Books published by Hobnob Press

Sir George Dowty (1901-1975) was a noted inventor and businessman, who pioneered many components used in the aviation industry before, during, and after the Second World War, and founded a string of companies which bore his name. He was a major employer in the Cheltenham and Tewkesbury area of Gloucestershire (as his successor companies still are), a prominent and respected figure in the world of engineering, and a generous supporter of causes in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. His typescript autobiography, dictated shortly before his death, was discovered recently by his son, and is now published for the first time. It offers a unique insight into the drive and enthusiasm of an exceptional man, and of the fledgling aircraft industry of which he played a major part.

This is the story of two men from a remote Wiltshire village, father and son Joseph and Josiah Lane, stonemasons, whose lives stretched across the Georgian period, from 1717 to 1833. They became grotto builders, men of artistic genius, acknowledged experts in their speciality, but the sort of ordinary craftsmen whose achievements are not normally recorded in the official pages of history. They were responsible for many of the mysterious, decorative, thrilling grottoes which appeared during the 18th century in English gardens, built to enhance the romantic, poetic and artistic landscapes created by rich landowners. From Stourhead to Fonthill, Wycombe Abbey, Wimborne St Giles, Bowood, Bowden Park, Painshill and Oatlands Park, Claremont, Castle Hill, Ascot Place, Belcombe and Norbiton House, Joseph and Josiah constructed brick, timber and limestone caverns, tunnels, bath houses, gambling dens and cascades. Some were profusely decorated with shells, coral spars, slivers of crystal, amethysts, feldspar and calcite fragments, some appeared savage and rough hewn. Christina Richard has pieced together the story of the lives and work of Joseph and Josiah for the first time from a wide range of local and national sources, and has enhanced her account with imaginative descriptions of village and family life at the time for people of their station. The result is an affectionate and revealing portrait of these two extraordinary men, who contributed so much to the elegance of England's wonderful 18th century gardens.

The book begins with the early origins of this remote hamlet near Trowbridge (in Wiltshire, southern England) which was affected by the Black Death. It describes its heyday under a branch of the Long family, prominent clothiers whose seat was Whaddon House and how they emerged onto the national scene in the turbulent years of the mid-17th century. Whaddon was gradually reduced to a farming community in the 18th and 19th centuries and the histories of the families who lived there and in the wider estate at Paxcroft, Hilperton and Melksham are explored. This wide-ranging village history also includes domestic details of everyday life and the running of an estate and the compelling early 17th century love story of a widow and widower, told through surviving letters.

This book blends biography with military and social history. But it is also a tribute, driven by gratitude. If the story had ended differently the author would never have existed. After Dr Beale retired, he took up family history. For some years he managed to backtrack only one generation - there was so much to discover about his late father, Ron. Ron Swore begins with a teenager taking an oath to serve 'king and country' in the British Army. It ends a decade later, in 1945; a young man having lost his youth to battle trauma, cruelty and slavery. Such was 'Ron's war'. His unit, the 2nd 'Glosters', had been part of the forgotten Dunkirk rearguard, sacrificed to allow more than 300,000 other Allied soldiers to be evacuated from France and to fight another day. Ron survived five years as a prisoner of war, calling on stoicism and survival instinct and saved from starvation by the International Red Cross. When he escaped - from a death march - he and a comrade were secreted and supported by a Czech family who showed incredible courage and humanity. Eventually, back in England, he did as so many of his generation - he promptly closed this chapter of his life. There would be no reminiscences, no reunions and, if possible, no recollections. It was all too painful. Putting the lid down and sitting on it was the only therapy for what we now call 'post-traumatic stress disorder'. This made the story a difficult salvage exercise - for the author, but hopefully not for the reader.

Sir George Dowty (1901-1975) was a noted inventor and businessman, who pioneered many components used in the aviation industry before, during, and after the Second World War, and founded a string of companies which bore his name. He was a major employer in the Cheltenham and Tewkesbury area of Gloucestershire (as his successor companies still are), a prominent and respected figure in the world of engineering, and a generous supporter of causes in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. His typescript autobiography, dictated shortly before his death, was discovered recently by his son, and is now published for the first time. It offers a unique insight into the drive and enthusiasm of an exceptional man, and of the fledgling aircraft industry of which he played a major part.

Founded by King Alfred the Great in or around 888, the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary and St Edward at Shaftesbury was the wealthiest and most important nunnery of its order in England until its suppression by Henry VIII in 1539. Continuing the elitist traditions of its pre-Conquest origins, it remained largely the spiritual preserve of what today would be designated the upper and middle classes of society throughout the Middle Ages. Its abbesses, increasingly drawn from families of the local gentry by the late fourteenth century, enjoyed the same status as feudal barons with similar privileges and responsibilities, overseeing the foundation's large complement of nuns and its extensive estates mainly in Dorset and Wiltshire. This work gives a history of the abbey and its nuns from Anglo-Saxon times, with accounts of the abbesses and their manner of appointment in accordance with royal patronage and prerogative. An appendix contains a chronological list of known nuns, in particular the abbesses, with biographical information where available, from the convent's origins in the late ninth century until its closure and destruction around six hundred and fifty years later. This study has for its focus the lives and identities of the nuns themselves, rather than the abbey as a prominent and privileged royal institution.

