Product Description
Orkney lies only 20 miles north of mainland Scotland, yet for many centuries its culture was more Scandanavian than Scottish. Strong westerly winds account for the scarcity of trees on Orkney and also for the tradition of well-constructed stone structures. As a result, the islands boast a large number of exceptionally well-preserved remains, which help us to form a detailed picture of Orcadian life through the ages. Sites and remains to be explored include settlements from the Stone Age, stone circles and burials from the Bronze Age, Iron Age brochs, Viking castles, the magnificent cathedral of St Magnus in Kirkwall, Renaissance palaces, a Martello tower from the Napoleonic Wars and numerous remains from the Second World War. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great archaeological tour book
This book was very handy to have for quick reference and information on almost all the major sites in the Orkney Islands.Sufficient descriptions and detail to assist in planning the trip and each day's outings.
Good choice and I would recommend it. ... Read more

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A guided tour of Sussex covering its history, folklore, geography and architecture. As well as the Downs and the Weald, Desmond Seward covers everything from "Pagan" Sussex to "Bloomsbury" Sussex and from the county's castles, manors and palaces to its smugglers and pigs. ... Read more

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Through the ages, kings and paupers alike have travelled Britain's ancient pilgrimage routes to special, holy places such as the magical isles of Iona and Lindisfarne, the grand cathedral of Canterbury and St David's shrine, Pembrokeshire. Today's walkers, guided by this book, can follow in the pilgrims' footsteps along stretches of rugged Celtic coastline, Roman roads and prehistoric chalk ridgeways, and discover the many sites that have changed little over the centuries. Detailed maps and directions are provided to help walkers, cyclists and even motorists to trace the old routes and visit the places of interest along the way - from Iron Age hillforts to hospices and chapels. Colour illustrations are included with the intention of bringing the routes to life and recreating the spirit of each pilgrimage. The reader can see Romans casting votive offerings into the steaming spring of Aquae Sulis, Bath; a king's funeral cortege crossing the Sound of Iona; and the shrine of Thomas Becket as it would have appeared in 1250. ... Read more

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The Chorography of Suffolk reconstructed in this volume is one of the first attempts of a county survey of Suffolk. It has remained almost unknown and unconsidered by antiquaries since it was compiled, at the end of the reign of Elizabeth I, for no county antiquarian tradition comparable to those in Essex and Warwickshire ever emerged in Suffolk. The unknown author of the Chorography intended his work to be a village-by-village survey of the county, including descriptions of church monuments, other antiquities, local ecclesiastical and manorial customs, and property ownership as he found them in his own day. The resulting work, although never completed, is an invaluable gazetteer of Suffolk as it was in the first five years of the seventeenth century. The manuscript passed into the library of the eminent doctor Sir Thomas Browne, before its acquisition by Peter Le Neve, the indefatigable but eccentric eighteenth century antiquary. It was Le Neve who was responsible for the dismemberment of the Suffolk Chorography manuscript into several hundred fragments, so that from the dispersal of his collections in the 1780s until the present day, the pieces of the Suffolk manuscript have become scattered through at least six different English archive collections, and some of it remains lost. The present volume forms the fruits of a great academic jigsaw puzzle following the first chance rediscovery of a large number of the fragments, and it represents about 95 per cent of the text as it existed before Le Neve's vandalism. ... Read more

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Lochaber is a sparsely-populated area, remote but romantic, centred on Fort William. It contains no mediaeval burgh, no major monastic site, and for its size, not even many castles. However, it does include the highest mountain in Great Britain (Ben Nevis, 4406 ft, the deepest lake in Western Europe (Loch Morar) and the most westerly point of the British mainland (Ardnamurchan Point). Daniel Defoe described it as a 'mountainous barren and frightful country ...full of hideous desert mountains and unpassable'. Much of the land surface is mountain or bog, and its coastline is indented by long sea lochs, while the interior contains some very large fresh water lochs, the longest of which are Loch Shiel, at 17 miles, and Loch Arkaig at 12 miles. The name Lochaber first appears in Adamnan's Life of St Columba (written c.690). It probably refers either to the top of Loch Linnhe, or to a possible loch, later a bog, east of Banavie. Much of the scattered population of Lochaber has always lived close to its long and sheltered coastline, and until the last 200 years most communication was by water.One local minister in the 1790s claimed, probably correctly, that Tahiti and other Pacific islands were better surveyed than parts of the west coast of Scotland. Only a few intrepid travellers came here before the nineteenth century, when roads, steam-boats and then the railway rapidly opened up the area to tourism. Attempts to introduce new industries during the twentieth century had mixed success, but the population, having declined for almost two centuries, has now stabilised. Perhaps a better understanding and de-mythologising of the past may help to develop a sustainable economy for the future. This is the first detailed historical and archaeological guide to this beautiful and little-known part of Scotland. ... Read more

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A book which accompanies an international exhibition of works from the Oskar Reinhart Foundation in Winterthur, Switzerland, which holds one of the worlds best collections of German, Austrian and Swiss art. The collection ranges from Romantic works to the art of the late 19th century. ... Read more

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A Traveller's History of London gives a full and comprehensive historical background to the capital's past and covers the period from London's first beginnings, right up to the present dayfrom Londinium and Lundenwic to Docklands' development. It reveals the city's hidden treasures and forgotten places and guides the reader to the sights and sites that can still be seen and enjoyed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Bit Confusing
This book covers all of London history from the Romans to the Dockland development in 200 pages. So it isn't surprising that it was sometimes hard to follow. Matters were not helped by the fact that the author chose ahybrid theme/chronological narrative structure which succeeded incompletely confusing me on whencertain things occured. I would have likedmore stories of renowned events and people. But the sections at the end onspecific locations like the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey werequite interesting. ... Read more

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Arranged by region, this is a guide to over 1800 museums and galleries in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which looks at days out for the family, and unusual galleries such as lighthouses, boats etc. ... Read more