Shire Publications imprint: 233 books

This book tells the dramatic story of how the Royal Navy transformed ordinary citizens into first-rate sailors and navy personnel during the Second World War. It covers how they were recruited and trained and how they endured life at sea in hostile waters, protecting convoys in the Mediterranean,...

Garden Cities: the phrase is redolent of Arts and Crafts values and nineteenth-century utopianism. But despite being the culmination of a range of influential movements, and having global influence themselves, in fact there were only ever two true, self-contained Garden Cities in England far more...

QEH opened in 1590 in line with the instructions laid down in John Carr's will of 1586. Always known as the City School, it has occupied three sites in and around the centre of Bristol. The current site in Berkeley Place was opened in 1847. In its 425th anniversary year, the school has 570 senior...

A picture can say a thousand words and the images caught on camera during the Victorian and Edwardian periods provide a fascinating insight into the lives of Britons during this time. Take a step back between 1840 and 1910 and explore the pastimes, hobbies, sports and other entertainments enjoyed...

The great arched train sheds of Victorian Britain are often seen as the nineteenth-century equivalent of medieval cathedrals: once specific railway buildings became necessary around 1830 British architects seized the opportunity with both hands, designing some of the great buildings of their age....

From the horse-drawn trams of the nineteenth century to the larger electric models of the early twentieth, this reliable form of public transport revolutionised town travel by making it affordable enough for working people to use. From the 1930s, the rise of the trolleybus, which also picked up power...

Patchwork quilts are hugely evocative emblems of our domestic past. With no two quite the same, each example hints both at the story of the particular household in which it was produced and at a larger piece of social history. But quilting is by no means only historical, with the craft seeing a huge...

Central to the prompt delivery of the nation's mail is its efficient transit throughout the country. From 1830, the Post Office relied increasingly on the overland rail network to achieve this, with Railway Post Offices, Sunday Sorting Tenders and District Sorting Carriages among the services introduced....

The Volkswagen Transporter is one of the best-loved and most recognisable motor vehicles of all time. The preferred transport for surfers and hippies everywhere, the Volkswagen Type 2 'bus' was born in 1950, and became the first of a new breed of vehicle, the ancestor of today's people carrier. Available...

From the original horse-drawn caravan to the sophisticated and well-appointed luxury leisure vehicle we know today, this book follows the dynamic evolution of the touring caravan over the last century. Using a selection of images from his archive, expert Andrew Jenkinson reveals how technical advances...

The stagecoach was the travel wonder of its age: passengers could board a fast coach and be shuttled from one end of the country to the other, stopping only in stages to hitch up fresh horses and take a little light refreshment at coaching inns. Though coaches first appeared in the sixteenth century,...

Starting life in 1791 as a single-room school for poor local children, The St Marylebone School has become the top non-selective school in London and one of the top non-selective girls' schools in the country. The journey has been challenging and often turbulent, as the school has sought to make the...

Originally among the smallest secondary schools in Oxford, and without much of a reputation, by 2013 The Cherwell School had grown fourfold and established a national reputation for quality. Martin Roberts tells the story of this remarkable change, recalling key events and personalities along the...

The old-time shepherd – lamb in one hand, crook in the other – is an emblem of sturdiness, dependability and independence. He was one of the most important men on the farm, responsible for the care and well-being of the flock, with which he might need to spend days and nights out in open pastures....