bag to contain is — nothing much. So to bring home the finds you need to search sites where human activity took place in the past. But how do you locate such sites? You could try your local library but you can't go into a ...

From the Roman invasion, through tall tales of Merlin and King Arthur, and right up to and beyond the incredible power of the mining industry, 'Wales, A Very Peculiar History' takes a quirky, sideways look at some of the slightly bizarre aspects of the home of welsh rarebit, Maelgwn the Dragon, and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Featuring the full gamut of Welsh providence from the coal-mining years to its rebirth in the 1970s, this book tells a tale of ups and...

'An extraordinary history' - Peter Ackroyd, The Times'A lively account of (Bazalgette's) magnificent achievements. . . graphically illustrated' - Hermione Hobhouse'Halliday is good on sanitary engineering and even better on cloaca, crud and putrefaction . . . (he) writes with the relish of one who savours his subject and has deeply researched it. . . splendidly illustrated' - Ruth Rendell...

From the author of ‘Britain BC’, ‘Britain AD’ and ‘Britain in the Middle Ages’ comes the fourth and final part in a critically acclaimed series on Britain's hidden past.The relevance of archaeology to the study of the ancient world is indisputable. But, when exploring our recent past, does it have any role to play? In ‘The Birth of Modern Britain’ Francis Pryor highlights archaeology’s continued importance to the world around us.The pioneers of the Industrial Revolution wer...

William Paulet is the exemplar of the successful Tudor courtier. For an astonishing 46 years he served at the courts of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth and was one of the men responsible for introducing changes in religious, economic and social issues which shaped England as we know it today. He was a judge at the trials of Fisher and More and a central figure in the intrigues of the succession crisis following Edward VI's reign. Though born a commoner, by his de...

The Great Fire of London was the greatest catastrophe of its kind in Western Europe. Although detailed fire precautions and fire-fighting arrangements were in place, the fire raged for four days and destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 churches and 44 of the City of London's great livery halls. The 'great fire' of 1666 closely followed by the 'great plague' of 1665; as the antiquary Anthony Wood wrote left London 'much impoverished, discontented, afflicted, cast downe'.In t...

Blubberhouses, Stanstead Mountfitchet and Melbury Bubb ! English place—names can be curious and amusing. They can also tell us about our past. England’s towns,villages farms, and even fields, have names whose beginnings stretch back over 2,000 years. In this well—researched book Charles Whynne-Hammond explains the meanings and derivations of these names. He also covers the names of cinemas, theatres, football clubs, and even shopping centres.

The domestic linen industry left an indelible imprint on Ulster history. It was introduced by colonists from the north of England in the seventeenth century, before the arrival of the Huguenots, and encouraged by the landlords to improve their rentals.Earnings from raising flax, spinning yarn and weaving cloth, provided farming families with regular incomes that enabled them to lease small farms and improve marginal land. Continual improvements by Ulster bleachers in the finishing ...

Sir John Pryce of Newtown Hall died in 1761. He kept the embalmed bodies of his first two wives on either side of his bed – until his third wife insisted that they were removed.In 1856 Ronald Rhys from the Vale of Neath disappeared for a week after seeing a strange light in a field and hearing a loud noise. He remembered being examined by small creatures who took a sample of his blood.Oh yes, and America is named after a Welshman and the Holy Grail is kept in a bank vault i...

Peadar O'Dowd's A History of County Galway is an enjoyable, accessible and informative study of Galway's history. A comprehensive book that begins with Galway's geological formation, O'Dowd's study of Ireland's second largest county progresses up to the present day and is the ideal book for anyone interested in the county of the Tribesmen. Galway is the largest county in the province of Connacht, both in area and population. It is divided in two by the great expanse of Lough Corrib, the la...