Regional

The Dorset town of Shaftesbury is beautifully sited on a hill overlooking the Blackmore Vale, on the edge of Cranborne Chase. The town grew up around its abbey, which was founded in c. 888 by King Alfred and became one of the richest religious...

The incredible true story of what really happened in the Channel Islands during the Second World War. The Channel lslands were occupied on 30 June 1940 when four German planes landed at Guernsey Airport. They were the only part of Britain to be occupied...

The Lake District is by far the UK's most popular national park. Every year some 15 million people come here to explore the region's fells and countryside and it's not hard to see why. Ever since the Romantic poets arrived in the nineteenth century, its...

East Lothian, previously known as Haddingtonshire, has both benefitted and suffered from its strategic location between Scotland's capital city and England's northernmost county. Prior to 1707, the region bore the brunt of battles between the two...

The arrival of aerial photography came at a particularly significant moment in terms of the visual appearance of England. This selection of photographs makes use of the Aerofilms collection, acquired by English Heritage in 2007 and subsequently digitised...

This sumptuous book invites you to follow the course of the Nile and Egyptian history on board a floating historical monument, the Steam Ship Sudan. At 100 years old, and made of wood and copper, it is the last steamship still cruising in Upper Egypt and...

Stockport sits on elevated ground 7 miles south-east of the city centre of Manchester. No part of Stockport is recorded in the Domesday Book but there are records that show a castle was built in the area in the late twelfth century and the first borough...

The amazing county of Yorkshire offers some of the most diverse and rich landscapes, seasides and cityscapes in the British Isles. Limestone interlaces with sweeping and rolling fells, and dramatic peaks rise from its plains. Photographer Dave Zdanowicz...

The earliest mention of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, was in the twelfth century when monks built a priory there and established a ferry crossing to Liverpool. In later centuries the town became famous for its shipbuilding industry, most notably...

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...

The 1960s saw the final hurrah of steam on the railways - the final period of steam-powered locomotives dominating the main line. This meant that a colourful array of traffic could be found across the length and breadth of Great Britain, and an army of...

Northumberland, the northernmost county in England, on the border of Scotland, boasts a spectacular variety of landscapes from the Cheviot Hills in the north-west of the county, high moorland, the Northumberland National Park and Kielder Forest, the...

Berlin has survived two world wars, was divided by a wall during the Cold War, and after the fall of the wall was reunited. The city emerged as a center of European power and culture. From 1860 to the present day, this book is the most comprehensive...

Mairi Hedderwick embarks on a six-month-long journey to 40 islands from Arran to Lewis, recounting her pilgrimage around the archipelago of the Western Isles with which she has had a lifelong love affair. Filled with wit and wisdom that is matched by...

Dorset is renowned for its beauty as well as its history. Home to the Jurassic Coast, and with over half of the county designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this part of the country has a wealth of spectacular scenery - from sweeping...

'Whitstable is a stirring little town, with strong business proclivities, and a history stretching far back into the remote past.' So wrote a Kentish Gazette correspondent in 1873, although he could have been describing the north Kent seaside town today...

Cork City, Ireland's southern capital, is a place of tradition, continuity, change and legacy. It is a place of direction and experiment by people, of ambition and determination, experiences and learning, of ingenuity and innovation and a place of...

Under the burning Tuscan sun roll marvelous hills, vineyards, and olive groves—all postcard-perfect landscapes nestling centuries-old towns, rural villas, and contadino farmhouses. We’ve tracked down the best examples of such havens to paint a warm-hued...

For centuries, Bootle was a village of fishermen and farm workers surrounded by marsh land and sandy shore. In the nineteenth century, the wealth created by the docks, and the generosity of the residents in their grand houses, resulted in the creation of...

From the late eighteenth century, the Industrial Age transformed Belper from a small village of nail-makers to a busy and successful town. Thanks to the Strutt family, the town was the first in the world to have water-powered cotton mills, and the...

