A story of lying, miracles, wonder and ways of the imagination.From the bazaars of Jerusalem in the last years of the 19th century to the monasteries of Northumbria 800 years earlier, from the gates of paradise to the end of time, The One and Only Tree travels back and forth along the great east-west routes forged by crusaders, pilgrims and merchants, through seven millennia of real and imagined time, through history and make-believe. It tells the...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR‘An absolute joy to read and an early contender for every list of History Books of the Year’ Sunday Telegraph‘On nearly every page a random passage takes one’s breath away’ The TimesHave you ever heard the march of legions on a lonely country road?For two thousand years, the roads the Romans built have determined the flow of ideas and folkta...

A story of lying, miracles, wonder and ways of the imagination.From the bazaars of Jerusalem in the last years of the 19th century to the monasteries of Northumbria 800 years earlier, from the gates of paradise to the end of time, The One and Only Tree travels back and forth along the great east-west routes forged by crusaders, pilgrims and merchants, through seven millennia of real and imagined time, through history and make-believe. It tells the...

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR‘An absolute joy to read and an early contender for every list of History Books of the Year’ Sunday Telegraph‘On nearly every page a random passage takes one’s breath away’ The TimesHave you ever heard the march of legions on a lonely country road?For two thousand years, the roads the Romans built have determined the flow of ideas and folkta...

The authoritative and accessible look at life in Roman Britain begins with a brief overview of the province in its historical context. The book then concentrates on the social history of the 400 years of Roman occupation with thematically arranged chapters on focusing on administration; life in the army; religion; recreation; housing; food and drink; personal lifestyle; and art and decoration. Drawing on both the latest archaeological evidence and testimony from classical ...

"Everyone should have two copies - one for the car and one for the house to plan journeys. . . a reminder to think more about the places you pass and less about your route, because every British journey is through rich history." (Edward Stourton)From much-loved historian Neil Oliver, comes this beautifully written, kaleidoscopic history of a place with a story like no other.The British Isles, this ...

This book provides a friendly and accessible introduction to Hadrian's Wall in the form of 100 questions and their answers. Designed to appeal to all who have heard of (but do not necessarily know much about) this important monument, the themes covered include Building the Wall, Using the Wall, After the Wall, Visiting the Wall, and Understanding the Wall. It includes a select bibliography. Written by an archaeologist who has walked, driven, cycled, flown, illustrated, photographed and eve...

Northumbria was one of the great kingdoms of Britain in the Dark Ages, enduring longer than the Roman Empire. Yet it has been all but forgotten. This book puts Northumbria back in its rightful place, at the heart of British history. From the impregnable fastness of Bamburgh Castle, the kings of Northumbria ruled a vast area, and held sway as High Kings of Britain. From the tidal island of Lindisfarne, extraordinary saints and learned scholars brought Christianity and civil...

The beautiful site the Romans called Vindolanda lies in south-west Northumberland, in the district of Tynedale, more or less half way between the North Sea east of Newcastle and the Irish Sea to the west of Carlisle. It is just within the boundary of the Northumberland National Park, and is a part of the World Heritage Site of Hadrian's Wall. The Wall itself was built on the whinstone ridge a mile to the north, with the fort of Housesteads two miles to the north-east, and that of Great Che...

**"Beguiling." —Elizabeth Lowry, Wall Street JournalA "brilliant London historian" (BBC Radio) tells the story of Britain as never before—through its abandoned villages and towns.**Drowned. Buried by sand. Decimated by plague. Plunged off a cliff. This is the extraordinary tale of Britain’s eerie and remarkable ghost towns and villages; shadowlands that once hummed with life. Peering through the cracks of history, we find Dunwich, a medieval city plunged o...

For the times when you’re driving past a lumpy, bumpy field and you wonder what made the lumps and bumps; for when you’re walking between two lines of grand trees, wondering when and why they were planted; for when you see a brown heritage sign pointing to a ‘tumulus’ but you don’t know what to look for… Entertaining and factually rigorous, Hidden Histories will help you decipher the story of our landscape through the features you can see around you. This Spotter’s Guide arms the amateur e...

This revised introduction to Britain in the first millennium BC incorporates modifications to a story that is still controversial. It covers a time of dramatic change in Europe, dominated by the emergence of Rome as a megastate. In Britain, on the extremity of these developments, it was a period of profound social and economic change, which saw the end of the prehistoric cycle of the Neolithic and bronze Ages, and the beginning of a world that was to change little in its essentials until t...