Local History

The inspiration for the primetime ITV series on Great Britain, this is the ultimate journey around England. Christopher Winn takes us to each county, to see where history happened, where people and ideas were born, where dreams took flight and where men and women now rest from their labours. To tread in their footsteps, to touch and experience some of what inspired and moved them is to capture some of the flavour of their lives and make their stories alive and real. Crammed with facts and information, I Never Knew That About England celebrates the places and people that make the country unique and includes history, legends, firsts, supremes, unusuals, inventions, birthplaces and gossip. You'll be able to visit the bridge where Pooh and Piglet played Poohsticks and see where Alfred burnt the cakes. In a small village in Bedfordshire you can visit the graveyard where Long John Silver and Wendy rest. These stories will bring any place that you visit to life (keep one copy in the car and one in the house!) and enable you to discover the rich and surprising history of England.

For years Robert Newton Baskin (1837-1918) may have been the most hated man in Utah. Yet his promotion of federal legislation against polygamy in the late 1800s and his work to bring the Mormon territory into a republican form of government were pivotal in Utah's achievement of statehood. The results of his efforts also contributed to the acceptance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the American public. In this engaging biography--the first full-length analysis of the man--author John Gary Maxwell presents Baskin as the unsung father of modern Utah. As Maxwell shows, Baskin's life was defined by conflict and paradox.

Explore the town of Scarborough in this fully illustrated A-Z guide to its history, people and places.

Highly readable history of the Nanteos Estate near Aberystwyth, Wales from 1589-1954. It focuses on the colorful stories of the Jones and Powell gentry families who lived there, with emphasis on the fascinating George Powell (1942-82) and the fabled Nanteos Cup - a medieval drinking bowl which was claimed to be the Holy Grail. 16 pages of images.

Despite the vast amount of work written and published about London, there has never before been a full-length book covering the history of that part of the Thames Valley before the arrival of the Romans. Beginning in the Cretaceous Era, which ended 66 million years ago, Prehistoric London examines the geology of this part of Britain and explains why this particular section of the Thames proved to be the ideal location for a city. It describes, too, the animals and people who were attracted to the area by the conditions there. From the time of the dinosaurs, through to the Iron Age and the Roman invasion in 43 AD, this is a comprehensive account of London before London. It is the story of the land, and those who dwelt there, before anybody had thought of founding a city on the banks of the Thames. In addition to being a history book, though, Prehistoric London is also a lively guidebook which explains how to explore modern London and find such things as Iron Age hillforts and a site where anybody can dig sharks' teeth from the sand of a 55-million-year-old seabed. This book will reveal the backstory of London and show readers what was happening in the capital long before a single stone was laid of the city we know today.

The Little Book of Essex is packed full of entertaining bite-sized pieces of historic and contemporary trivia that come together to make essential reading for visitors and locals alike.

In London, as the eighteenth century began, there had been significant recovery from the Great Plague and the Great Fire in the past three decades. Tracts of the city had been rebuilt and the population was growing once more. The city, largely through England's success in battles at sea, was taking centre stage in Europe and, critically, through taking the lion's share of the lands of the New World of America and snatching slave trading rights in West Africa. England had great wealth at its fingertips and London was at the heart of all of it. People flocked to the capital to seek their fortune. Wealthy people invested in the new companies exploiting Africa or set up manufacturing concerns in the city. They moved into large houses in the wealthy area of the Strand and spread into other prosperous areas such as Cavendish Place. Their houses were staffed by teams of domestic servants. At the other end of the income scale, people were leaving their rural homes where traditional jobs as labourers and in the fields were drying up, hoping to make a living in London. So many people arrived searching for work that there were too few jobs and many opportunities to be exploited. With no safety net, they had to resort to desperate measures to survive. Babies were abandoned on the mounds of animal and human waste which towered over the overcrowded alleys. Some were dead, others dying. People walked past this tragic sight every day and chose to do nothing. One man, however, a ship-builder from Lyme, decided on a plan to save them. The vilification of illegitimate babies and the general disdain for the poor meant that it took Thomas Coram years to garner enough support to get his plan to save the babies off the ground. However, when, in 1739, he was able to found England's first institution for abandoned and illegitimate babies, it became a place for London's high society to be seen. Royalty, politicians and scientists joined the crowds of people who went to the London Foundling Hospital to see the works of Hogarth or listen to Handel perform. It became the most fashionable charity in London. But even this could not stop the babies dying.

John Potts Slough, the Union commander at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, lived a life of relentless pursuit for success that entangled him in the turbulent events of mid-nineteenth-century America. As a politician, Slough fought abolitionists in the Ohio legislature and during Kansas Territory's fourth and final constitutional convention. He organized the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry after the Civil War broke out, eventually leading his men against Confederate forces at the pivotal engagement at Glorieta Pass. After the war, as chief justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court, he struggled to reform corrupt courts amid the territory's corrosive Reconstruction politics.Slough was known to possess a volcanic temper and an easily wounded pride. These traits not only undermined a promising career but ultimately led to his death at the hands of an aggrieved political enemy who gunned him down in a Santa Fe saloon. Recounting Slough's timeless story of rise and fall during America's most tumultuous decades, historian Richard L. Miller brings to life this extraordinary figure.

