Bibliography - The History Press
Bibliography Home

On coasts and in the ports of the Channel from the western approaches to Flanders Jill Eddison explains the potential for plunder, piracy and ship wrecking during the 250 years from 1204 to 1453. Early chapters guide us through the background and potential for conflict, describing the potential for loot from the medieval trade in Spanish iron, continental wines and salts, English wools, Cornish tin, and a host of rich clothes, tableware, furniture, and gradually, via the Genoese and Venetian merchants, the foodstuffs and medicines from Byzantium. The chapter on the evolution of shipbuilding gives a clear view of how the medieval mind grappled with boat design. Also how mariners hugged the islands and coasts which offered havens from Atlantic lows and the resulting storms, sailing without barometers, and utilising the experience of numerous voyages.
Fractured government during this era meant authority in ports was mediated by local merchants, their corporations, the barons, and the social strata sailing the boats; within which the consequent fluctuations between the power of local and national government gave space to privateering, piracy, ship wrecking and the plunder of ships seeking shelter from storms. The natural world added its woes and a social strata of mariners and townsmen emerged on both sides of the Channel, contemptuous of royal authority, a strata at once cruel and vicious, with little regard to ordinary sailors and folk ashore.
One is faced with legal and government evidence that numerous atrocities were committed by many in the south coast ports, especially by Cinque portsmen. This was certainly evident in times when kings declared war against France and Spain, though between such episodes the long stretches of uncertain conditions encouraged the portsmen to think only of themselves, to oppose regal authority when it suited, to attack supposed enemies, neutral shipping, and fishermen seen as competitors.
This book includes much material on the Cinque ports, which by the thirteenth century had morphed from basic trade and fishing communities into a cartel for looting ships, for attacking other ports, lounging around the Channel as a bandetti with piracy covered by the royal seal, conducting feuds both at home and abroad. Such warfare for self-interest, together with the royal claims to western France, leaves us a mass of useful archives.
This readable book is lavishly illustrated including 25 black and white drawings, photographs and well drawn maps, plus 15 colour photographs. Marcus Rediker's Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea drew our attention to the Caribbean pirates, and Jill Eddison's work will give a new focus to the history of our medieval channel, with its quite different social norms and cultures from the more civilised Europe of the early modern world.

Sussex Folk Tales, by Michael O'Leary, published 1 October 2013 (192 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0752474693 & ISBN-13: 9780752474694) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

With screaming demons in Wealdon copses and dragons lurking in bottomless ponds, the folk tales of Sussex truly represent the diversity of the area. Meet knuckers and willocks, mawkins and marsh monsters, the Piltdown Man, Lord Moon of Amberley Swamp and the princess of the Mixon Hole. There is also something terrible crawling to Crawley from Gatwick, which develops a degraded appetite in a bin . . From ghosts and madmen to witches and wise women, Michael O'Leary reveals many of the hidden horrors of Sussex - horrors that can be found in the most beautiful places, or that lurk beneath the seemingly mundane. Amid these dark tales are stories of humour and silliness, of love, lust and passion.

Bloody British History: Brighton, by David J. Boyne, published 1 November 2013 (96 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0752490826 & ISBN-13: 9780752490823) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/507974] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Containing more than 60 Illustrations and 2,000 years of history, here is the dark and dreadful saga of Brighton. With bombs and battles, riots and rebellions, tidal waves, terrors, and some terrible true crimes, it is no wonder that the city was once dubbed, 'The Queen of Slaughtering Places'!

