Robert Higham - Böcker

From Roman times down to the eighteenth century, the South West of England comprised a striking example of the importance of matters of security and defence to a local society easily threatened by external enemies and by internal conflicts and tensions. These studies provide a fascinating series of vignettes illustrating perennial and enduring problems in the history of the British Isles.

History develops not only from our thoughts and actions but also from the physical and cultural environment which we mould for ourselves. Six essays, displaying the combined skills of historians, archaeologists and geographers, explore the creation of the South West across many centuries. Peter Fowler examines the similarities and contrasts between the South West and the North East. Mick Aston explores the creation of the medieval settlement pattern, while Harold Fox analyzes a further period of change in the later middle ages. Michael Turner looks at urban reconstructions in the eighteenth century. Steven Pugsley reveals the importance of grand Georgian country houses and their landscaped surroundings. Finally, Mark Brayshay shows how the idea of town planning can be traced to the mid-Victorian era. Between them these essays provide not only a fascinating subject for study in their own right, but also the backcloth against which all other aspects of the region's history were worked out.

The motte and bailey castle at Hen Domen, Montgomery was occupied from the late eleventh century until c.1300. Excavations here lasted from 1960 to 1992, and remain the most detailed examination of this type of site to date. This volume marks the final stage in the publication of excavations and fieldwork carried out at the site, containing a summary of an earlier work published in 1982 by the Royal Archaeological Institute, and a full account of the project's findings since 1980.Its principal contents are the buildings whose foundations were recovered in the bailey and on the motte, the artefactual and environmental evidence and the castle's medieval landscape context. The book is profusely illustrated with drawings and photographs, including artist's reconstructions of the evolution of the site.

Runner-up for the book award in the 1994 British Archaeological Awards, Timber Castles is the standard work on the subject and hugely influential in its field. Its reissue makes available again this much sought after text with a new preface by Robert Higham. Some of the greatest medieval castles survive only as earthworks and in pictures and written accounts . . . because they were made of timber. Robert Higham and Philip Barker, who excavated in detail the timber castle at Hen Domen in Wales, have brought together evidence of all kinds to produce the first comprehensive survey of this neglected and little-known type of fortification.