Known as the Heart of the Fens, Spalding is a picturesque town set on the River Welland surrounded by rolling farmlands and fields of flowers. Now a market town, Spalding began as a division town of the fens and marshes of East Anglia, and was founded at the point where a road ran over the low country to the Wash. Spalding has long been famous for being a centre of the bulb industry, and thousands visited each year to see bucketfuls of colourful spring flower heads decorating the town duri...

Brighton: that curious master of reinvention - whether it's considered 'London-by-the-Sea' or 'England's San Francisco', it's certainly a city with a reputation for being on the edge. Delve deep into the weird and wonderful history of 'Brighthelmstone', and find out how this dreary fishing village became a dazzling playground for the louche and wealthy: from the fashionable Regency period to the age of DJs, Brighton has always been home to the proudly quirky. But it's not all sun, sea and ...

A glorious insight into the history, landscape and people of Britain, from The Sunday Times bestseller.Nicknamed the ‘Holiday Line’, the 300-mile stretch of railway from Swindon to Penzance opened up the South West to a new breed of holiday-makers in the Victorian age, laying the foundations of the modern tourist industry. Michael Portillo visits Swindon, the powerhouse behind the Great Western Railway’s extraordinary feats of engineering, travels through Brunel’s famous Box Tunnel...

A glorious insight into the history, landscape and people of Britain, from The Sunday Times bestseller.The Holyhead line was first built to carry mail from Wales to Ireland, but brought many changes to industries along its route, including perry-makers, Hereford cattle farmers, Cheshire cheese-makers and slate miners. Michael Portillo travels to Hereford to see the Mappa Mundi and visits Coalbrookdale, cradle of the iron industry and the home of the world’s first iron bridge. And b...

A glorious insight into the history, landscape and people of Britain, from The Sunday Times bestseller.The railway line between Brighton and London bridged the gap between capital, countryside and coast, fostering the rise of the new middle classes created by the Industrial revolution and transforming Brighton from a royal playground into a busy resort. Travelling through London, Michael Portillo visits Sydenham, site of the Crystal Palace, and the Burlington Arcade in Piccadilly, ...

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...

This book describes the various ways in which Southampton’s River Itchen has been crossed over the centuries, ranging from a suspected 2nd century Roman ferry at Clausentum (Bitterne Manor) to the new and massive Itchen Bridge opened in 1977.

Henry Brain was a builder and amateur photographer who took an interest in everything around him. The 246 photographs, taken between c.1890 and 1910, have never before been published. They give fascinating glimpses of people enjoying themselves on the Southampton Common, at fairs, carnivals, sporting activities, and of circus and other processions. There are pictures of the town walls, monuments, churches, public houses, bridges, trams, railways and motor vehicles, and views of Southampton...

There is nothing quite like an old photograph or an interesting item of memorabilia for rousing a memory and stimulating an interest in the heritage and history of one's hometown. Sunderland Through Time author Keith Cockerill returns to the city of his birth for a second nostalgic pictorial tour of Wearside. Each of his images is accompanied by a look at one or more associated mementoes - an approach that will bring alive the absorbing history of Sunderland for the reader. Using a stunnin...

An A - Z illustrated guide to what you can see in the Cotswolds, with word and pen the Author describes this wonderful part of England. From the strange sounding Cotswold towns and villages such as Acton Turville and Wyck Rissington with this guide you will be shown sides of the Cotswolds that the average visitor often misses, the text is brought to life with well over 100 pen and ink sketches of Gargoyles and Hobbit like church entrances, Public monuments to medieval punishment tools, Cas...

The Esk Valley Railway is certainly one of the best railway journeys in the North of England, and could be considered far more picturesque than the more famed North York Moors Railway. It passes through woods, valleys, pasture, agricultural plain, moorland and industrial landscape; whereas the North York Moors Railway rumbles its way through the heavily-wooded Newton Dale with almost no view except brooding forest.Charles Dickens travelled the Esk Valley route from Whitby to Grosmont when ...

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...