Britain's Holiest Places is now a major six part BBC4 Series Pagans & Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places. Britain's Holiest Places reveals the astonishing spiritual heritage lying hidden in every corner of our country. The result of a five-year journey from Orkney to the Channel Islands it opens up a remarkable landscape shaped by centuries of faith. There is something to surprise & enlighten anyone with a sense of the sacred
- from miraculous healing pools astounding works of devotional art mysterious natural features world-famous shrines grand cathedrals to the humblest of country churches. It

Includes:: 500 places in England Wales & Scotl&. Each listing is illustrated & made easily accessible to the visitor with much to inspire as well as much to challenge modern understanding of spiritual experience. The book encompasses the entire spectrum of church & even folk traditions: Anglican Catholic Celtic Orthodox Non-Conformist Presbyterian Quaker & many others. Written with a keen eye for the surreal as well as the sacred the absurd as well as the serious this book is the first complete survey of our islands sacred history.


...

Britain's Hoverflies" is a beautifully illustrated photographic field guide to all the genera of hoverflies found in Britain focusing on the species most likely to be identified. Accessible & designed to appeal to a wide audience the book contains more than 500 remarkable photographs exploring the various life stages of all 69 hoverfly genera & the 164 most commonly seen species. Easy-to-use species accounts highlight key identification features including status behavior & habitat requirements. The book also contains distribution maps phenology charts & introductory chapters that examine hoverfly biology. This guide is the perfect companion for wildlife enthusiasts professional ecologists & anyone with an interest in this unique insect family. I

Includes:: more than 500 remarkable photographs depict all 69 hoverfly genera & the 164 most commonly seen species in Britain that can be identified by eye or with a magnifying glass. It offers introductory chapters that explore hoverfly biology. Species accounts highlight key features of each genus & species including status behavior & habitat. Maps & phenology charts examine hoverfly distribution. It is a complete list of the 281 hoverfly species recorded in Britain to date with degrees of identification difficulty."

...

Barrie Trinder has been a leading expert on industrial history for many years & this is perhaps his most important book to date: a general overview of the industrial revolution across the British Isles. The industrial revolution was one of the defining changes of human history & it happened in Britain first. It changed radically the way in which goods were made: for the first time large factories were built to house the machines & power systems that had been invented. It led to new ways of working & living: it concentrated workers in large workplaces often in the rapidly growing towns & cities. Along with spectacular profits & economic benefits it brought danger pollution & increasing inequality between rich & poor. Alongside industry arrived canals railways cast-iron bridges & iron ships. The industrial revolution created the country & the society we recognise today. ...

Fully illustrated with stunning photographs of dray horses coopers & grand Victorian architecture an elegy for the loss of ...

From county grounds where Denis Compton hit a century to the smallest village field Britain's Lost Cricket Grounds movingly shows how picturesque greenery gave way to shopping malls & housing estates. The cricket ground is as much a part of the British landscape as the parish church. Hastings used to have a historic ground in the middle of the town surrounded by elegant houses
- but then recently it disappeared under a shopping precinct with a branch of River Island where the wicket used to be. Yorkshire used to play at Sheffield's Bramall Lane
- until the football club built grandstands over it. Like so many companies with works grounds Guinness have closed their cricket ground at Park Royal & sold it for an industrial estate. Now in a further addition to Aurum's successful ' Lost' series following Britain's Lost Cities & Lost Victorian Britain Guardian journalist Chris Arnot tours the country in search of our most lamented lost cricket grounds hearing reminiscences from former players & spectators & finding what if anything is left nowadays apart from the poignant photographs of their picturesque heyday that make this a nostalgic & rueful trip back in time.

...

A handy-sized photographic field guide that aims to help both beginners & experts alike to learn more about some of the conspicuous picturesque & even bizarre galls & what causes them in the first place. The book

Features: * stunning colour plates showing typical views of each type of gall featured. Approx. 200 photos & 2 illustrations. * Detailed gall profiles covering key identification features & on what tree or plant to look. * Split into three sections covering galls on Oaks on other trees & shrubs & on herbaceous plants. * Details of other reading for those who wish to take the subject further. * A handy index of host plants Prepared by members of the British Plant Gall Society with the aim of encouraging an augmented interest in the topic & an increase in younger naturalists who will continue studying this fascinating subject into the future. Readership: Naturalists students land managers those interested in the interaction between insect & plant-life.

...

The majestic architecture of nineteenth-and early twentieth-century railway buildings reflected the pride of the railway companies who commissioned them. The structures themselves from classically-designed stations to mighty viaducts tunnels & bridges inspired awe in a travelling public receptive to the splendour of a new kind of tranpsort that was changing their lives. Today helped along by the popularity of preserved steam railways these wonderful examples of railway architecture are widely appreciated for their beauty & the role they played in our social & industrial past. In this highly-illustrated book filled with his own photographs & detailed drawings Trevor Yorke describes the huge range of buildings associated with the golden age of steam including waiting rooms booking halls stations large & small & hotels. He explains the dynamics of their construction the materials used & the myriad of styles employed by leading architects & engineers of the day. For anyone with an interest in the world of steam railways this book will prove an invaluable guide o the architectural legacy it has left to us. ...

' George III is alleged to have married secretly on 17th April 1759 a Quakeress called Hannah Lightfoot daughter of a Wapping shoemaker who is said to have borne him three children. Documents relating to the alleged marriage bearing the Prince's signature were impounded & examined in 1866 by the Attorney General. Learned opinion at the time leaned to the view that these documents were genuine. They were then placed in the Royal Archives at Windsor; in 1910 permission was refused a would-be author who asked to see them. If George III did make such a marriage when he was Prince of Wales before the passing of the Royal Marriages Act in 1772 then his subsequent marriage to Queen Charlotte was bigamous & every monarch of Britain since has been a usurper the rightful heirs of George III being his children by Hannah Lightfoot if they ever existed'
- From Britain's Royal Families. Britain's Royal Families" is a unique reference book. It provides for the first time in one volume complete genealogical details of all members of the royal houses of England Scotland & Great Britain
- from 800AD to the present. Here is the vital biographical information relating not only to each monarch but also to every member of their immediate family from parents to grandchildren. Drawing on countless authorities both ancient & modern Alison Weir explores the royal family tree in unprecedented depth & provides a comprehensive guide to the heritage of today's royal family."

...

Britain's Sea Mammals" is the essential field guide to all the sea mammals
- whales dolphins porpoises & seals
- found in coastal

...

A lavishly illustrated tribute to Britain's oldest largest & most famous trees told through legends history & literature. Trees have always inspired awe & wonder & some of our ancient trees have been standing for over a thousand years. In this fascinating & lovingly researched book the author selects the most interesting of them & compares archive photographs & engravings with contemporary colour photographs. Some of the trees featured have changed drastically over the centuries while others seem to have hardly changed at all. Each tree has its own distinct shape & character which it carries through its lifetime. Many of the trees in Britain's Tree Story are still standing & there is a gazetteer of where to see them including in various National Trust properties. Britain's Tree Story is a fascinating & beautifully illustrated celebration of Britain's trees & the intriguing legends & stories that surround them. Ancient trees are a living link to our past & they often provide a fragile constant in an ever-changing world. This is their story but in equal measure it is also ours. ...