Normanby Hall has been the seat of the Sheffield family since it was built in the 1820s. In this social history, Stephen Wade charts the hall’s role in local industry and during two world wars, when it was used as a military hospital and a personnel base. The tales of the resident family, guests and staff include that of the charismatic Lady Grosvenor, who astonished servants by arriving in a gypsy caravan.

Located in the heart of London’s Docklands, the Thames Iron Works pioneered metal-hulled ships in the mid 19th century, providing employment for much of the East End. Though it closed in 1912, its spirit lives on through the company's football team, which became West Ham United.

Corn mills on the River Dee by the King’s Pool were built in the eleventh century and that part of Chester and Handbridge became one of the most important medieval and post-medieval industrial sites in Britain. In this illustrated industrial history, Roy Wilding presents a detailed look at the many wares besides flour – leather goods, paper, snuff and needles – that were produced by the mills; and he also describes fishing in the Dee.

To anyone who remembers playing in traffic-free streets or watching the moon landing on TV, Webb's memoir will be a nostalgic trip back to childhood in the 1960s in London's East End. To anyone younger, it is a picture of life in a different world, where bombsites and die-cast cars were the height of kids' entertainment and 'summer holiday' often meant staying with granny in Basildon.

In this series, local historians draw on the memories of ex-fishermen and women and use archive photographs to give detailed, illustrated accounts of what life and work was like in regions where, in the past, fishing supported and shaped communities. Slightly off-mint.

A crucially important port during the First World War, the city of Liverpool also reflected the domestic political problems of the day with industrial unrest and Irish home rule both pertinent topics for the large working class and Irish populations. Through letters and diaries, this book highlights the experiences and attitudes of people living and working in the city during the period as well as Merseysiders serving abroad.

Tubby Isaacs’s jellied-eels stand in the coach park, shrimping, Punch and Judy on the beach, The Importance of Being Earnest at the Roof Garden Theatre, the Aldwick Hundred Motor Cycle Club ... Drawing on the memories and snapshots of visitors and residents of Bognor, this book looks back to the 1950s and describes the holidays, including getting there, accommodation and entertainments, in Britain’s sunniest southern seaside resort.

After a brief history of Portobello Market, from the capture of Porto Bello during the War of Jenkins' Ear to the problems facing market traders today, Blanche Girouard presents informal interviews with more than 30 local residents, costermongers and stall-holders selling vintage clothing and antiques. The traders' stories – and the interruptions to serve customers – are full of humour and anecdote that convey the lively traditions of London's last antique street market.

From the murder of James I and the torture of his betrayers to the beheading of various notorious criminals, this is a history of crime and punishment in Stirling’s Royal Burgh, workhouses and schools. b&w throughout

Hugh Hornby's illustrated celebration of local 'festival football', usually played on Shrove Tuesday, examines the history and present day pursuit of this little-known British institution.

From the remarkably complete records for 1907 kept by West Buckland School on Exmoor, Coates has compiled this illustrated diary of the school in its own, Edwardian words and with biographies of staff and pupils.

On 4 August 1914 Ludlow's mayor stood on the Town Hall balcony and read the declaration of war to an expectant crowd. Illustrated with historic photographs, this book charts the war's impact on Shropshire towns and villages such as Bridgnorth, Clun and Much Wenlock: the men who fought; the women who replaced them on the farms; the training camps and convalescent homes; and civilian morale.

Although Bristol was already a thriving port and elegant town by Georgian times, most of the framework of the modern city was laid out in the Victorian era, when rapid expansion saw the introduction of sewerage and gas networks, schools, and public institutions such as libraries and the art gallery and museum. Helen Reid presents a fascinating glimpse into the Victorians' world, using original photographs and extracts from books, letters, journals and newspapers.

The pioneers of the industrial revolution left indelible marks on Wiltshire through important feats of engineering such as the Box Tunnel on Brunel's Great Western Railway and the Caen Hill flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal. Examining the county's industrial history and archaeological remains from the steam age, this book explores a variety of industries such as quarrying in the Bath area; carpet-making at Wilton; textiles at Trowbridge; paper, leather and rubber manufacture; and milling and brewing.

Windswept coastlines, factories belching smoke into leaden skies and the shapes and deep shadows of industrial architecture are the subjects of this collection of black-and-white photographs of the North East in the 1960s. These images of the majestic cranes of the shipyards and the decaying industrial landscapes of Tyneside and Teesside are also a valuable social document, showing people at work and play in cities, factories, seaside resorts and the docks.

Local historian David Bell draws on the memories of ex-miners and their families, and uses archive photographs to give an illustrated account of an industry that in the past supported and shaped the way of life of Staffordshire mining communities.

Local historian David Bell draws on the memories of ex-miners and their families, and uses archive photographs to give an illustrated account of the coal industry in Warwickshire and the way of life that it supported and shaped.

This concise guide takes the reader on a tour of London’s many markets, both covered and on the streets. From Camden to Petticoat Lane, it charts the history of each, describes the commodities – meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, or money – traded, and recounts tales of the famous and infamous Londoners who have populated them. A final chapter visits the sites of markets that have disappeared.

Pauline Forrest was born at 4 Kingsmead Street, Bath in 1921, and in this illustrated memoir she describes the ups and downs of her working-class childhood between the wars, ending around 1937, as she started her training as a Red Cross nurse.

‘There are many weighty tomes dealing with Bath’s past that do not mention a single pub’: this book makes amends in a light-hearted – and meticulously documented – history of alcohol in the city, from the Middle Ages to 21st-century superpubs.

Colin Fisher tells the story of Stefan Vallerio Pieroni (1819–1900), a seller of plaster figurines who came to England from Tuscany in 1837. Eventually, he settled in Bath, where he became prominent in the city’s social, cultural and political life.

Edited by Hugh Cheape, this volume contains articles by John Lorne Campbell (1906–1996), the renowned writer on Hebridean history, folklore and literature. The articles, translated here from the original Gaelic, are in sections on St Kilda; Uist tradition; Eriskay tradition; Barra, Mingulay and Bernera; the history of the Small Isles (Eigg, Rum and Canna); the Jacobite poet Alexander MacDonald; and the Clearances.

Drawing on the archives of the Mary Evans Picture Library, this collection of photographs, cartoons, illustrations and ephemera tells the story of the British seaside, looking at how the purpose, traditions and character of coastal resorts have developed since the first sea bathing cure destinations opened in the late 18th century. Each image is captioned and accompanied by explanatory text.

Off-mint.

Off-mint.

Off-mint.