Newport History Tour offers a fascinating insight into the history of this city in South Wales. Local author Jan Preece guides us around its well-known streets and buildings, showing how its famous landmarks used to look and how they have changed over the years, as well as exploring its lesser-known sights and hidden corners. With the help of a handy location map, readers are invited to follow a timeline of events and discover for themselves the changing face of Newport.

The city of Newport, lying on the River Usk in South Wales, has been an important port serving Wales since medieval times. The Industrial Revolution brought enormous wealth to Newport, when it became the centre of coal exports from the Welsh Valleys, and although the docks have declined in recent years, large areas of Newport are being regenerated and the city still retains significant industries. Newport at Work explores the history of the city through the work and industries that have ch...

Newport Through Time highlights the journey of a city that began over 700 years ago when the first mayor took office in AD 1314. Often struggling with an identity that is confused by its close proximity to the Welsh borders it has been claimed alternatively by England, Wales and Monmouthshire. Now it sits as a gateway city, an entrance portal to the principality via the Gwent levels that border the Bristol Channel and the River Severn. This book explores Newport from the start of the Indus...

The Newport Transporter Bridge was built to meet the needs of industry which had grown to include the east bank of the Usk. Here, Jan Preece illustrates the history of this iconic local landmark from conception to the present day, looking at its unusual design, with only twelve others like it in the world that are still in use, and the impact it had on industry in the area. The stretch of the River Usk close to the bridge has its own rich industrial heritage, from cottage industries of tin...

The sixties, seventies and eighties were decades of great change. Many towns and cities were redeveloped with projects that dramatically affected the character of the place. People’s shopping habits were altered as supermarkets took over from traditional stores and corner shops. Leisure habits were changing too, as cheap air travel led to the arrival of the foreign package holiday and a new range of leisure facilities were developed at home. Fashions, as ever, were changing in this period,...

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.

The Villages Within is an irreverent version of Torontos past that will not improve anyones knowledge of history, but its fabrications and exaggerations may provide an amusing insight into the lives of those who built the town of York. It is an expos of historical untruths, a book that no school should ever permit its students to read.Discover Lord Dorchesters unusual method of staying warm while his underwear froze during his first winter in Canada. Learn about Elizabeth ...

Running a railway is a complex business. However organised it is, there will always be surprises: often hilarious, frequently unexpected, but sometimes serious.Along Different Lines includes such bizarre 'everyday' events as coping with hurricanes, rogue locomotives and runaway wagons; PR successes and otherwise; the Brighton Belle, Flying Scotsman and Mallard; training-course capers; a wino invasion; trackside antics; the Eurost...

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...

A beguiling history of one of the long vanished stations on the Great Western Railway.Eastbury Halt was never one of the busiest stations on the GWR, and now is no more. There were often more milk churns on the platform than passengers, but the station still had a special place in this tiny village and occupied one of the most scenic sites of any railway station.In this book we learn when Eastbury Halt was built and why. The impact the station had on the surrounding area is...

When a young English nobleman was thwarted in love he abandoned the court, retired to his estate near Manchester and built a canal to serve his coalmines. The Bridgewater Canal was the sensation of the age and led others to follow the example of the enterprising Duke of Bridgewater. From his starting point in 1760, over the next half-century Britain was covered by a network of waterways that became the lifeblood of the Industrial Revolution. This is the story of 250 years ...