Shire Publications

London's many cemeteries, churches and graveyards are the last resting places of a multitude of important people from many different walks of life. Politicians, writers and military heroes rub shoulders with engineers, courtesans, artists and musicians, along with quite a few eccentric characters. Arranged geographically, this comprehensive guide describes famous graves in all the major cemeteries and churc...

From prize-winning historical novelist Louise Allen, this book presents nine walks through both the London Jane Austen knew and the London of her novels! Follow in Jane's footsteps to her publisher's doorstep and the Prince Regent's vanished palace, see where she stayed when she was correcting proofs of Sense and Sensibility and accompany her on a shopping expedition - and afterwards to the theatre. In mode...

Sheep have been farmed in Britain for hundreds of years and more than thirty million sheep now inhabit these islands. The many breeds developed over this time have been carefully matched to their surroundings - from the hardy, seaweed-eating North Ronaldsay to the tough hill-dwelling Swaledale and the docile Dorset Down of the lowlands. Susannah Robin Parkin here explains the main differences between the va...

London Transport was created in 1933 to coordinate the shambolic, overlapping transport systems of the capital, and for decades has striven to meet the challenges of organising London travel. Now operating as Transport for London (TfL), it continues this demanding work. In this fully illustrated volume, Michael H. C. Baker presents the complete story of the organisation from its origins, through the upheava...

With over two-thirds of the globe covered by water, the ability to navigate safely and quickly across the oceans has been crucial throughout human history. As seafarers attempted longer and longer voyages from the sixteenth century onwards in search of profit and new lands, the tools of navigation became ever more sophisticated. The development of instruments over the last five hundred years has seen some r...

For British Rail, the 1970s was a time of contrasts, when bad jokes about sandwiches and pork pies often belied real achievements, like increasing computerisation and the arrival of the high-speed Inter-City 125s. But while television advertisements told of an 'Age of the Train', Monday morning misery continued for many, the commuter experience steadily worsening as rolling stock aged and grew ever more unc...

"Bathing Houses and Plunge Pools".

"?Boat races and regattas are mainstays of the British summer - but where did these races originate and how have they become so important a part of our culture? Historian, writer and novice sculler Julie Summers here explains the history of British rowing as a competitive sport from the early nineteenth century to the present day. She then profiles the three most famous rowing events: the Boat Race, rowed o...

Gypsies have been a part of the British and European social fabric for centuries - and have faced prejudice and oppression for nearly as long, since at least the time of Henry VIII. Theirs is a peripatetic existence, dwelling in tents and in caravans and living often precariously at the edges of towns and villages, moving on in search of opportunities or as mainstream society drives them away. Gypsies of Br...

From the Edwardian golden age of steam to the present, no mode of travel has captured the hearts of the British people like the railways. In wartime and peace, along major routes and minor, steam, diesel and electric trains have moved goods, taken commuters to work or families on holidays - a constant presence in an always-changing way of life. A Century of Railway Travel tells the story of one hundred year...

Oft-overshadowed by the imposing buildings that line the River Thames, the bridges of London are an intriguing part of the capital, past and present. This book traces the history of all 33 Thames bridges within Greater London, exploring the fascinating architecture and unique stories from Hampton Court Bridge in the west to the iconic Tower Bridge in the east. Accompanied throughout by colour photographs of...

Originally constructed as landing stages for trippers by boat in the nineteenth century, piers later developed into attractions in themselves, with ornate pavilions, delicate ironwork and exotic lighting. Lynn F. Pearson, an architectural historian, outlines the fascinating history of pier and pavilion construction, using colour illustrations and photographs to show the development of these attractions from...

Behind the enduring popularity of beach huts lies a story of classic British eccentricity. Immensely photogenic and appealing, these colourful seaside buildings are direct successors of the Georgian bathing machine, which first appeared in the 1730s as a peculiar device to protect the modesty of rich and fashionable bathers. Kathryn Ferry paints a picture postcard view of the classic British seaside holiday...

For much of the twentieth century travel by air was a luxury available only to the wealthy, and accordingly the airlines - Pan Am, BOAC, TWA, BEA and many others - offered premium services that connected far-flung parts of the world with con trails of glamour. This book looks back at the golden age, from the 1920s to the 1970s, when well-appointed airliners whisked the rich and famous around the world on ho...

Tube: Station to Station on the London Underground, written by Oliver Green and published by Shire Publications, provides historical background to London’s present day Underground network and then takes you on seven guided tours to observe the influence of architects such as Charles Holden, designer of many stations built in 1920s and 1930s, or Sir Norman Foster.

Boaters who lived and worked on the narrowboats of the canals were, like the rest of mankind, people who tried to make their homes as comforable and decorative as they could. The boat cabins were small but were bright with paint, and the and the 'roses and castles' decorations of the canal boats are a true English folk art. The boatwomen were competent at needlework, embroidery and crochet and used all of t...

This book was commissioned by The Theatres Trust, the body charged by Acts of Parliament with 'the better protection of theatres'. After decades of destruction, theatres are now recognised as significant records of the societies that produced them and valuable cultural resources for the prsent day. This book outlines the history of theatres and music halls from the late sixteenth century to the present time...

Edward VII became king in January 1901 and Britain was a very prosperous country after Victoria's long reign, and now a new era began that would bring enormous changes. After the stuffiness of Victorian life, there was a desire for less clutter in the home, more fresh air and sunshine. The changes begun during the few years before the First World War in 1914 were to leave their mark on the whole century. Th...

From the 1930s to the 1960s, millions of British people chose to spend their annual summer break at a holiday camp, taking advantage of the all-in package that included accommodation, food, and plentiful entertainment. The market leader was Billy Butlin whose camps operated on a vast scale, and offered a brightly coloured leisure land in contrast to the drabness of post-war rationing. The holiday camp story...

Over the centuries Britain's soil has yielded countless spectacular hoards of ancient coins and other artefacts, affording us priceless insights into our ancestors' lives - and it is not only such large finds that await discovery but also many thousands of individual pieces. Wonderfully, discoveries both minor and momentous are frequently made not by teams of professionals but by amateur archaeologists and ...