Fast-paced and fact-packed, this compendium revels in Carmarthenshire's rich heritage and what makes it special in areas such as culture, landscape, wildlife, food and sport. This whistle-stop tour through the 'Garden of Wales' covers both celebrated characters and murky pasts, taking in the county's breathtaking castles, nature reserves and famous landmarks along the way. From the county gaol and asylum to school strikes and industrial riots, this is a book you won't want to put down.

This book, to published in two parts, is dedicated to the memories of all those people who once worked for the Great Western Railway in South Wales, at Pontypool Road loco depot, the Eastern Valley and the Vale of Neath railway, as well as to those people who worked in the industries once served by the railway in those locations. In 2016, the UK coal mining industry is extinct, and the future of the steel industry is in doubt. This book serves as a reminder to future generations as to what a fantastic place the South Wales valleys once were for heavy industry and transport infrastructure, and also as a tribute to the pioneering 19th century railway builders. Local railway enthusiast Phil Williams, is a contract structural engineer in the aerospace industry. His father's uncle, Harry Miles, was a Swindon trained locomotive fitter at Pontypool Road in the 1930s. His family have interesting links to the mining industry. His great grandfather was Thomas Williams, the Colliery Engineer at Tirpentwys Colliery from before 1902 up to 1912; and then at Crumlin Valley Colliery Hafodrynys and the Glyn Pits, from 1915 until he died in 1925 aged 76.His father's great grandfather, Joseph Harper, was one of the 1890 Llanerch Colliery disaster rescue team; he worked at the British Top Pits. His father's uncle, Williams Harper was the foreman of the wagon shop at the Big Arch Talywain.

From the landing of Federal troops at the Tennessee-Ohio confluence to the new river of the TVA, whose dams stand athwart the valley in Egyptian impassivity,O this volume completes the story of the transformation of a river and of the culture it nourished. Southern Classics Series.

New York is a city like no other. Through the centuries, she's been embraced and reviled, worshipped and feared, praised and battered--all the while standing at the crossroads of American politics, business, society, and culture. Pulitzer Prize winner Teresa Carpenter, a lifelong diary enthusiast, scoured the archives of libraries, historical societies, and private estates to assemble here an almost holographic view of this iconic metropolis. Starting on January 1 and continuing day by day through the year, these journal entries are selected from four centuries of writing--revealing vivid and compelling snapshots of life in the Capital of the World.
""Today I arrived by train in New York City . . . and instantly fell in love with it. Silently, inside myself, I yelled: "I should have been born here """--Edward Robb Ellis, May 22, 1947
Includes diary excerpts from Sherwood Anderson - Albert Camus - Noel Coward - Dorothy Day - John Dos Passos - Thomas Edison - Allen Ginsberg - Keith Haring - Henry Hudson - Anne Morrow Lindbergh - H. L. Mencken - John Cameron Mitchell - Julia Rosa Newberry - Eugene O'Neill - Edgar Allan Poe - Theodore Roosevelt - Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Alexis de Tocqueville - Mark Twain - Gertrude Vanderbilt - Andy Warhol - George Washington - Walt Whitman - and many others
"The most convivial and unorthodox history of New York City one is likely to come across."--"The New York Times"
"A must-read for anyone who has fallen in love with the Big Apple."--New York Journal of Books
"An absolute masterpiece."--"The Atlantic"

Authored under the pseudonym Whipplesnaith it recounts the courageous (or foolhardy) nocturnal exploits of a group of students climbing the ancient university and town buildings of Cambridge. These daring stegophilic feats, including such heights as the Fitzwilliam Museum and the venerable King's College Chapel, were recorded with prehistoric photographic paraphernalia carried aloft over battlements, up chimneys and down drain-pipes. The climbers all this while trying, with mixed results, to avoid detection by the 'Minions of Authority': university proctors, Bulldogs and, of course, the local 'Roberts'... The result is a fascinating, humorous and, at times, adrenalin-inducing adventure providing a rare glimpse into a side of Cambridge that has always been enshrouded by darkness. The tradition, known now as urban climbing, buildering, structuring or stegophily and followed all over the world, started long before publication of the first edition and is sure to continue for generations after the arrival of this one.

