Amberley imprint: 2705 books

The three towns of Paignton, Brixham and Torquay form the area of the Devon coast known as the English Riviera, due to the sandy beaches, mild climate and host of leisure attractions. However, all three towns have their own, unique heritage. The market town of Paignton is characterised by its Saxon...

Located in the heart of Ayrshire, Kilmarnock was once considered its industrial powerhouse. It was little more than a large village until the start of the nineteenth century. In 1812 Kilmarnock was linked to the new harbour at Troon by railway. This established Kilmarnock as an engineering centre,...

Gateshead has often been portrayed as the ‘poor relative’ in comparison to its larger and more glamorous Tyneside neighbour, Newcastle. But Gateshead has a long and proud industrial and social history, much of which has sadly gone, but in recent years there has been a revival in Gateshead’s...

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was founded in 1833 and would connect London to the West. It was engineered by the famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was known to many as 'God's Wonderful Railway'. Here is the story of how it grew. Ken Gibbs traces the GWR's history from the very beginning. He describes...

This book celebrates the British railway station hotel. It focuses on those hotels built or acquired by the railway companies themselves rather than on the many railway or station hotels built by local entrepreneurs as speculative ventures up and down the country. It traces the success and failure...

Did you know that the city of Oxford is built on a series of islands? This unique book is an opportunity to explore an intricate network of waterways that are often overlooked by visitors to the city. Discover gushing mill streams and picturesque flood meadows walk along an industrial canal and a...

The sport of angling has a rich tradition in the North East of England. From the fabled salmon fishing of the Tweed and the Tyne, to the fine spate river and reservoir trout angling found throughout the area's valleys and hills, taking in the beaches, rocks and piers of the Northumbrian coastline...

Flowing 220 miles from source to the sea, the Severn is Britain's longest river. The author has followed the Severn along its first 100 or so miles, photographing the present day views to compare with the enduring historic pictures which so appealed to Edwardian tourists and travellers. The Severn...

The source of the River Nile was one of the great mysteries of the Victorian age. On an expedition with Richard Burton which reached Lake Tanganyika, Speke went on alone to investigate rumours of the lake he would later name Victoria and proclaim the source of the Nile. This led to a furious dispute...

The 1960s saw a gradual movement of shipping from central London and the quays, wharves and docks of the upper River Thames down river to Tilbury and Harwich. There was a managed closure of the dock system west of Tilbury and between the early 1970s and 1980s, the Surrey Commercial, India & Millwall...

2008 was a magical year for Cunard. For the first time, the line had three Queens in service; Queen Elizabeth 2, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Queen Elizabeth 2 retired during the year, and sailed for Dubai on 11 November, while Queen Mary 2 had reached her fifth anniversary as the largest ocean...

One of the remnants of the great lost estates of the United Kingdom, Cassiobury Park is now the largest park in Hertfordshire, and the principal park of its primary town, Watford, covering an area twice the size of Hyde Park in London. But this is no ordinary town park. In 1661, Arthur, the 2nd Baron...

The story of the battle of Turnham Green and how 'the sack of London' was prevented by Londoners. As Charles I's army marched on the capital in the autumn of 1642, Nehemiah Wallington, a wood-turner living near London Bridge, wrote in his journal, 'those cruel cavilers doe so plonder & pillage...

Ashby & Nuneaton Joint Railway documents how the railways that linked these two important Warwickshire towns were faithfully served by steam locomotion for many years. Built to serve the Leicestershire coalfield, the railway opened in 1873 following four years of construction. It was originally...