The author, a native of Bath (Somerset) and a lecturer, historian and biographer, explores the possibilities of writing history backwards from the present into the past. Like the author''s own family, this book is firmly rooted in North Somerset, Bath and West Wiltshire. Part memoir, part family history, part social history, this book explores not just what we know but also the many silences and omissions which dot our own personal histories and those of our families and communities. Stories, some sad, some happy, some funny, come thick and fast throughout the pages and are illustrated with over one hundred photographs from family albums and a wide variety of other sources. Ten chapters observe the history of his extended family from various perspectives, including work, education, health, housing and religion.

John Taylor (1578-1653), known in his lifetime and ever since as the 'Water-Poet', wrote some two hundred pamphlets on every conceivable subject of interest to his contemporaries. A native of Gloucester who became a London waterman, he employed his ebullient wit and facility with words to make a reputation, if not a fortune, from his writing in prose and verse. His descriptions of the fourteen journeys he made between 1616 and 1653 around Britain (and twice to the continent), are not only entertaining to read, but an important source for anyone interested in travel, places and society before, during and just after the Civil Wars. This expanded edition of a work first published in 1999 adds the two foreign adventures and a group of pamphlets describing carriers, coaches, inns and taverns, with brief introductions to each work, annotations and an index of persons and places.

When the Napoleonic wars denied young Englishmen the opportunity to undertake the continental 'Grand Tour' many set about exploring their own land, often on foot, and some wrote accounts of what they saw and what interested them. This historical novel, originally published in three parts between 2005 and 2013, purports to be such an account, written by a young man fascinated by antiquity. Each of the three accounts were snapped up by a growing band of enthusiasts and now the trilogy is published in a single volume for the first time, with a description of the real-life characters who appear in its pages.In1807 South Wiltshire and its characters form the backdrop for young Londoner Henry Chalk as he takes to the footpaths and turnpikes in a trio of pedestrian excursions. With danger snapping at his heels the young pedestrian stumbles upon the founding fathers of archaeology who are intent on opening every prominent burial mound in the Stonehenge landscape. Love and mystery entwine the young walker like an ever-tightening creeper as he explores the sunken lanes and glaring chalklands, certain that the answer to mankind's story lies not in the barrows but in the plough soil, as he finds the ancient flint tools from a forgotten population. As the young hero puts pen to paper to record his adventures, his own story unfolds whilst a shocking denouement awaits.

A powerful novel of the era of young free love and its problems in a conflicted society. It's the winter of 1970 and Northern Ireland is smouldering with the unresolved hostilities of its ancient sectarian tribes, with Belfast a hotbed for trouble. In the heart of the city, Lee and her partner and friends ignore sectarian labels, and Lee still trusts in her hippy mantra 'all you need is love' - but the streets are increasingly dangerous, especially with two young children and more immediate challenges like how to beat the cold and the rising price of bread. When threats are scrawled on their back wall, and as sandbags and barricades block the streets, 'love' is becoming a precious and elusive commodity…

Thomas Crockford (1580-1634) came to Wiltshire in 1603 as schoolmaster at Stockton, and from 1613 until his death was vicar of Fisherton Delamere. For much of this time he assisted his neighbours the rectors of Wylye and Stockton, and began new registers for each of these three adjacent chalkland parishes in the Wylye valley of south Wiltshire. He assiduously collected and copied information from earlier registers and then continued them, for each parish, until shortly before his death. In doing this he was following an instruction of 1598, as many clergy did at the time, but what makes his registers unusual, if not unique, is the manner in which he set about his task. Crockford, unlike most of his parishioners, was proficient in Latin, and into his registers he wrote not only the basic details of baptisms, marriages and burials, but also relationships, occupations, causes of death, fortunes and misfortunes, and thumbnail character sketches of everyone who crossed his path at altar, font or graveyard - and all in Latin. In addition, by enquiring of families and elderly parishioners, he tried to discover details of those whom he had recorded from before his time. When writing about the local gentry, fellow clergy, and leading members of society he was generally deferential and complimentary, to the extent that some of his more expansive efforts read as if they were funeral orations; but when it came to the less exalted members of his congregation he was briefer and more candid, knowing that they could not read his comments. This remarkable mirror of rural society in the early 17th century is not a new discovery, but it is now published for the first time in translation and in its entirety. The work of translation has been undertaken by Christopher Newbury and Steven Hobbs, with additions by John Chandler, who has edited the volume and contributed an introduction and detailed indexes.