Did you know? A new species of cat-like dinosaur, yet to be named, was discovered on the Isle of Wight in 1988. Darwin began his world famous 'On the Origin of the Species' while staying at the Kings Head Hotel. There are 21 tourists to every Island resident. The Little Book of the Isle of Wight is a funny, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no one will want to be without. The Island's most eccentric inhabitants, blood-curdling murders and literally hundreds of facts combine to make this required reading for locals and visitors alike. Illustrated with humorous cartoons and delivered with wit and flair, this captivating compendium is almost impossible to put down.

The biography of a remarkable individual and the chronicle of a family's rise from slavery to winning the American dream.
From Slave Ship to Harvard is the true story of an African American family in Maryland over six generations. The author has reconstructed a unique narrative of black struggle and achievement from paintings, photographs, books, diaries, court records, legal documents, and oral histories. From SlaveShip to Harvard traces the family from the colonial period and the American Revolution through the Civil War to Harvard and finally today.
Yarrow Mamout, the first of the family in America, was an educated Muslim from Guinea. He was brought to Maryland on the slave ship Elijah and gained his freedom forty-four years later. By then, Yarrow had become so well known in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C., that he attracted the attention of the eminent American portrait painter Charles Willson Peale, who captured Yarrow's visage in the painting that appears on the cover of this book. The author here reveals that Yarrow's immediate relatives-his sister, niece, wife, and son-were notable in their own right. His son married into the neighboring Turner family, and the farm community in western Maryland called Yarrowsburg was named for Yarrow Mamout's daughter-in-law, Mary "Polly" Turner Yarrow. The Turner line ultimately produced Robert Turner Ford, who graduated from Harvard University in 1927.
Just as Peale painted the portrait of Yarrow, James H. Johnston's new book puts a face on slavery and paints the history of race in Maryland. It is a different picture from what most of us imagine. Relationships between blacks and whites were far more complex, and the races more dependent on each other. Fortunately, as this one family's experience shows, individuals of both races repeatedly stepped forward to lessen divisions and to move America toward the diverse society of today.

These lively and entertaining folk tales from one of Britain's most ancient counties are vividly retold by local storyteller Kirsty Hartsiotis. Their origins lost in the oral tradition, these thirty stories from Wiltshire reflect the wisdom of the county and its people. From the Giant's Dance to the Great Western Railway, no stone is left unturned to discover the roots of the county. Discover the Moonraker's passages and Merlin's trickery, dabchicks and the devil, the flying monk of Malmesbury and a canal ghost story. These tales have all stood the test of time, and remain classic texts that will be enjoyed time and again by modern readers.

Every building tells a story - and this book provides a guide to the stories the Victorians told in Sussex. Sussex has a wide-ranging and renowned collection of Victorian buildings, from grand town halls and outstanding churches, to distinctive railway stations and unassuming parish halls; from eminent colleges and splendid country mansions, to modest village schools and humble estate cottages; from workhouses and hospitals, to almshouses and cemeteries - this guide covers them all and more. "What The Victorians Did For Sussex" pinpoints the buildings that make up the county's Victorian architectural legacy, providing both a description and location. But it also looks at the wider social context of the period, providing the reader with an insight into the creation of individual buildings, and reasons why they continue to deserve our interest. Buildings provide a tangible and lasting expression of the values, ideals, and aspirations of any society; no understanding of the Victorian period can he possible without a study of its architectural legacy.

Have you ever wondered what a snap dragon, a mammoth and mustard all have in common? The answer is Norfolk! Inspired by seven unique objects at Norfolk Collections Centre, this book tells seven stories, all from different periods in time, which combine local history with imagination and fun. Discover the magic of the Norwich Snap Dragon, adventure through pre-historic Norfolk with a mammoth, find out why the region's famous mustard doesn't mix with smelly feet, and get swept back in time to experience Norwich as it was seen through the eyes of two mysterious statues.

