Historic England – serie

This illustrated history portrays one of England’s most fascinating cities. It provides a nostalgic look at Kingston upon Hull’s past and highlights the special character of some of its most important historic sites. The photographs are taken from the unique Historic England Archive, the nation’s record of 12 million photographs, drawings and publications, ranging from the 1850s and the earliest days of photography up to the present day.Historic England: Hull shows the city as it once was, with its narrow streets to its old dock district, once a major centre of the fishing and whaling industries. By the end of the First World War much of the old city centre had been completely destroyed, but this book shows how it is now: a resurgent, modern place with some stunning new architecture, state-of-the-art museums, galleries, and a world-leading university and medical school – consistent with its current status as UK City of Culture for 2017.

This illustrated history portrays one of England’s finest cities. It provides a nostalgic look at Leeds’ past and highlights the special character of some of its most important historic sites.The photographs are taken from the Historic England Archive, a unique collection of over 12 million photographs, drawings, plans and documents covering England’s archaeology, architecture, social and local history. Pictures date from the earliest days of photography to the present and cover subjects from Bronze Age burials and medieval churches to cinemas and seaside resorts.Historic England: Leeds shows the city as it once was, from its streets, squares and parks to its mills and factories. The self-proclaimed ‘Capital of the North’ has come a long way since receiving its first charter in 1207. From its early developments during the Industrial Revolution, it became a major area for the production of wool, engineering and printing. Today, with its legal and financial services, it is a prosperous contender with London. Leeds is also a city with a wide variety of entertainment, arts, culture and history, as well as having a thriving university. Leeds truly is one of the country’s greatest cities and this book will help you discover its remarkable history.

This illustrated history portrays one of London’s most fascinating areas. It provides a nostalgic look at the East End’s past and highlights the special character of some of its most important historic sites.The photographs are taken from the Historic England Archive, a unique collection of over 12 million photographs, drawings, plans and documents covering England’s archaeology, architecture, social and local history. Pictures date from the earliest days of photography to the present and cover subjects from Bronze Age burials and medieval churches to cinemas and seaside resorts.This book shows London’s East End as it once was, from its labyrinthine streets and alleys to its factories and warehouses. The East End was one of the poorest parts of the UK, blighted by crime and appalling living conditions. As the boundaries of London spread towards Essex, however, the picture has become very different. As transport links were improved, areas such as Bethnal Green, West Ham and Forest Gate, once small rural villages, have been swallowed up by the capital’s growth. Today, the East End is a very different place, one of regeneration and vibrancy and great cultural diversity. This books will help you discover its remarkable history.

This illustrated history portrays one of England’s most historically significant cities. It provides a nostalgic look at Bradford’s past and highlights the special character of some of its most important historic sites. The photographs are taken from the Historic England Archive, a unique collection of over 12 million photographs, drawings, plans and documents covering England’s archaeology, architecture, social and local history. Pictures date from the earliest days of photography to the present and cover subjects from Bronze Age burials and medieval churches to cinemas and seaside resorts. These unique images are complemented by selections from the author’s archive.Historic England: Bradford shows the city as it once was, from its streets and alleyways to the magnificent City Hall, and from the impressive neoclassical buildings of Little Germany to the perfectly preserved Victorian planned village of Saltaire. Bradford was an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly worsted. Today, it has been transformed into a centre of education and innovation, as well as a burgeoning tourist destination, becoming the first UNESCO City of Film with attractions such as the National Media Museum, Bradford City Park, the Alhambra Theatre and Cartwright Hall. This book helps you discover the remarkable history of this West Yorkshire city.

This illustrated history portrays one of England’s finest major cities. It provides a nostalgic look at Birmingham’s past and highlights the special character of some of its most important historic sites.The photographs are taken from the Historic England Archive, a unique collection of over 12 million photographs, drawings, plans and documents covering England’s archaeology, architecture, social and local history. Pictures date from the earliest days of photography to the present and cover subjects from Bronze Age burials and medieval churches to cinemas and seaside resorts.Birmingham has long been an important centre in the West Midlands but during the Industrial Revolution it grew to become England’s second city. The myriad of manufacturing businesses in Birmingham created a dynamic local economy and the city prospered. Although the town was heavily bombed in the Second World War and its infrastructure was badly damaged, the city was redeveloped post-war, with many areas being rebuilt from scratch. Birmingham continued to be regenerated in subsequent decades and today it is a powerful commercial city of international importance.

England’s Military Heritage from the Air presents the story of the country’s rich military heritage using photographs from the Aerofilms Collection. Covering over 6,000 years, it reflects the changing threats faced by England from enemies without, and conflicts within. The book covers everything from hillforts to aircraft carriers and includes the castles, battle sites, ships and aircraft that have witnessed the changing character of warfare. Ending with how victory and sacrifice are commemorated and remembered, England’s Military Heritage from the Air is a tribute to the courage, skill and endurance of the people who have suffered yet prevailed.

This book charts the history of gin from its arrival in England in the sixteenth century to the present day. In doing so it uses a range of perspectives: economic, social, cultural and political to give a rounded picture of how the spirit developed in the way it did over some 400 years. It looks at how gin’s popularity has ebbed and flowed over the centuries among different groups in society. It is therefore concerned with the drinkers of gin and why they chose it and at the meanings which they attached to its consumption. Gin was particularly popular with women and the spirit is often associated with them, in phrases like Mother’s Ruin. This also alerts us to the fact that gin has often had a bad press, never more so than in the infamous Gin Craze of the first half of the eighteenth century, so vividly depicted in Hogarth’s Gin Lane. The book attempts to tell something of the real history of gin beneath the frequent condemnation. It ends with the resurgence of gin’s popularity with the emergence of so-called designer gins in the twenty-first century.

Winner of the Association for Industrial Archaeology’s Publication Award 2025Gasholders became one of the most instantly recognisable and iconic features on the landscape since they first appeared in the early 19th century. Their simple but precise engineering, durability and flexibility allowed then to operate over a span of 200 years. They witnessed times of great social change, from the early years of the industrial revolution, through countless wars, the reign of nine monarchs, strikes, suffrage, switch to natural gas and through the turn of the millennium. Using a mixture of archive and contemporary photographs, engineering drawings, prints, paintings, adverts and diagrams, the book captures the importance of these industrial structures on the English Townscape. From their very earliest beginnings the book captures their place on the gasworks and in wider society. Evolving from simple designs on a small scale through to becoming massive features dominating skylines and becoming local landmarks.Each chapter take a different perspective, covering the different types, the varying landscapes they inhabited, their place in society, the engineers who designed them and the people who built them. It finishes with a glimpse of how they will be reimagined for future generations.