The enormous hoard of beautiful gold military objects found in a field in Staffordshire has focused huge attention on the mysterious world of 7th & 8th century Britain. Clearly the product of a sophisticated wealthy highly militarized society the objects beg innumerable questions about how we are to understand the people who once walked across the same landscape we inhabit who are our ancestors & yet left such a slight record of their presence. Britain after Rome" brings together a wealth of research & imaginative engagement to bring us as close as we can hope to get to the tumultuous centuries between the departure of the Roman legions & the arrival of Norman invaders nearly seven centuries later. As towns fell into total decay Christianity disappeared & wave upon wave of invaders swept across the island it can be too easily assumed that life in Britain became intolerable
- & yet this is the world in which modern languages & political arrangements were forged a number of fascinating cultures rose & fell & tantalizing glimpses principally through the study of buildings & burials can be had of a surprising & resilient place. The result of a lifetime of work Robin Flemings major new addition to " The Penguin History of Britain" could not be more opportune. A richly enjoyable varied & surprising book " Britain after Rome" allows its readers to see Britains history in a quite new light."
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Storm-battered headlands hidden waterfalls tumbledown cottages the ruins of haunted chapels deep in forgotten woods medieval Green Men old mines & quarries being recaptured by nature rusting sea-forts tottering on sandbanks.. . Britain & Ireland are full of wild places some remote many often astonishingly close to home. Christopher Somerville has travelled through fields & green lanes in forests & mountains & on lonely coasts seeking out his favourite 500 untamed treasures. This book will show you how everyone can discover a piece of the wild for themselves. ...

Kauto Star Nijinsky Arkle Desert Orchid Frankel Red Rum.. .how do you rank the best British & Irish horses from both Flat racing & jumping? How do you compare a fleet-footed sprinter with the robust staying power of a steeplechaser? Robin Oakleys highly personal list will provoke debate among racing fans everywhere. A lifelong devotee of racing & well known as the Turf correspondent for the Spectator former BBC Political Editor Robin Oakley has made his selection not just on statistics but on the fun factor giving prominence to horses who seized the publics imagination. He brings the legendary names of past & present vividly to life with a wealth of fascinating stories behind their victories. Illuminated by archive photographs that illustrate the athleticism character & courage of the horses Britain & Irelands Top 100 Racehorses of All Time is the perfect gift for any fan of racing & its colourful history. ...

Kauto Star Nijinsky Arkle Desert Orchid Frankel Red Rum.. .how do you rank the best British & Irish horses from both Flat racing & jumping? How do you compare a fleet-footed sprinter with the robust staying power of a steeplechaser? Robin Oakleys highly personal list will provoke debate among racing fans everywhere. A lifelong devotee of racing & well known as the Turf correspondent for the Spectator former BBC Political Editor Robin Oakley has made his selection not just on statistics but on the fun factor giving prominence to horses who seized the publics imagination. He brings the legendary names of past & present vividly to life with a wealth of fascinating stories behind their victories. Illuminated by archive photographs that illustrate the athleticism character & courage of the horses Britain & Irelands Top 100 Racehorses of All Time is the perfect gift for any fan of racing & its colourful history. ...

Before they had an empire in the East the British travelled into the Islamic world to pursue trade & to form strategic alliances against the Catholic powers of France & Spain. First-hand encounters with Muslims Jews Greek Orthodox & other religious communities living together under tolerant Islamic rule changed forever the way Britons thought about Islam just as the goods they imported from Islamic countries changed forever the way they lived. Britain & the Islamic World tells the story of how for a century & a half merchants & diplomats travelled from Morocco to Istanbul from Aleppo to Isfahan & from Hormuz to Surat & discovered a world that was more fascinating than fearful. Gerald Mac Lean & Nabil Matar examine the place of Islam & Muslims in English thought & how British monarchs dealt with supremely powerful Muslim rulers. They document the importance of diplomatic & mercantile encounters show how the writings of captives spread unreliable information about Islam & Muslims & investigate observations by travellers & clergymen who reported meetings with Jews eastern Christians Armenians & Shi'ites. They also trace how trade & the exchange of material goods with the Islamic world shaped how people in Britain lived their lives & thought about themselves. ...

An authoritative & radical rethinking of the history of Ancient Britain & Ancient Ireland based on remarkable new archaeological finds. British history is traditionally regarded as having started with the Roman Conquest. But this is to ignore half a million years of prehistory that still exert a profound influence. Here Francis Pryor examines the great ceremonial landscapes of Ancient Britain & Ireland
- Stonehenge Seahenge Avebury & the Bend of the Boyne
- as well as the discarded artefacts of day-to-day life to create an astonishing portrait of our ancestors. This major re-revaluation of pre-Roman Britain made possible in part by aerial photography & coastal erosion reveals a much more sophisticated life in Ancient Britain & Ireland than has previously been supposed.

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The last Ice Age which came to an end about 12 000 years ago swept the bands of hunter gatherers from the face of the land that was to become Britain & Ireland but as the ice sheets retreated & the climate enhanced so human groups spread slowly northwards re-colonizing the land that had been laid waste. From that time onwards Britain & Ireland have been continuously inhabited & the resident population has increased from a few hundreds to more than 60 million. Britain Begins is nothing less than the story of the origins of the British & the Irish peoples from around 10 000BC to the eve of the Norman Conquest. Using the most up to date archaeological evidence together with new work on DNA & other scientific techniques which help us to trace the origins & movements of these early settlers Barry Cunliffe offers a rich narrative account of the first islanders
- who they were where they came from & how they interacted one with another. Underlying this narrative throughout is the story of the sea which allowed the islanders & their continental neighbours to be in constant contact. The story told by the archaeological evidence in later periods augmented by historical texts satisfies our need to know who we are & where we come from. But before the development of the discipline of archaeology people used what scraps there were gleaned from Biblical & classical texts to create a largely mythological origin for the British. Britain Begins also explores the development of these early myths which show our ancestors attempting to understand their origins. & as Cunliffe shows todays archaeologists are driven by the same desire to understand the past
- the only real difference is that we have vastly more evidence to work with.

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The last Ice Age which came to an end about 12 000 years ago swept the bands of hunter gatherers from the face of the land that was to become Britain & Ireland but as the ice sheets retreated & the climate enhanced so human groups spread slowly northwards re-colonizing the land that had been laid waste. From that time onwards Britain & Ireland have been continuously inhabited & the resident population has increased from a few hundreds to more than 60 million. Britain Begins is nothing less than the story of the origins of the British & the Irish peoples from around 10 000BC to the eve of the Norman Conquest. Using the most up to date archaeological evidence together with new work on DNA & other scientific techniques which help us to trace the origins & movements of these early settlers Barry Cunliffe offers a rich narrative account of the first islanders
- who they were where they came from & how they interacted one with another. Underlying this narrative throughout is the story of the sea which allowed the islanders & their continental neighbours to be in constant contact. The story told by the archaeological evidence in later periods augmented by historical texts satisfies our need to know who we are & where we come from. But before the development of the discipline of archaeology people used what scraps there were gleaned from Biblical & classical texts to create a largely mythological origin for the British. Britain Begins also explores the development of these early myths which show our ancestors attempting to understand their origins. & as Cunliffe shows today's archaeologists are driven by the same desire to understand the past
- the only real difference is that we have vastly more evidence to work with.

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* The official book to accompany the BBC4 6 x 30min series Britain by Bike *

Includes:: extensive photography

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Mark Easton's Britain Etc. looks at the UK through its relationship to 26 subjects
- one for each letter of the alphabet. From
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