A 1950s Holiday in Bognor Regis, by Sylvia Endacott and Shirley Lewis, published 1 April 2014 (128 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0752499122 & ISBN-13: 9780752499123) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Bognor Regis is situated on the south coast of Britain, overlooking the English Channel. On 18 January 1787 the resort's founder, Sir Richard Hotham, laid the first stone marking the town as a 'public bathing place', a description that Bognor Regis has enjoyed ever since. The lure of the sea and the town's regular appearance at the top of the national sunshine league continues to draw people from towns and cities. Throughout the decades, seaside holidays have changed to reflect current fashions. Bognor Regis has been no different; rather like the ebb and flow of the tide, visitor numbers have risen, fallen and risen again according to the various fashions of the day. Accessibility by train from London was a major contributor to the number of visitors in the resort's early years. Coaches and Sunday school outings then came into prominence, followed eventually by the arrival of the car. As leisure time and money became more plentiful, a Sunday outing was replaced by a week at the seaside, then a fortnight's break. Recalling Macari's delicious ice cream, the divers leaping off the pier, and children building sandcastles as their parents sat in deckchairs in suits and summer dresses, this book relives the glory days of 1950s Bognor Regis. With many pictures published here for the first time, this book is sure to bring back happy memories for both visitors and residents of this popular seaside town.

The Hop Bin: An Anthology of Hop Picking in Kent and East Sussex, by Fran & Geoff Doel, published 1 May 2014 (128 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0752493612 & ISBN-13: 9780752493619) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

For 400 years Kent and East Sussex were vividly and visibly associated with the cultivation of hops. Fran and Geoff Doel have evoked this bygone world of hopping by gathering together a wide range of social and literary accounts, poems and songs from the Tudor period to the present day, each with a contextual introduction. The selection illustrates both the 'rose-tinted' image and the harsher reality of a distinctive aspect of rural life in the south east.

Great War Britain West Sussex: Remembering 1914-18 , edited by Martin Hayes and Emma White in association with West Sussex County Council, published 1 October 2014 (272 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0750960655 & ISBN-13: 9780750960656) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: West Sussex offers an intimate portrayal of the county and its people living in the shadow of the 'war to end all wars'. A beautifully illustrated and highly accessible volume, it describes local reaction to the outbreak of war; charts the experience of individuals who enlisted; the changing face of industry; the work of the many hospitals in the area; the effect of the conflict on local families; the women who defied convention to play a vital role on the home front; and concludes with a chapter dedicated to how the county and its people coped with the transition to life in peacetime once more. The Great War story of West Sussex is told through the testimony of those who were there and is vividly illustrated with evocative images from the archives of West Sussex County Council and local museums

This book is essentially a collaboration between WSRO and WSCC Library Service, using written documents and photos from their extensive archives as well as from private collections. It examines the impact of WW1 on the county from many perspectives; social, economic, the role of the Church as well as the military. It includes an excellent chapter about the Royal Sussex Regiment written by Alan Readman, former County Archivist at WSRO. The source of much the information comes from local newspapers, some now scanned on to DVDs thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. All sources are given in detail enabling readers to pursue their own searches through WSRO or libraries. The very important part played on the home front by women is highlighted and it mentions the first English WI meeting at Singleton in 1915.
This is a well-balanced publication and is a credit to all concerned with its production, including many library volunteers.

Gatwick Airport: the first 50 years, by Charles Woodley, published 1 December 2014 (160 pp., History Press, ISBN-10: 0752488074 & ISBN-13: 9780752488073) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

The Gatwick story really began when two young men purchased a plot of land near Gatwick Racecourse to develop as a flying field. From these humble beginnings in the 1930s, it has become Britain's second airport, with 34 million passengers a year passing through the terminals - and this despite it having only a single runway! This lavishly illustrated volume traces its extraordinary early history, including its varied and valuable wartime service under the auspices of the Raf, its subsequent redevelopment in the 1950s and its emergence in the 1960s and beyond - after considerable struggles - as the bustling, modern airport familiar to so many travellers today. It is an unashamedly nostalgic look at this historic airport, its hardworking staff and the iconic planes that have passed through it.

