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A historical epic by Bernard Knight, Lion Rampant is set in medieval Wales and features the tale of Nest, a princess known as 'the Welsh Helen of Troy'. Nest was a lover of King Henry I of England, married the steward of a Pembrokeshire castle (giving rise to the FitzStephen and FitzGerald families, including Gerald of Wales), and was later abducted by a marauding Welsh noble. This is the story of the adventure, intrigue, and warfare in the various kingdoms of Wales during the twelfth century.

From the very beginnings of Wales, its people have defined themselves against their large neighbour. Wales: England's Colony? shows, that relationship has not only defined what it has meant to be Welsh, it has also been central to making and defining Wales as a nation. Yet the relationship between the two nations has not always been a happy one and never one between equals. Wales was England's first colony and its conquest was by military force. It was later formally annexed, ending its separate...

The deep and abiding sectarian divide splintering Northern Ireland has been the focus of considerable attention recently. In particular, the role parades and visual displays play in underscoring opposition has come into the spotlight with the emergence of heightened tensions, close on the heels of a tentative peace. Providing penetrating insights into the historical roots of Northern Ireland's ethnic hostilities, this timely book explores the role of images and material culture in shaping presen...

Brittle with Relics is a landmark history of the people of Wales during a period of great national change. 'Richly humane, viscerally political, generously multi-voiced, Brittle with Relics is oral history at its revelatory best.' DAVID KYNASTON 'Fascinating.' OBSERVER 'Powerful.' LITERARY REVIEW 'Inspired.' GUARDIAN 'Passionate.' HISTORY TODAY 'Compels attention.' IRISH TIMES 'Superb.' DAILY TELEGRAPH There is no present in Wales, And no future; There is only the past, Brittle with relics. -...

A small church nestling deep in the countryside is instantly evocative. Why is it there at all? Whom does it serve? These are worthy questions to ask of the many picturesque churches that are scattered across our landscape. Many smaller churches have a fascinating history and wonderful architecture: these buildings deserve our attention and further study. This companion volume to the author’s successful Discovering England’s Smallest Churches covers over fifty churches in Wales which have naves...

In 1971, Californian congressman Thomas M. Rees told the US House of Representatives that 'very little has been written of what the Welsh have contributed in all walks of life in the shaping of American history'. This book is the first systematic attempt to both recount and evaluate the considerable yet undervalued contribution made by Welsh immigrants and their immediate descendants to the development of the United States. Their lives and achievements are recounted within a narrative outline of...

Empire of Convicts focuses on male and female Indians incarcerated in Southeast Asia for criminal and political offenses committed in colonial South Asia. From the seventeenth century onward, penal transportation was a key strategy of British imperial rule, exemplified by deportations first to the Americas and later to Australia. Case studies from the insular prisons of Bengkulu, Penang, and Singapore illuminate another carceral regime in the Indian Ocean World that brought South Asia and Southe...

Holy Island is a small island just off the west coast of Anglesey, North Wales, which is rich in archaeology of all periods. Between 2006 and 2010, archaeological excavations in advance of a major Welsh Government development site, Parc Cybi, enabled extensive study of the island's past. Over 20 hectares were investigated, revealing a busy and complex archaeological landscape, which could be seen evolving from the Mesolithic period through to the present day. Major sites discovered include an Ea...

Writing Welsh History is the first book to explore how the history of Wales and the Welsh has been written over the past fifteen hundred years. By analysing and contextualizing a wide range of historical writing, from Gildas in the sixth century to recent global approaches, it opens new perspectives both on the history of Wales and on understandings of Wales and the Welsh - and thus on the use of the past to articulate national and other identities. The study's broad chronological scope serves t...

Much has changed in Swansea over the years and this short but comprehensive history chronicles the development of the city from the earliest times to today. The Little History of Swansea traces the growth of the medieval town, the rise of the Port of Swansea, the industrial heritage of the area and the fate that befell the town during the Second World War. Here you can read about the odd and unusual happenings, as well as the more traditional history that has made the city what it is today.

Barry Island was one of the most cherished leisure spaces in twentieth-century south Wales, a playground of generations of working-class day-trippers. This book considers its rise as a seaside resort and reveals a history that is much more complex, lengthy and important than has previously been recognised. As conventionally told, the story of the island as tourist resort begins in the 1890s, when the railway arrived in Barry - in fact, it was functioning as a watering hole by the 1790s - yet dec...

Praise for the author:'Gibson's well written and well-documented account of James and the bishops will surely become the new standard authority on these "implausible revolutionaries" for many decades.' Barbara Brandon Schnorrenberg, Anglican and Episcopal HistoryIn 1660, England emerged from the devastation of the Civil Wars and restored the king, Charles II, to the throne. Over the next 190 years Britain would establish itself as the leading nation in the world - the centre of a burgeoning empi...