In medieval Edinburgh the dead were buried in the city's churchyards, with internment in the church reserved for the wealthy, but in the post-Reformation years both rich and poor were buried in the grounds of the churches. By the nineteenth century the city centre churchyards were overcrowded and new outer town cemeteries created, which were no longer controlled by the town but by independent cemetery companies. In this book local historian Charlotte Golledge takes readers on a tour through the history of Edinburgh's burial grounds. She covers the individual history of the graveyards of St Cuthbert's, Greyfriars Kirkyard, Canongate Kirkyard, Old Calton Burial Ground, Buccleuch Parish Chapel Yard, St John's Churchyard, New Calton Burial Ground, the Jewish cemeteries, East Preston Burial Ground, Warriston Cemetery, Dalry Cemetery, Dean Cemetery, Rosebank Cemetery, The Grange and Piershill Cemetery. The story includes the notable events, burials and grave markers at each burial ground as well as the changes in how the people of Edinburgh buried their dead and mourned their loved ones over the years as the new profession of the undertakers took over the role of the church for the new cemeteries. She also unearths evidence of the lost burial grounds of Edinburgh that have been moved, built over or rediscovered. This fascinating portrait of life and death in Edinburgh over the centuries will appeal to both residents and visitors to the Scottish capital.

A collection of local stories about the heroic deeds and achievements of the people of Cornwall, including the astronomer John Couch Adams, the engineer and inventor Richard Trevithick, Dolly Pentreath and the Penlee Lifeboat Crew.

This is John Hannavy's reflective look at how Scotland was depicted in photographs and postcards 100 - 170 years ago. In many ways, it redefines our view of Scotland's past as we are familiar with seeing Victorian and Edwardian people and views in sepia, but these are in colour, adding a warmth and realism to the scenes which photographers immortalized. The subject matter of the pictures was as wide and varied as Edwardian life and work itself and it is here that the reader meets eccentrics and worthies, sees people going about their daily work, catching buses and trains, embarking on steamers, and simply enjoying Scotland's spectacular scenery. Many aspects of Scottish life are explored from people's jobs to the many ways in which they occupied their limited holiday and leisure time between 1840 and the outbreak of the Great War.These include Creating Tourist Scotland - how Victorian and Edwardian Scotland was sold to the world and the birth of Scotland's tourist industry; Scotland's Railways - the development of the railway network and some of the splendid photographs and postcards which were sold to travellers; Industrial Might; The Ubiquitous Steamer; Gateways to the World; Fisherfolk; Working the Land; The Textile Industry; Taking to the Road; The Scots at War - from the Crimean War, the first to be photographed, to the skirmishes leading up to the Great War; Out in the Scots Fresh Air; On Scotland's Canals; Village Life; Family Life; That's Entertainment; Town and City Life; What we did on Holiday and Sports and Outdoor Pursuits. Included are fine studies of the hardy Scotch Fisher Lassies who worked their way down the east coast of Britain gutting and pickling the herring; the people who lived and worked on Scotland's canals; the men who crewed the country's trains, trams and ferries, together with a host of others. In effect, it opens the book on what was perceived as an almost mystical and mysterious landscape, 'north of the border'.With almost 270 photographs, many of them previously unpublished, The Way We Were brings Scotland's colourful past to life.

From the mid-16th century the rich and successful usually had a London house, and often a country estate; but more important in many ways was the suburban house within easy reach of London, where they could send their families for the summer and from which they could keep in contact with their business or the court. This book is the first to address the history of these houses, concentrating on those that still exist, while giving some indication of the major lost ones as well. Includes plans and images of most houses listed. Includes information on owners, architects, landscape design, building materials and styles. The area covered by this book extends from London to the M25, which sliced through the country round London in the late 20th century.

