Profusely illustrated with rare and unpublished imagesAn extraordinary insight into the Capell familyA tale of plots, intrigue, battles, court cases and family quarrelsA thoroughly researched and very readable account of this astounding familyThis is the dramatic, often erratic, and at times unbelievable story of the fortunes and misfortunes over 900 years to the present day of one of England’s premier aristocratic families, who in 1661 we...

The town of Barnet grew up in the twelfth century to the north of London. The town’s alternative names of Chipping Barnet or High Barnet are recognition of the market that was established there at the same time and the town’s elevation. Today the town and the integral area of Hadley adjoining Barnet are part of Greater London. This was the site of the Battle of Barnet in 1471, which was one of the key battles of the Wars of the Roses. Barnet’s position along the old Great North Road brough...

It is fascinating to think that many hundreds of generations of Londoners lie beneath the city without us knowing. Over many centuries burial grounds have been developed, built over and then forgotten, often beneath playgrounds, gardens or car parks. When modern development takes place, remains are disturbed and we are reminded of a London that has long since disappeared, particularly with recent archaeological discoveries across the city. In London’s Hidden Burial Grounds, authors Robert ...

In this book author Robert Bard takes readers on a spine-tingling journey around Kent to some of its most haunted locations. He discovers tales of ghostly apparitions, unexplained events and paranormal phenomena. Among the places investigated is Pluckley, which was named in the Guinness Book of Records as England’s most haunted village. Its twelve spirits include a screaming man who fell to his death and a spectral highwayman who haunts a spot named Fright Corner.Other haunted site...

During its 600-year history 50,000 souls were executed on the gallows at Tyburn somewhere near where Oxford Street meets the Edgware Road. Many thousands of victims remain buried nearby in anonymous graves. Many of the condemned made their final journey from Newgate Prison, three miles distant. The condemned travelled in a cart seated on his or her coffin, stopping frequently for refreshments. Sometimes the condemned survived hanging. What was it like to be hanged? This book examines conte...

In this book, author Robert Bard guides readers on a spine-tingling journey to discover the paranormal and unexplained happenings that have occurred throughout Berkshire. From haunted sites to spectral figures and supernatural phenomena, here is an eerie exploration of the royal county and a collection of its chilling tales. Each of the chapters in Paranormal Berkshire focuses on a different location linked to ghostly occurrences and among the places featured are Windsor Castle, Old Windso...

Situated in North London near the county boundary with Hertfordshire, Barnet has a long and distinguished history. Properly called Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, the area has become synonymous with its historic horse fair, founded in 1588 and now immortalised in cockney rhyming slang. The Battle of Barnet of 1471 is also rumoured to have served as the inspiration for the nursery rhyme, 'The Grand Old Duke of York'. A further glimpse of the past is provided by Barnet's sixteenth-century ch...

The incredible true story of what really happened in the Channel Islands during the Second World War. The Channel lslands were occupied on 30 June 1940 when four German planes landed at Guernsey Airport. They were the only part of Britain to be occupied during the Second World War. The islands had been officially demilitarised on 19 June, but the War Office in London overlooked the necessity to inform the Germans. This led to a German air attack on 28 June, which resulted in thirty-eight c...

St Albans History Tour is a unique guide to the illustrious past of this delightful city in southern Hertfordshire. As one of the earliest recorded cities in Britain, St Albans has had a long, colourful and distinguished history. Dominated by the great abbey church of St Alban, the adjacent site was a thriving market town in Saxon, Norman, medieval and Georgian times. Robert Bard guides us through its historical streets, showing how its famous landmarks used to look and how they’ve changed...

Whitechapel, situated in London's famous East End, was so-named after a chapel dedicated to St Mary that was destroyed during the Second World War. While sixteenth-century Whitechapel was home to numerous foundries, breweries and tanneries by the mid-eighteenth century poverty and overpopulation had struck. Perhaps best-known for the horrific 'Whitechapel Murders' between 1888 and 1891, the Whitechapel of today is a cultural melting pot. Much like Whitechapel and the rest of the East End, ...

Although early records of Hampstead can be found in a grant by King Ethelred the Unready to the monastery of St Peter’s at Westminster (AD 986) and it is referred to in the Domesday Book (1086), the history of Hampstead is generally traced back to the seventeenth century. Much luxurious housing was created during the 1870s and 1880s in the area that is now the political ward of Frognal & Fitzjohns. A lot of this housing remains to this day. Historically, Highgate adjoined the Bishop of Lon...

London had many places of execution: Tyburn, of course, but also Smithfield, Wapping, Kennington, Tower Hill and Charing Cross among others. All of these venues allowed the public to participate – whether in approval or opposition – and, in the opinion of the authorities, provided deterrence at a time when even trivial offences carried the death penalty. Author Robert Bard surveys the capital's places of execution and seeks to explain the prevailing appetite of the authorities and the publ...