Local History

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.

Presents the second city of renaissance Scotland showing, through photographs and drawings, the life and the maritime quarter of this great port. This title illustrates Dundee's transformation into a major Georgian town at the centre of the flax trade between St Petersburg and the USA.

In Lost Perthshire, Ann Lindsay takes us on a fascinating journey through the lost architectural, geographical, industrial, and archaeological heritage of Perthshire.

A travel guide to the outskirts of Aberdeen that explores the lands which encircle the city, spreading seamlessly round its heart like a great fan. It guides the reader from faded landmarks to vanished villages through an evocative trail of the past.

In the early 1920s, amid rising anti-Catholic sentiment and hysteria generated by World War I, the reconstituted Ku Klux Klan found new footing in many states outside the Deep South--including Montana. In Big Skies, White Hoods, Christine K. Erickson explores the little-known history of the Klan in Big Sky Country, revealing what this western incarnation had in common with its antecedents, how it differed from the Klan's reappearance elsewhere, and what it might tell us about the resurgence of white nationalism in Montana and across the West.

Explore the rich history of Macclesfield in this guided tour through its most fascinating historic and modern buildings.

Norman S. Newton scours historical and contemporary works to trace the lost architectural history of the capital of the Highlands, following the city's history from prehistory, through the Dark Ages, the Medieval period, the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries, to the present day.