In the 1660s English society experiences religious, social and industrial upheavals. Throughout the land, thousands of Puritan clergy are expelled from their churches and homes if they refuse to conform, and their dissenting congregations suffer repression by the magistrates. Illegal gatherings are reported in the woods at night, raising suspicions of witchcraft and devil-worship. In Frome, Somerset, Molly-Ann and her brothers Ben and Nathaniel struggle to make ends meet after their family is impoverished, and the boys are drawn into a smuggling gang. The changing times offer new opportunities - some less reputable than others - and violence is often the first response to those who enforce the law. The town's flourishing woollen industry brings wealth to a few, while attracting many of the rural poor desperate for employment. The rapid growth of the market town allows some to build fortunes, especially the more unscrupulous developers. But for others, the threat of poverty, starvation or the gallows is always present . . .

Since its first publication in 1992 this history and guide has provided residents and visitors with a succinct but highly readable introduction to one of England's most interesting and attractive cities. A new edition published in a different format appeared in 2004 but has been out of print for several years. Now thoroughly revised, expanded and illustrated in full colour throughout, Salisbury, history around us provides a clear and fascinating explanation as to how the city, its cathedral, Close and surrounding area have evolved, and how they fit into the pattern of regional and national history. As well as following Salisbury's story through time, it also offers guided strolls around the Close, city centre and eastern chequers, and a longer walk from Old Sarum through the city to Harnham, which can be undertaken separately or in combination.

This book is a comprehensive record of matches played by Gloucester Rugby in cup competitions - from the early 1900s, when cup rugby was rather frowned upon, to victory in the first national knockout competition in 1972, to the highs and lows, glory and despair, of cup matches up to 2019.Richly illustrated with photographs of these often epic encounters, this book will bring back memories of Gloucester competing in English, Anglo-Welsh and European Cup campaigns. The Club's participation in Tens and Sevens rugby is also covered.This book has been produced by Gloucester Rugby Heritage, a charity run by volunteers, and supported by Gloucester Rugby and Gloucestershire Archives. It is the third in a series of five books, previous volumes having recorded the history of the Kingsholm ground and representative matches played there, whilst future publications will recount Gloucester players and the full playing record of the Club.

The story of life in a great country house, Kingston Lacy near Wimborne Minster in Dorset, during the last eighty years that it remained in private ownership, from 1897 to 1981. Times of glamour, bereavement, sadness and benevolence are recalled through the eyes of Henrietta Bankes and her daughter-in-law Hilary, the estate's last influential chatelaines. Geoffrey Brown, a long-term National Trust volunteer at Kingston Lacy, describes life in the house and on the estate, which extended across Dorset to Corfe Castle and the Isle of Purbeck, with great sympathy and understanding, as its owners responded to the social changes of the twentieth century.To Partake of Tea will delight anyone who has enjoyed visiting Kingston Lacy since its acquisition by the National Trust in 1983, and anyone interested in the predicament faced by owners of other large estates as their role has changed and, in some cases, disappeared.Reprint of a book first published in 2006

Early photographs have an undeniable power, providing a window to our past with an immediacy that is hard to match - documenting change and capturing history. Museums, archives and local studies libraries, therefore, continue to build extensive photographic collections to preserve this important visual record for the future. The Local Studies team at Swindon Central Library has built up over many years a list of local photographers, postcard publishers and others connected with the photographic history of Swindon and the surrounding area. Now, drawing on existing resources, librarian Darryl Moody and local historian Paul A Williams have created the definitive reference guide, including all known individual professional photographers, partnerships, firms, postcard publishers and a number of more notable amateurs working in the Swindon area.

This is the first comprehensive study of the rise of photography in Salisbury from its beginnings in 1839 up to 1880. It includes the failed attempt to set up a commercial photography studio locally in 1846, through the nascent period of the 1850s, to the explosion in commercial photography during the 1860s, by which time there were twelve commercial photographers in the city. Profusely illustrated from his own and institutional collections, Anthony Hamber's study includes an overview of image making in Salisbury prior to the introduction of photography, a case study focusing on Salisbury Cathedral, and an appendix that lists both the amateur and the professional photographers active during the period.

A strange interdependence has been forged between local authority lifer, Victor Wayland, public rights of way officer and the enigmatic Harrison, a young and streetwise volunteer. Harrison and his gang have torn up the volunteer's rule book and are finding their own ways and means to sort out the thornier issues of public rights of way maintenance. Meanwhile Victor is really starting to feel part of something…he's just not sure what that something is…and can a sedentary population really be persuaded to heave themselves up from the sofa and take their first steps towards walking back to happiness? They will ifHarrison has got anything to do with it.

The gardens at Stourhead in south-west Wiltshire are amongst the best known in England. But what was there before they were planted? This book aims to show that the parish of Stourton had a fascinating history long before Stourhead was conceived. For example, it is one of the few places in England which sustained a Roman Catholic congregation throughout the early modern period (and indeed until the 20th century). The author pays particular attention to the histories of Stourton families, both Catholic and non-Catholic - not just the wealthy Stourtons and Hoares, but also the small farmers and tradesmen, and the paupers. This book will interest everyone who visits Stourhead, or who has any connection with 17th and 18th century Stourton.