"This book is an invaluable addition to the county history and the wider literature of garden and landscape history, and a superb demonstration of historical landscape research carried out to the highest standards." Deborah Spring, Author
www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
#LandscapeArchaeology
"This is thorough, well-illustrated with archive pictures, and of interest to readers way beyond Hertfordshire." Historic Gardens Foundation Newsletter www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
Deborah Spring will be giving a talk this Saturday in the Alban Room at St Albans Cathedral called "The Bacons and Religious Change in Tudor England" as part of the #Bacon400 commemorations. The event is sold out, but you can read more about her research here. www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
Behind Francis Bacon’s revolutionary thinking stood a remarkable Tudor scholar: Lady Anne Bacon. As #Bacon400 commemorations begin, delve into the biography that tells her remarkable story.
www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
Two girls at a weaving station in a victorian era factory.
By October 1797 more than 200 children had been admitted to the Asylum for the Infant Poor on the outskirts of Birmingham. It was presented as a refuge or place of safety, despite the reality that most children spent their days in the asylum's workshops.
www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
Most people in medieval England were peasants. How did they cultivate the land, and how were they classified by those they supported? This volume explores essays from the 8th–14th centuries, spanning Devon to Staffordshire, on agriculture and social hierarchy. www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
Before the Medical Act of 1858, most doctors were independent entrepreneurs competing for patients. After the Act everything changed.
This book uncovers how this shift reshaped daily medical practice in Colchester – and the lives of ordinary people.
www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
#HistoryofMedicine
This year St Albans is honouring Sir Francis Bacon 400 years after his death – but the story begins with his brilliant mother, Lady Anne Bacon.
Explore her life, influence, and intellect in Deborah Spring’s Lady Anne Bacon.
www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
#FrancisBacon400
"Superb scholarly detective work" Rebecca Fraser, Writer & Broadcaster www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Tudors
"with extensive footnotes, pertinent illustrations and a comprehensive index, this is a book I would recommend you read, to inform and educate, about this sensitive subject and about the history of Fairfield" Jane Tunesi, Hertfordshire People www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
This is the frontispiece of William Ellis's book 'The Country Housewife's Companion' published in 1750. It does not show William Ellis's own farm, but we get a sense of what his might have been like. In the bottom right corner, a horned cow shelters in the shade of a tall tree. Three more cows sit or stand in the field nearby. Behind them on the left is a rustic-looking farmhouse with smoke drifting from its chimney. More cows are in a fenced enclosure immediately outside the front door of the house. It's a bucolic scene with more fields and trees fading into the distance.
In 'The Country Housewife's Companion' Ellis shares recipes and 'profitable directions for whatever relates to the management and good oeconomy of the domestick concerns of a country-life'. Was it a 'puff' to sell his wares or a good self-help guide? www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Agriculture
"Pearson and Rayner are to be commended for opening up the uncharted territory of gender relations in Victorian Colchester and for carefully positioning their local study in relation to other scholarly works on prostitution." Joseph Cozens, Urban History www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Colchester
A nineteenth century red brick building with parking spaces infront of it.
This is St Albans union workhouse, built in 1836–7. The workhouse was an important and much-hated feature of life in St Albans.
It had 233 paupers in residence in 1851 and 190 in 1901, more than a third of whom were aged seventy or over.
For more: www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #StAlbans
"Specialists in the history of landscape and rural society may turn to this monograph as an exemplary contribution" www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
Coming Soon!
In ‘Colchester's Victorian Doctors’, historian Jane Pearson explores how local doctors transformed not only their profession but the health of the town itself.
Publication date: 1 June 2026.
www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
#EssexHistory #Colchester
"This is a very well-researched book which... will be of most interest to local historians, but scholars of urban history, the early modern period and poverty will also benefit from reading it." Urban History www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #BirminghamHistory
"This is a well written, beautifully produced book, with a wide selection of photographs and other illustrative material, backed up by an excellent use of contemporary evidence." George Buswell, The Local Historian www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #KentHistory
An early 17th century stone milestone from James I’s Theobalds Park wall, displayed upright in Cedars Park. The rectangular stone has a rounded top and carved numbering on its face, weathered but still legible. It once formed part of a series of milestones set into the nine mile brick wall that enclosed the king’s hunting park.
This pic shows a milestone from the nine mile brick wall that once enclosed James I’s extraordinary hunting park at Theobalds in Hertfordshire. Now preserved in Cedars Park, it’s one of the last remaining markers of the king’s vast estate. For more, visit: www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Stuarts
"Excellently illustrated throughout with a bibliography, I would recommend this book to the local historian and anyone with connections to Letchworth. It is a valuable addition to the history of the town." Jane Tunesi, Hertfordshire People www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
"The essays are well produced... it is well illustrated with black-and-white images and has a section of color photographs. One of the many exciting #GardenHistory publications that have appeared over the past couple of years." Journal of British Studies www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
"Deborah Spring provides an expertly researched, detailed and highly comprehensive life of Anne Bacon. Well-written and full of detail, 'Lady Anne Bacon' is a wonderful addition to the growing body of works on Tudor women." Elizabeth Norton www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #WomensHistoryMonth
What if "tūn" meant more that "settlement"?
Sarah J. Wager argues it was a land unit with rights – central to medieval power.
Out now!
#MedievalStudies
www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book...
"A genuinely fascinating read for anyone interested in the social or economic history of the city as well as for architectural, social, and labour historians more generally." William Whyte, The London Journal www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #London
"This highly detailed study will be of particular value to readers with interests in medieval economic history, Norwich cathedral and its estates" John S Lee, The Local Historian www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Norwich
This is a postcard dating from the turn of the twentieth century, showing Hunstanton Hall as it was then. It is an impressive building, originally Elizabethan but rebuilt and altered substantially over time. A large flag flies high above the turreted walls. There are barns to the right of the main hall and an imposing outer wall leads to a gatehouse. Sheep can be seen grazing in an enclosed field to the left of the hall. A man in a coat and hat and a woman in a white dress are walking in the grounds.
When Hamon and Alice Le Strange married they were still in their teens. The union lasted for over 50 years. Hunstanton Hall, seen here, underwent huge changes in that time. 'Managing for Posterity' examines the changes made and their management. See www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Norfolk
"A fascinating micro-study that works both as a local companion to her earlier survey published in 'Poor Relief in England, 1350-1600', and as an uncommonly detailed investigation in its own right." Jonathan Healey, Community & Change www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Suffolk
This photograph shows a sumptuous, sunlit orchard with vibrant green, slightly unkempt grass and patches of yellow flowers here and there. The trees boast an abundance of blossom in white and blushing pink. There is an old solitary wooden chair or bench in the middle of it all which must be the favourite spot for some uninterrupted reading for many a Girton college student. In the background, behind the trees, are some college buildings which, although close by, seem a world away.
This is Girton College orchard, Cambridge. The college was built with spacious grounds and was designed in a muted gothic style, for which an orchard may have seemed appropriate. For a less wealthy college, fruit production on site made economic sense too. www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Orchards
"The conclusion of this stimulating book is that patterns of landownership alone are inadequate to explain differences between communities." Edward Royle, The Local Historian www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #Doncaster
"By taking a revisionist perspective, these authors challenge us to rethink our assumptions, and to apply them to our own areas with the diligence that these authors apply them to theirs." William D. Shannon, The Local Historian www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #LocalHistory
"Provides a distinctive perspective, both methodological and geographical, on the defence of Britain. The high chronological as well as geographical resolution of the data creates a particularly rich, contextualised case study." Post-Medieval Archaeology www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/book... #ww2 #suffolk