The British Isles have witnessed hundreds of battles in 2000 years of history. Some are well known, due to their far-reaching consequences, sheer scales or the involvement of famous protagonists. Others, however, have never been properly investigated. In this book, Martin Hackett examines ten forgotten battles, covering the length & breadth of Britain & ten centuries of warfare. At Buttington in the Severn Valley, the author has identified the site of a long-lost Dark Age battlefield between Danish Vikings & their English & Welsh opponents in 893. He reveals the secrets of St Albans, which witnessed the first battle of the Wars of the Roses, & the site of Goudhurst in Kent, where in 1747 the last battle on English soil was fought, a band of villagers against a gang of ruthless smugglers. A concise account of each engagement is provided, along with an analysis of its strategic, archaeological & political significance, complimented by a modern map of the battlefield with suggested tours & information on exploring the site today. ...

Bristol has a rich historical heritage dating back to the city's beginnings in Anglo-Saxon times. For centuries, it was England's second city &, as a thriving port, its past is steeped in its involvement in trade, whether of cloth, wine, pottery, glass
- or slaves. As there is no commercial shipping now, much of Bristol's past is hidden within the modern city, just out of sight, but waiting to be discovered. Lost Bristol is an exploration of Bristol's hidden past, its ways of life, legends, relationship with the sea & its role in English history. The book

Includes:: some of the more famous aspects of the city's past, as well as stories & information unknown even to most locals. In an informed & entertaining style, Victoria Coules uncovers events & episodes such as the 1793 bridge toll riots, the jurisdiction of the Knights Templar over certain areas in Bristol & the creation of the Floating Harbour. Lost Bristol also reveals how a 13th century quay became a traffic roundabout, what happened to Bristol's own hot water spa & why Bristol cod merchants were also intrepid explorers. Many more surprising & remarkable stories about Bristol's past, accompanied by maps, engravings & photographs, make this book essential reading for all those curious about the city's hidden history.


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From vanished villages & bygone businesses to abandoned architecture, forgotten pastimes & projects put on hold, Lost Britain tells the intriguing story of Britain`s buildings, counties, transport, languages, roads & rivers that have been forgotten over the centuries. The book shines a light on the hidden corners of Britain`s history, exploring medieval ghost villages, former architectural masterpieces, the purported resting place of Anne Boleyn`s heart, England`s Atlantis, God`s Gift, a German war cemetery, the hamlet of Lost in Aberdeenshire, the old Welsh railway run on seven different forms of power & a missing fort in County Down, not to mention how Britain used to be connected to mainland Europe. Exploring the history of the lost parts of Britain, author David Long both mourns their loss & celebrates the achievements of the engineers & architects of past generations, revealing some extraordinary features of this nation`s history that should not be forgotten. ...

John Hare has made three expeditions to the Mongolian & Chinese Gobi deserts, the first in 1993 with Russian scientists & the second & third with Chinese scientists in 1995 & 1996. The book records the amazing adventures he has experienced on those expeditions & will record details of the 30-day walk on foot in the formidable Kum Tagh sand dunes in the spring of 1997. He is the first recorded foreigner to have crossed the Gashun Gobi from north to south. The expeditions were primarily concerned with tracking down the mysterious wild Bactrian camel `camelus bactrianus ferus` which lives in the heartland of the desert & is the ancestor of all domestic Bactrian stock. There are under a thousand left in the world & the wild Bactrian camel is more endangered than the giant Panda. This is John Hare`s magnificent account of a formidable feat of modern exploration. ...

Clinging to a rugged hillside in the lush valley of Sparta lies Mistra, one of the most dramatically beautiful Byzantine cities in Greece, a place steeped in history, myth & romance. Following the Frankish conquest of the Peloponnese in the 13th century, William II of Villehardouin built a great castle on a hill near Sparta that later came to be known as Mistra. Ten years later, in a battle in northern Greece, Villehardouin was defeated & captured by the Byzantine Emperor. The terms for his release included giving Mistra to the Byzantine Greeks. Under their rule, the city flourished & developed into a centre of learning & the arts & was a focal point for the cultural development of Europe. Sir Steven Runciman, one of the most distinguished historians of the Byzantine period, travelled to Mistra on numerous occasions & became enhanted with the place. Now published in paperback for the first time, ” Lost City of Byzantium” tells the story of this once-great city
- its rise & fall & its place in the history of the Peloponnese & the Byzantine empire. This is the first paperback edition. It features Steven Runciman
- a star author, one of the greatest experts on Byzantine history. It is a classic, that will appeal to anyone interested in the history of Greece & the Byzantine empire.

