Shire

For a hundred years the Royal Air Force has been at the forefront of the UK's defences. In the 1920s and 1930s, the RAF protected Britain's empire; during the Second...

A lively, engaging introduction to the history of goats in Britain, and the recent renaissance of goat-related products.Ever wondered why a goat's eyes have rectangular pupils? Or what happened to...

From the 1940s to the 1960s, the microcar posed a challenge to the large companies that mass-produced cars to uniform designs. The microcar was the opposite, produced by small entrepreneurial...

Isambard Kingdom Brunel considered the Great Western Railway the 'finest work in England' and he contributed many groundbreaking features, none so unorthodox as the decision not to adopt the 'standard'...

The parish church is a symbol of continuity, a cornerstone of the urban and rural landscape, and a treasure trove often as rich in cultural history as any museum. This...

William Hillman started manufacturing cars in Coventry in 1907 before selling his company to the Rootes Brothers in 1928. Three years later came the Hillman Minx, the first of a...

Illuminated manuscripts are among the most beautiful, precious and mysterious works of Western art. Before the printing press was invented, books were produced by hand and their illustration using brightly...

The London and North Eastern Railway, or LNER as it was familiarly known, was one of the Big Four companies that took control of Britain's railway network following the 'Grouping'...

Evolving from the horse-drawn stage coaches that they soon eclipsed, railway carriages steadily grew in sophistication so that by the end of the nineteenth century the railway passenger travelled in...

Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) is now mostly remembered as a genius of architecture - but he was also an accomplished polymath, who only came to architecture quite late in life....

Tapestries have been an enigmatic form of artwork for hundreds of years, with the intricate symbolism of their woven narratives still fascinating viewers today. Unicorns and fantastic beasts rub shoulders...

The glamour and exhilaration of the golden days of motorsport cannot be matched, ringing with the names of famous international marques: Bentley, MG, ERA and Aston Martin; Bugatti, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz,...

This fascinating pocket book draws on numerous primary sources from the early days of the rail network through to the Big Four, British Railways and beyond to present a unique...

The Rootes Group once dominated the British motor industry, and its legacy lives on in thousands of carefully maintained cars - most notably Hillmans, Humbers, Singers and Sunbeams. In this...

From the horse-drawn trams of the nineteenth century to the larger electric models of the early twentieth, this reliable form of public transport revolutionised town travel by making it affordable...

Vespa and Lambretta remain the two most iconic motor scooter brands, even four decades after the latter's demise. But what made them such a European sensation in the postwar era?...

Victorian pumping stations are colourful cathedrals of utility. Their imposing and striking exteriors enclose highly decorative cast-iron frames, built to encage powerful steam engines. They are glorious buildings which display...

Amy Johnson and Amelia Earhart may be the most famous trailblazing women within the world of early aviation, but there were many others. From the Wright brothers' sister Katherine, who...