In London in 1827 Charles Sealsfield (Karl Postl) published this travel novel employing eye-witness accounts, history, and anecdote to expose the oppressive Austrian regime under Emperor Francis I and his Prime Minister Metternich. His political observations are supplemented and embellished by his many detailed descriptions of the fads and fancies of the age, anecdotes and court gossip surrounding major historical figures, as well as by his dry wit which all combine to produce an eminently readable and informative book. During his lifetime Charles Sealsfield was a mystery, an unknown in so far as his identity was concerned. As a young Austrian emigre, his first publications were colorful descriptions of the fledgling United States on the one hand and of the moribund Austrian Empire on the other. Within a few years he became widely celebrated as the author of popular fiction about the American West, considered by many to be superior to American-born authors such as James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving.

Explore the wonders that the world forgot with award-winning travel writer Oliver Smith - from breathtaking buildings with a dark past to decaying reminders of more troubled times The globe is littered with forgotten monuments, their beauty matched only by the secrets of their past. A glorious palace lies abandoned by a fallen dictator. A grand monument to communism sits forgotten atop a mountain. Two never-launched space shuttles slowly crumble, left to rot in the middle of the desert. Explore these and many more of the world's lost wonders in this atlas like no other. With remarkable stories, bespoke maps and stunning photography of fifty forsaken sites, Atlas of Abandoned Places travels the world beneath the surface; the sites with stories to tell, the ones you won't find in any guidebook. Award-winning travel writer Oliver Smith is your guide on a long-lost path, shining a light on the places that the world forgot.

This collection of traditional stories and tales, many of which are published for the first time, will delight lovers of Devonshire folklore. Some of the stories have been gleaned from residents of the county, whilst others have been developed by the author and have evolved through countless tellings. All the tales within represent this large and diverse county throughout its long and distinguished history, from the founding of Britain itself by Brute the Trojan at Totnes, to recent reports of haunted roads and phantom hairy hands. Also included are giants, devils, witches, ghosts, fairies, spectral black dogs and a wide range of other supernatural phenomena, all exemplifying the vigorous and earthy nature of the Devon imagination down through the ages. It is a book of wonders, to terrify and intrigue, and leads the reader around this beautiful and fascinating county.

This book gives a fascinating insight into the dramatic changes that have taken place in Rotherham over the past 100 years. It recalls houses and public buildings, shops, factories and pubs that have vanished or been changed almost beyond recognition. The pictures show changing types of transport and fashion, and the developing character of streets and districts as they took on the form that is familiar today. The astonishing periods of growth that occurred during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, and since the Second World War, are particularly well illustrated. Many aspects of the changing town are recalled - hospitals and schools, places of work and recreation, parks and squares, suburban streets and the main thoroughfares - and the pictures record the ceaseless building and rebuilding that characterises the town today. The author has combined a remarkable selection of archive photographs with modern views of the same scenes in order to record the transformation that has occurred. The book will add to the knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of all those who take an interest in this distinctive town.

Whether hailing from the open Pennine hills or the close-knit neighbourhoods of industrial towns, West Yorkshire folk have always been fond of a good tale. This collection of stories from around the county is a tribute to their narrative vitality, and commemorates places and people who have left their mark on their communities. Here you will find legendary rocks, Robin Hood, tragic love affairs, thwarted villainy, witches, fairies, hidden treasure and much more. The intriguing stories, brought to life with illustrations from a local artist, will be enjoyed by readers time and again.

Passed down from generation to generation, many of Derbyshire's most popular folk tales are gathered together here for the first time. Ranging from stories specific to the region, such as 'The Derby Ram', to others which are local versions of well-known classics, like 'Beauty and the Beast', all of the tales in this collection are rooted in Derbyshire's past. Written to recreate the oral traditions that made these anecdotes popular, this book provides entertainment for all. Richly illustrated with original drawings, accounts of love, loss, heroes and villains are all brought to life through vivid descriptions that have survived for several centuries. These tales have been adapted to make them accessible, enjoyable and, at times, very relevant to contemporary readers. Pete Castle has lived in Derbyshire for over twenty years, and is a professional storyteller with over thirty years of experience. For the last ten years he has been editor of Facts & Fiction, the UK's only storytelling magazine.