Local history

A rich mix of folk tales and real stories about London families, told by professional storytellers.

The public parks of London are the lungs of this great city, its citizens enjoying more green spaces than any other city in the world - over 45,000 acres of public land in Greater London, with around one thousand parks over twenty acres in size. Hunter Davies, long-time North London resident and ...

Throughout England there are thousands of lost or deserted villages. Most were abandoned after the Black Death or other plague epidemics, but some were lost to coastal erosion or the encroaching sea, while others were resettled elsewhere when the livelihood upon which the village relied disappear...

Manchester in the century between 1850 and 1950 witnessed extraordinary growth and changes. In the mid-nineteenth century, Manchester was the world's first industrialised city, home of the Industrial Revolution and known as 'Cottonopolis'. It was a city of immigrants from the countryside, Ireland...

Andrew Martin has been described as 'the laureate of railways', having written many books with railway themes. But Andrew has always been obsessed with the Paris Metro, hence 'Metropolitain', an English history of the Metro for the general reader. 'Metropolitain' is as stylish as the Metro itself...

In informative illustrated essays this text traces the great variety of media and forms California artists have engaged as they have moved the still life not just off the table, but off the wall and into three dimensions during the 20th century.

In 1841 there were 734 female midwives working in Britain, along with 9 artificial eye makers, 20 peg makers, 6 stamp makers and 1 bee dealer. Fast forward nearly two centuries and there are 51,000 midwives working in the UK and not an eye maker in sight! For the past two centuries, through the C...

The Peaky Blinders as we know them, thanks to the hit TV series, are infused with drama and dread. Fashionably dressed, the charismatic but deeply flawed Shelby family have become cult anti-heroes. Well-known social historian, broadcaster, and author, Carl Chinn, revealed the true story of the no...

Its farming and fishing industries yield an impressive harvest of ingredients, so it is no surprise to discover that Sussex boasts a rich culinary heritage. In 'Pond Puddings and Sussex Smokies' local author Kevin Newman highlights the county's culinary history and specialities, together with its...

Today Hastings and its neighbouring St Leonards On Sea are a busy seaside town, popular with holiday makers and day trippers wanting to soak up its coastal heritage and historical charm. Known to many for the famous battle of 1066, which was not actually fought at Hastings, the town has so much m...