You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Enigmatic, esoteric and fascinating, the rock-art of the British Isles has for a long time been a well-kept secret. However, over the last few decades hundreds of new rock art panels have been discovered and several regional surveys have been carried out. This volume brings together a carefully selected collection of papers that cover British prehistoric rock-art from over 10000 years ago.
Drawing on sources from archaeology and written texts, the author brings out the full significance of trees in both pagan and Christian Anglo-Saxon religion.
What did Thomas Jefferson believe about the divine purpose of the United States of America? What compelling role did the Puritans play in setting the stage for the American Revolution? What profound affect did Native Americans have on the forming of our constitution? All of these questions and much more are answered in this fascinating work. Little known information is contained within these pages about the beginnings of our country through the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Company in Sempringham, England. Journey of Promise covers the highlights of events that led to Puritan England and New England, and ultimately the founding of the United States of America. Included are several short ...
An accessible exploration of England's prehistoric past through the clues set in stone by our ancient ancestors. Stan Abbott explores Britain's neolithic remains, including Castlerigg and Long Meg and her Daughters. In Ring of Stone Circles, Stan Abbott sets out to explore one part of England for the visible clues to our mysterious past from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages: stone circles and standing stones, in Cumbria—the Northern English county that boasts more of these monuments than any other. Here, the country’s tallest mountains are ringed by almost fifty circles and henges, most of them sited in the foothills or on outlying plateaux. But why were these built? We may never have a definitive answer to this question, but by observing and comparing sites, a greater understanding emerges. Were some circles built for ritualistic purposes, or perhaps astronomical? Were they burial sites, or simply meeting places? Join Stan Abbott as he searches for the hidden stories these great monuments guard—and might reveal if we get to know them.
In some respects, the contrasts of Christmas are what make it the most delightful time of the year. It is a time of generosity, kindness and peace on earth, with broad permission to indulge in food, drink and gifts. On the other hand, Christmas has become a battleground for raging culture wars, marred by debates about how it should be celebrated and acknowledged as a uniquely Christian holiday. This text argues that much of the animosity is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the holiday's core character. By tracing Christmas's origins as a pagan celebration of the winter solstice and its development in Europe's Christianization, this history explains that the true "reason for the season" has as much to do with the earth's movement around the sun as with the birth of Christ. Chapters chronicle how Christmas's magic and misrule link to the nativity, and why the carnival side of the holiday appears so separated from traditional Christian beliefs.
In this latest book the prolific Stan Beckensall returns to his principal specialism, Britains prehistoric rock art.
From the author of the acclaimed Our Daily Bread and The Empty Room comes a rich and fascinating new novel of mysterious, magic-riddled 7th-century England: Against A Darkening Sky transports the reader to a rich yet violent past where a young woman is torn between her deepest beliefs and her desire to belong in a changing world. Wilona, the lone survivor of a plague that has wiped out her people, makes her way across the moors to a new life in the village of Ad Gefrin, where she is apprenticed to Touilt, a revered healer and seeress. She blossoms under Touilt's tutelage and will one day take her place, but as an outsider, she is viewed with suspicion by all except Margawn, a warrior in the ...
This book investigates the ways in which ideas associated with the Celtic and the Classical have been used to construct identities (national/ethnic/regional etc.) in Britain, from the period of the Roman conquest to the present day.
Before the Reformation, the desire to go on pilgrimage was almost universal; it was a part of life. For some it was simply an act of piety, whereas others wished to obtain healing. Few would have doubted that by visiting a saint's shrine or holy place they would gain indulgences to offset against their sins, fast-tracking themselves into heaven when they died. The scallop shell - symbol of St James - became the recognised badge of pilgrims everywhere. In this book Marilyn Parkes-Seddon recounts her experiences visiting twenty-two places of pilgrimage in Britain. Her journeys take her from the tiny cell where St Julian lived in self-imposed incarceration for forty years to the unexpected jewel of Samye Ling Buddhist monastery in Dumfries & Galloway and the awesome grandeur of Durham Cathedral.
This study focuses on the fabric, construction and preservation of stretches of Hadrian's Wall in its more remote locations, providing significant insights into the places between the mile castles and important forts and associated settlements. The Hadrian’s Wall Community Archaeology Project (WallCAP) conducted a series of fieldwork projects along the Hadrian’s Wall corridor between 2019 and 2021. The work focused on sites that were poorly understood or under particular threat and aimed to improve understanding of them so they could be better managed in future. At several sites excavation was followed by conservation and consolidation work. This volume brings together the final reports ...