Books by Robert Bard

During its 600 year history 50,000 sould were executed on the gallows at Tyburn somewhere near where Oxford Street meets the Edgware Road. Many thousands of victims remain buried nearby in anonymous graves. Many of the condemned made their final journey from Newgate Prison three miles distant. The condemned travelled in a cart seated on his or her coffin, stopping frequently for refreshments. Sometimes the condemned survived hanging. What was it like to be hanged? This book examines contemporary accounts. Most of those executed at Tyburn were from London's underclass. An exception was Earl Ferrers on 5 May 1760 who wore the same white suit with silver trimmings that he had worn at his wedding. He travelled from the Tower to Tyburn in his own carriage but the crowds were so thick that the journey took nearly three hours. In addition to Tyburn, this book identifies a number of london's lesser known places of execution such as Shepherds Bush Green, Cricklewood, Hampstead Heath and the City of London.

Over a period of 400 years, the Capell family built a fortune, and over the next 500 years, lost it due to an incredible number of mistakes, bad judgment calls, and misfortunes. `The Earls of Essex' examines the rise and fall of this family, providing in-depth analysis and judgement on the reasons behind their decline.

It is fascinating to think that many hundreds of generations of Londoners lie beneath the city without us knowing. Over many centuries burial grounds have been developed, built over and then forgotten, often beneath playgrounds, gardens or car parks. When modern development takes place, remains are disturbed and we are reminded of a London that has long since disappeared, particularly with recent archaeological discoveries across the city. In London's Hidden Burial Grounds, authors Robert Bard and Adrian Miles seek to uncover many of the capital's lost graveyards, often in the unlikeliest of places.

Although early records of Hampstead can be found in a grant by King Ethelred the Unready to the monastery of St Peter's at Westminster (AD 986) and it is referred to in the Domesday Book (1086), the history of Hampstead is generally traced back to the seventeenth century. Much luxurious housing was created during the 1870s and 1880s in the area that is now the political ward of Frognal & Fitzjohns. A lot of this housing remains to this day. Historically, Highgate adjoined the Bishop of London's hunting estate. The bishop kept a toll house where one of the main northward roads out of London entered his land. In later centuries, Highgate was associated with the highwayman Dick Turpin. Highgate Hill, the steep street linking Archway and Highgate Village, was the route of the first cable car to be built in Europe. It operated between 1884 and 1909. Today, Hampstead and Highgate retain their village feel.

London's Lost Battlefields hides the ghosts of bloodshed and rebellion from Boudicca to the devastating but little known Zeppelin attacks of the First World War.