Culture, Conservation and Change: Chichester in the 1960s, by Alan H. J. Green, published 1 May 2015 (The History Press, ISBN-10: 0750961414 & ISBN-13: 9780750961417) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Bignor Roman Villa, by David Rudling and Miles Russell, published 4 May 2015 (160 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0750961554 & ISBN-13: 9780750961554) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Discovered in 1811, Bignor is one of the richest and most impressive villas in Britain, its mosaics ranking among the finest in north-western Europe. Opened to the public for the first time in 1814, the site also represents one of Britain's earliest tourist attractions, remaining in the hands of the same family, the Tuppers, to this day. This book sets out to explain the villa, who built it, when, how it would have been used and what it meant within the context of the Roman province of Britannia. It also sets out to interpret the remains, as they appear today, explaining in detail the meaning of the fine mosaic pavements and describing how the villa was first found and explored and the conservation problems facing the site in the twenty-first century. Now, after 200 years, the remarkable story of Bignor Roman Villa is told in full in this beautifully illustrated book.

The acid bath murders: the trials and liquidations of John George Haigh, by Gordon Lowe, published 1 November 2015 (191 pp., Stroud: History Press, ISBN-10: 0750961813 & ISBN-13: 9780750961813) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

Sussex War Heroes: The Untold Story of our Second World War Survivors, by Ben James, published 3 February 2016 (160 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0750965916 & ISBN-13: 9780750965910) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries

A generation of ordinary young men and women were thrust into the most extraordinary of situations when the Second World War was declared. Sussex is full of war heroes, but soon they will be gone - along with their stories. This is not a book about Victoria Cross winners or the celebrities of days gone by, but the untold accounts of everyday heroes who 'did their bit'. It is about former train engineer Bob Morrell, who was beaten, starved and tortured in the brutal Japanese prisoner camps. It is about ex-pub landlord John Akehurst, who gave the Germans the run-around Northern Europe after being shot down. And it is about Shindy Perez and her remarkable escape from the gas chambers of Auschwitz. As this important period passes from living memory into history, this is likely to be the last time that these personal tales are told, tales which should never be forgotten.

Southern Steam: The Railway Photographs of R.J. (Ron) Buckley, by Brian J. Dickson, published 2 May 2016 (96 pp., History Press, ISBN-10: 0750966130 & ISBN-13: 9780750966139) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries

Ron Buckley's evocative photographs reveal the changing scene of the Southern Railway, illustrating from the 1930s onwards those pre-grouping classes that were still working. These included the work of such well-known designers as Dugald Drummond and Robert Urie of the London & South Western Railway, the Billintons and Earle Marsh of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway, and Harry Wainwright and Richard Maunsell of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway.
Ron's later photographs, from 1946 onwards, continue to show remaining working pre-grouping locomotives and also portray the newer Oliver Bulleid-designed Pacifics introduced in 1941. Visits to the Isle of Wight during the 1930s, '40s, '50s and '60s enabled him to capture images of almost the entire fleet of locomotives working there during those four decades.
Born in 1917, Ron Buckley has been photographing railways since the age of 15. He joined the London, Midland, Scottish Railway as a wages clerk in 1934 and retired in 1977 after over forty-two years' service with the railways.
Brian Dickson worked in publishing for over thirty-five years. Now a volunteer locomotive fireman and driver at a heritage railway, he has previously written Diesel Power in the North East and Scottish Steam (both The History Press).

Unseen Hastings and St Leonards, by Frederick Crouch, published 7 July 2016 (144 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 075096748X & ISBN-13: 9780750967488) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

Unseen Hastings and St Leonards features 250 views including previously unpublished photographs that will appeal to everyone with an interest in the history of Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea. Accompanied by informative captions, many of these rare images show streets, houses, shops, railway engines, trolleybuses, and people that have never appeared in print before. All aspects of everyday life are recorded here, offering a unique glimpse of bygone times for all who know and love this beautiful part of the Sussex coast.

Unravelling Sussex: Around the County in Riddles, by Tony Ward, published 3 November 2016 (192 pp., The History Press, ISBN-10: 0750968249 & ISBN-13: 9780750968249) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries

If you enjoy puzzle solving you will enjoy the novel approach of Unravelling Sussex. Based on Tony Ward's Poetry+ series in Sussex Life, each famous Sussex person or place is introduced by a 'puzzle-poem'. The challenge is to unravel the embedded clues, solved by the chapter that follows.
This innovative little book brings new life to the aims 'to inform, educate and entertain'.