Local history

The third book about Bude by Dawn Robinson is a little different to the first two.

Rayleigh is a picturesque market town and civil parish in the District of Rochford in Essex, England, located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea.

The north Cornwall seaside resort town of Bude has undergone quite a transformation since its humble beginnings as Stratton's unremarkable neighbour.

Cumbernauld boasts a rich and varied history, from the nearby Antonine Wall through formation of the historic village and the reign of Cumbernauld Castle, to the construction of Cumbernauld House in the mid-eighteenth century.

Ipswich is a brewery town.

When Blackpool Tower was being built, many people said it would be a failure.

Many people's memories are locked away until a door to them is opened.

Liverpool has many railway 'firsts' in the world: an inter-city service, an electrified overhead railway, a large-scale marshalling yard, a deep-level suburban tunnel and one under a tidal estuary.

Secret Newark goes behind the facades of the familiar to discover the lesser-known aspects of the town's fascinating past.

Ipswich, the largest and county town of Suffolk, takes its name from the medieval name 'Gippeswic'.

Saffron Walden is a picturesque, medieval town, in north-west Essex.

Blackpool's rise to prominence as the 'archetypal British seaside resort' began when the railway was built in the 1840s, opening the town up to the industrial north.

The history of East Shropshire has had a global impact, with Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale acknowledged as the 'Cradle of the Industrial Revolution'.

Secret Bideford goes behind the facade of the familiar medieval town to discover lesser-known aspects of its fascinating past.

York is the second-most visited city in the UK, attracting millions of visitors from all across the world who are spellbound by the city's medieval churches, quaint snickelways and its plentiful pubs.

Rose's realisation that she knows almost nothing about the people and places she has encountered every day for years will be a familiar one for city dwellers all over Britain.

While the first public passenger-carrying railway operated between Liverpool and Manchester from 1830, it was the construction of the Grand Junction and London & Birmingham that created the first long-distance, inter-city route from 1838.

The Chester & Holyhead Railway was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1844, and the promoters were thereby empowered to build an 85-mile line along the North Wales coast, the engineer for the line being Robert Stephenson.

The Manchester & Leeds Railway was sanctioned by Parliament in 1836 as a railway commencing at Manchester and terminating at Normanton, from where trains would reach Leeds via the North Midland Railway.

The obvious success of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway demonstrated that steam railways were a safe, fast and efficient form of transport, and by the end of the 1830s ambitious entrepreneurs were planning a multiplicity of railways up, down and across the land.

LEEDS to CARLISLE - The line from Leeds to Carlisle furnished the Midland Railway with an independent route to Scotland, in opposition to the rival London & North Western line.

The town of Penryn stands in a sheltered position at the head of the Penryn river that flows to Falmouth.

Nestled under the Garleton Hills on the banks of the River Tyne, the Royal Burgh of Haddington, East Lothian, was established in the twelfth century to provide trade and industry in one of Scotland's richest agricultural counties.

Disruption, delays, travel chaos, fierce debate and financial woe have been regular newspaper headlines since Edinburgh announced plans to bring back trams.

As you walk around Bradford it is not difficult to spot the rich Victorian architecture, a legacy from the time when Bradford quite literally controlled the world's worsted cloth industry and was known as Worstedopolis.

Before Lonely Planet, this book was the essential accompaniment to any Victorian gentleman or lady's trip to one of the foremost cities of the United Kingdom.

Durham City is one of the North East's hidden gems, rich in history with its Norman cathedral and castle, built on a rocky peninsula and surrounded on three sides by the River Wear.

Knaresborough has many secrets, and as you walk down the streets you are walking through history.

Guernsey is small - only 25 square miles - but it holds a depth of history and intrigue far greater than its size.

The Clyde is a river of global importance - it was once the world's pre-eminent ship-building centre and a major trade hub for the British Empire.

Before Lonely Planet, this book was the essential accompaniment to any Victorian gentleman or lady's trip to one of the foremost cities of the United Kingdom.

Before Lonely Planet, this book was the essential accompaniment to any Victorian gentleman or lady's trip to one of the foremost cities of the United Kingdom.

Barnstaple, the main town in North Devon, is quite possibly the oldest borough in the United Kingdom and is home to a community rich in history, ambition and achievement.

Hyde Park is a London favourite.

Formed in 1864 by the amalgamation of the Oswestry & Newtown, Newtown & Machynlleth, Llanidloes & Newtown and several other railway companies, Cambrian Railways was the largest independent railway in Wales, with a long, winding, single-track main line that extended from Whitchurch in the east to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli on the Welsh coast.

Secret Barnstaple goes behind the facade of the familiar to discover the lesser-known aspects of the town's fascinating past.

The largest town in the county of Carmarthenshire, Llanelli has a long and illustrious history.

Penzance sits in the heart of beautiful Mount's Bay - the centre of Cornwall's most westerly region.

Two men started the transformation from sleepy hilltop community into a thriving town.

Liverpool was once the epitome of 'the city with a pub on every corner', but no longer.

Boasting some of the most beautiful countryside and villages in the county of the Vale Royal of England, Mid-Cheshire is one of the most picturesque areas in England.

Chapel-en-le-Frith was founded in 1225, when foresters in the Royal Forest of the Peak were allowed to build a chapel in the forest.

Using beautiful and carefully selected photographs, Woolton Through Time documents the changing face of this scenic village.

The unique and picturesque village of Cheddar has a long and ancient history, from world-famous landmarks to local myths and ghost stories.

This book tells the fascinating story of the town of Tadcaster in North Yorkshire.

This book combines a fascinating selection of 180 modern and archive images that trace some of the many ways in which Haxby, Wigginton, Strensall, Huntington and New Earswick have changed and developed over the last century.

The fascinating history of Winson Green to Brookfields is perfectly illustrated through archive and contemporary pictures.

Modern Ladywood, with its high-and low-rise housing, dual carriageways, open green spaces and trees on nearly every street corner, bears no resemblance to the old Ladywood many generations experienced.

The Somerset & Dorset Railway, known as the S&D (said to also stand for 'Slow and Dirty' or 'Serene and Delightful'), ran from Bath across the Mendip hills to Bournemouth on the south coast.

The city of Chelmsford has, over the centuries, had its fair share of secrets.