The Latino Big Bang in California presents a Spanish transcription and English translation of a diary written by Forty-Niner Justo Veytia, a Mexican immigrant seeking riches during California's Gold Rush. Veytia's diary offers insights into the dilemmas and choices of an adventurous and ambitious young mexicano and provides a detailed glimpse into the life of Latinos who participated in this tumultuous moment in California history. In doing so, Veytia's diary demonstrates that the US-Mexico War together with the Gold Rush constituted a Latino "big bang" in California that attracted large swaths of fortune seekers from across the Spanish-speaking world throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century. Combining archival research with quantitative methods to extrapolate demographic information about the persistent presence of Latino communities in California from the mid-nineteenth century to today, The Latino Big Bang in California shows how Latino migration and labor forever changed the course of California history.

Following on from Studley Through Time, Studley Scrapbook is another fascinating, pictorial review of village life in Studley, Warwickshire. Incorporating a wide variety of sources and material, the contents covers over 150 years of history. Many of the village's bygone buildings and businesses are documented, together with nostalgic street scenes and memorable events. The regeneration of both Studley Castle and Needle Industries' sprawling Central Works site is also charted. Jam-packed with over 270 images, in both colour and black & white, witness how the village has evolved into the thriving community we see today.

Did you know...That Balsall Heath was once part of King's Norton Parish? That there was an open-air swimming pool in George Street in the 1840s? That there was a typhoid epidemic in 1873? That Balsall Heath once had its own zoo? That Balsall Heath flourished as an independent area from 1862-1891? All this and more can be found within this book. Originally published in 1992, this fully revised and updated edition traces the development of Balsall Heath from sparsely populated heathland in the 18th century, to the "genteel neighbourhood" of the 1840s, the populous quarter of 1891, to the busy and crowded suburb of the 1920s and 30s. A story of change spanning two centuries!

This is a true story. About survival. A Breton soldier who fought at Hastings returns to his family's ancient Celtic roots in the West County. Nicholas St Aubyn follows his family's tenuous path over the next one thousand years, describing those they loved, the many wars they fought, and their role in Cornish rebellions. His story also features a host of remarkable women, from the Countess of Oxford in the 14th century to Honor Basset at the 16th century Tudor court and Vita Sackville-West, a member of the 20th century Bloomsbury Group. He shows how the St Aubyns acquired St Michaels' Mount during the Civil War, the Jacobite conspiracy plotted by Sir John St Aubyn, and the love between his grandson Sir John and local farmer's daughter, Juliana, who inspired Winston Graham's Poldark novels. The story moves from medieval battles, and shipwrecked treasure in Mount's Bay, to love at the Court of Henry VIII, and the political fortunes of fourteen family MPs since 1283. The diary of one illegitimate son reveals the life of a Regency rake, as another builds a property empire in Devonport, while a third shocks his parishioners. In the First World War, St Aubyns were found on the Western Front, and during the Second, they served on the PQ17 Arctic Convoy and at the Battle of Arnhem. The gift of the family castle to the National Trust seventy years ago is one of many events that give this history its unique and increasingly personal perspective as the family identity evolves.

Tales of Cornish folklore have been told for centuries. Where did these tales come from? How old are they? Who told them? Explore the world of epic tales, fireside stories and side-splitting dialect recitations.

Once common across most of the country, beavers were hunted to extinction in the sixteenth century, but have gradually been returning to Scottish waters. In this deeply personal account, Argaty's Tom Bowser tells of his attempts to save these incredible animals, and the gains that beavers ultimately brought to his family farm.

The Isle of Lismore has a long reputation as a holy island, beginning with the foundation of a monastery by St Moluag in the sixth century. Robert Hay tells the story of Moluag's monastery, recently rediscovered by community archaeology, before exploring the rise and fall of the Bishopric of Argyll.

Since 1945 the world has changed at breakneck speed. In this unique social history, acclaimed bestselling historian Alistair Moffat tells the story of these changes - many of which have been dizzying and disorientating - and how they have affected each and every one of us in all parts of the country.

Join Robin Crawford on a personal journey from the source of the River Tay to the sea. Reaching back to a prehistoric fish found near Balruddery in Perthshire, we follow its story through time to the present day, with detours to seek gold, clans, battles, forts, disasters, witches and whisky. For fans of Robert Macfarlane and Annie Worsley.

This is the first book to highlight this major episode in Glasgow's history, which has been largely forgotten and yet lies at the heart of the rights of way movement in Scotland. Glasgow's citizens to defended their right of passage along the north bank of the Clyde, which served the interests and enthusiasms of ordinary working people.