The Peak District has always been a formidable barrier to transport links across it, particularly railways. The first crude horse-drawn tramways fed canals on its eastern and western flanks, but in 1830 – only five years after the Stockton & Darlington Railway opened – a standard gauge line climbed over the top of the Peak District and down the other side on fearsome inclines to connect canals at Cromford and Whaley Bridge. Sheffield and Manchester were connected in 1845 by the first line ...

From the author of The Elephant Keeper, nominated for the Costa Award for Best Novel, comes a poignant imagining of Thomas Hardy’s relationship with his last museA celebrated author, in the winter of his life, awaits a visit from a beautiful young actress – the leading lady in a staging of his most famous tragedy. But his wife is troubled. An anxious and sickly woman, she watches the growing intimacy between her husband and the young woman, and becomes tormented by the idea that the...

Christopher Nicholson vividly describes the construction and history to the present day of some of the world’s most famous lighthouses in this classic book which has become the standard work on the subject. It brings the story of the rock lighthouse completely up-to-date – from the day the first granite block was laid, through construction, automation, the disappearance of the lighthouse keeper, right up to the technology of today with the use of solar and wind power. This is a joy to read...

Roger Redfern – author, writer and photographer – had been writing about his travels and exploration of different areas of Britain and abroad for over 50 years, most notably as a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper’s Country Diary feature. He is the author of over 30 books and was once described as ‘the doyen of countryside writers’, an accolade that recognised his lyrical and poetic writings about his travels. This book, the first in a short series, reveals the unknown side of R...

We've been sending one another postcards for well over a century now - usually brief messages to our friends and family telling them about the weather on our holidays or where we're visiting next on our travels. A hundred years ago we sent postcards with more serious messages - important, personal information about births, marriages and deaths, urgent requests for help, or just to keep in touch before the use of the telephone became widespread. The choice of subjects featured on postcards ...

From Leigh to Lynn – the Thames to the Wash – the coastlines of East Anglia are the most diverse in Great Britain. Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are communities shaped by their close relationship with the sea and seafaring, from Viking raiders to modern container ships, and hard-working trawlers to elegant racing yachts.In this book, long-time resident David Fairhall explores a landscape that has inspired some of the greatest English painters. He follows gentle rivers that reach far i...

Have you ever wondered about some of the stories of the maritime disasters that have happened along the Central Coast and Hunter Coastlines of Australia? This book visits the individual histories of located shipwrecks along this notorious coastline.Some of the stories include the tale of the man who survived two shipwrecks. How did Maitland Bay and Susan Gilmore Beach get their names'? What exactly does happen to the ship's cat when the boat goes down? What exactly is the Swansea C...

Why will a sailor never go to sea on Friday 13th?Why are boats always referred to as 'she'?How do you navigate the ocean without a compass?Does the Bermuda Triangle really exist?Why do sailors wear earrings?Did Blackbeard actually exist?Did Nelson really say 'Kiss me, Hardy'?What's the correct way to bury a body at sea?Why is a rope never called a rope?This fascinating collection of maritime folklore and trivia delves into the...

Few men have rightly earned the title of genius, but one must surely be Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In his short lifetime he pioneered the railways, built bridges, tunnels and termini. He also built three ships - theGreat Western, Great Britain and Great Eastern. Each one contributed more to the development of maritime engineering than any other vessel built before or since. This book tells the story of Brunel and his three ships, from the time that the Great Western developed from a dream to...

The extraordinary story of how Dutch sailors found Australia and an English pirate almost beat Captain CookRob Mundle is back on the water with another sweeping and powerful account of Australian maritime history. It is the story of 17th-century European mariners - sailors, adventurers and explorers - who became transfixed by the idea of the existence of a Great South Land: ‘Terra Australis Incognita'. Rob takes you aboard the tiny ship, Duyfken, in 1606 when Dutch navigator and ex...

From bestselling author Clarence Vautier comes more stories of unsung heroes: the fishermen who made a living off the sea in Atlantic Canada. These stories are the biographies, family histories, and photograph collections of twenty-two highliners. During the twentieth century, these were the elite fishermen who consistently sailed home with the largest catches taken from the waters off Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. Of course, with success oft...

How the mighty clipper ships transformed Australia from convict outpost to a nation.More than one million Australians can trace their heritage to the migrant ships of the mid-to-late 19th century...The story of the Clipper ships, and the tens of thousands of migrants they bought to the Australian colony of the nineteenth century, is one of the world's great migration stories. For anyone who travelled to Australia before 1850, it was a long and arduous journey that could tak...