This book presents the epic story of New York on nearly 600 pages of emotional, atmospheric photographs, from the mid-19th century to the present day. Supplementing this treasure trove of images are over a hundred quotations and references from seminal...

Ever since it was the starting point for voyages of discovery to the New World, the old port of Bristol has boasted a wealth of taverns, inns, alehouses, and public houses. Most of the older drinking establishments that have survived have stories to tell...

Just 4 miles from the centre of Britain's second city, Bournville remains a quiet testimony to the vision of George Cadbury. Much of the history of Bournville is well-documented and, compared with the City of Birmingham, little has changed. The...

In this stunning, full-colour book, John Kinross explores the fascinating history behind the smaller, lesser-known churches of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire and the Welsh borders. Areas characterised by their rural beauty and agricultural charm, it...

Salford is often seen as the smaller twin of Manchester, its neighbour across the River Irwell. In fact, Salford was a borough long before Manchester achieved that status, but even in the 1530s John Leland described it as 'a large suburb to Manchester'...

East Anglia has provided inspiration for writers for centuries. Whether the writers were natives of the region itself or came as visitors, the landscape, towns, cities and villages and people of East Anglia have helped to shape the imaginations of some...

In 2018, St Helens celebrated its 150th anniversary as a town. In this book, Sue Gerrard traces the fascinating and hidden heritage of this Lancashire town, which began life as four townships and became a municipal borough in 1868. During the...

____________________________ A moving celebration of what Bill Hayes calls 'the evanescent, the eavesdropped, the unexpected' of life in New York City, and an intimate glimpse of his relationship with the late Oliver Sacks. ...

Liverpool was once the epitome of 'the city with a pub on every corner', but no longer. As social habits and communities continue to radically change, hundreds of pubs continue to disappear annually, and mostly without trace except in memories. However,...

Aberdeen, Scotland's third largest city, has been a place of economic importance since the development of the shipbuilding and fishing industries, and has been synonymous with oil ever since the discovery of North Sea reserves in the 1970s. Nicknamed the...

The Lake District is one of Britain's most popular tourist gems, nestled at the heart of the North West. The villages and mountains have been an inspiration for writers, artists and climbers over the centuries, from Wordsworth and Coleridge, to Beatrix...

Kent is often referred to as 'the cradle of English Christianity'. Canterbury is not only home to the Anglican Communion but also the location of St Martin's Church, the oldest church in England in continuous use. Kent's religious heritage has benefitted...

The County Durham town of Darlington has a long and interesting history. In medieval times it was a market town for the surrounding area, with records of the market dating back to the twelfth century. The Victorian covered market is an iconic feature at...

A border town for most of its history, Stockport owes its origins to a prehistoric ford and the fortified rocky outcrop that overlooked it. Early industry included the dyeing and bleaching of cloth, hatting, silk spinning and, later, cotton. Some of its...

In ancient times Clapham was a secluded Surrey village, clustered round a manor house and church. By the seventeenth century, the wealthy of London were building houses here as rural retreats and, by 1800, their mansions in extensive grounds surrounded...

Here is the story of Ireland's Civil War in colour - a defining moment in Irish history brought to life for the first time in hand-coloured photographs. The events of 1922-1923 are revealed using photographs painstakingly hand-coloured by John O'Byrne...

As an island of 715 square kilometres off the north-west coast of Wales, Anglesey has a fascinating history. Separated from the mainland by the narrow Menai Strait, the island's complex geological foundations include some of the oldest rocks in Wales...

LONDON needed rebuilding after the great fire of 1666. Eighty-eight churches had been destroyed and a grand plan to rebuild them was started by Sir Christopher Wren. In the end, he designed fifty-one new churches and the splendour that is St Paul's...

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs presents the full spectrum of Adams' work in a single volume for the first time, offering the largest available compilation from his legendary photographic career. Beautifully produced and presented in an attractive landscape...

Secret Barry Island offers a unique insight into this fascinating seaside resort in the Vale of Glamorgan, delving into its lesser-known past. Thoroughly researched, within these pages local authors and lifelong residents of the area Mark and Jonathan...