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This prestigious volume is a guide to the discovery of the loveliest lost cities of the ancient world: Africa, the Americas, Europe, & in the Near, Middle, & Far East. Using magnificent photographs & accurate reconstructions of the ancient cities, this volume illustrates what remains of these centres where the ancient world's great civilizations flourished. The superb photographs present the ruins of vast architectural complexes, temples, palaces, public & private residences, works of art & fragments of civilizations that renowned archaeologists have discovered, investigated & brought back from oblivion. This revised edition contains minor revisions & corrections. It also features magnificent photographs & accurate reconstructions of the ancient cities. ...

For more than 10, 000 years, cities have been the sites of inspiration, myth & mystery. From Peru`s Machu Picchu to the legendary Troy & Babylon, this book follows the rise & fall of 28 of the world`s most fascinating lost cities, including the powerful seats of empires & renowned centres of learning. Lavishly illustrated, Joel Levy`s book brings past cities & cultures vividly to life & provides the reader with an invaluable insight into these often forgotten places. Each location is described in evocative detail & is accompanied by contact details, maps & travel information to help readers plan visits to the sites. ...

Ancient civilisations in Vietnam, the lost cities of the Amazon, the cities & towns of humankind have fought for space against the overwhelming power of nature. We think we`ve mastered it, but discoveries across the world show abandoned cities, their proud buildings now flooded, overtaken by the forests, nature taking back what once was its own, with the slow, relentlessness of time. But there are modern places too, towns built by corrupt local officials that were never occupied, amusement parks closed due to terrible tragedy, settlements sinking ineluctably into the mud, cities destroyed by radiation, these are the remnants of a generation, an entire society wiped from the earth, leaving only dismembered traces of memory. This exotic, powerful new book evokes the eerie, haunted places that retain small touches of humanity: a car with only one wheel, a battered doll, torn shirts on a washing line, a broken ferris wheel, all of them are shattered dreams that dwell now only in the imagination. ...

In 1666 London was devastated by the Great Fire, which gutted over 13, 000 houses, over eighty parish churches & St Paul`s Cathedral. Bob Jones has set out to discover the original structures & streets that survived the Great Fire & can still be seen today. This book maps, describes & illustrates what remains of the City of the Black Death, the Peasants` Revolt, the Reformation, the Civil War, & the Great Plague; the City of Chaucer & Shakespeare & Pepys. Discover the Roman ruins buried beneath Cannon Street Station, the seven parish churches that survived the blaze, the drinking establishments still open for business, & much more. ...

First published in the 1950s, The Lost City of the Incas by Hiram Bingham is the amazing account of the impressive discovery in 1911 of the lost city of Machu Picchu. Re-published now with an introduction by Hugh Thomson, this story is as fascinating as the ancient Incas civilization itself. Much of the wild country of the eastern Peruvian Andes was still unknown when Hiram Bingham, a pre-historian with a love for exotic destinations, set out to explore the area in search of the legendary city of Vilcabamba, capital city of the last Inca ruler, Manco Inca. In 1911, with a combination of doggedness & good fortune, he stumbled on the perfectly preserved ruins of a magnificent Inca city perched on a cloud-capped ledge 2000 ft above the torrent of the Urumbamba River. The buildings were of exquisitely carved white granite blocks, each higher than a man. Bingham had not, as it turned out, found Vilcabamba, but he had nevertheless made one of the most astonishing discoveries of the early days of the twentieth century, & one that was to make him famous: Machu Picchu. Spread out across a high mountain ridge, Machu Picchu had managed to survive the Spanish Conquest without being detected, preserving untouched some of the finest Inca architecture in existence. However, Bingham’s achievement did not end there. In the space of one short season he went onto discover two more Inca cities: Vitcos, where one of the last Inca Emperors was assassinated, & another settlement buried deep down the cloud-forest in the jungle. The Lost City of the Incas, written in 1948, is a distillation of the many articles & books which he wrote on these fabulous discoveries. It

Includes:: Hiram Bingham’s original photographs.

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