Wales' history is packed with peculiar customs and curious characters. Here you will discover alien landscapes, ancient druids and a Victorian ghost hunter. Find out why revellers would carry a decorated horse's skull on a pole door to door at Christmastime, how an eccentric inventor hoped to defeat Hitler with his futuristic ray gun, and why a cursed wall is protected by a global corporation for fear it might destroy a town. From the folklore surrounding...

An extensively illustrated history of this Welsh railway-and the effort to restore it. One of Wales' oldest narrow gauge railways, the 2ft 3in gauge Corris Railway was built to carry slate from several quarries in the Dulas valley to wharves on the river Dyfi. At first forbidden to use steam locomotives or to carry passengers, it overcame these obstacles and became an essential part of the community that it served. It was also a forerunner...

The line from Newport to Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr lost its passenger services from April 1962 before the notorious Beeching cuts. It remained open for freight trains serving the steelworks in Ebbw Vale until its closure in 2002. Passenger services were restored in 2008 and exceeded all expectations of growth and a project to expand service frequency is now in progress. Starting with a brief history of the route, this book provides a nostalgic journey...

Although the line from Newport to Blaenavon Low Level lost its passenger services from April 1962 before the notorious Beeching cuts denuded significant parts of Wales of their railways, it remained open for freight until the closure of the Big Pit Mine in 1980. The industrial landscape around Blaenavon was accorded World Heritage Status by UNESCO in 2000. Starting with a brief history of the route, this book provides a nostalgic look back at the...

The coastal and mountain scenery around the railway lines of North and Mid Wales is among the best in Great Britain. Here we look at the British Railways lines and the trains that ran on them in the years between 1980 and 2000, as recorded by my cameras during my many visits to the area. A few photographs from earlier years are also included to help to complete the picture. During this period of time, quite a lot of mechanical signalling and many...

Jutting out some thirty miles into the Irish Sea, from the western edge of Snowdonia, the Llŷn Peninsula, in north-west Wales, is renowned for its stunning beaches and countryside, with much of its landscape designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The peninsula is also home to a remarkable and abundant collection of archaeological sites and monuments, some of national importance, which bear witness to the ancient societies who once inhabited...

This book brings together the results of recent research on the Neolithic long cairns lying in the shadow of the Black Mountains in south-east Wales, focusing upon Penywyrlod and Gwernvale, the two best known tombs within the group, previously excavated in the 1970s. Important results lie in both new site detail and reassessment of the wider context. Small-scale excavation, geophysical survey and geological assessment at Penywyrlod - the largest...

In 1864, a poor Welsh boy, William Pritchard Morgan, emigrated to Australia to make his fortune. He returned a wealthy lawyer and aspiring politician, having used his riches to invest in gold mines and develop new techniques of recovering gold. His political aims were unsuccessful in Australia: the newspaper Morgan used to promote himself was involved a sensational trial against another editor; and a man was even shot while bringing in his votes -...

The Lady In Green is a diary of the life of Zacharias, whose father was the leader of the Moynihan clan in northern Ireland. Zacharias was a war-torn Viking who wanted a different life; to have a family, raise crops, and he had no desire to raid villages. He wanted to be a poet, but he was illiterate so he would make up songs in his head. He met the woman of his dreams, Aria, and wanted to settle down forever until the life he left came back to him...

Little is known of Memling's life. It is surmised that he was a German by descent but the definite fact of his life is that he painted at Bruges, sharing with the van Eycks, who had also worked in that city, the honour of being the leading artists of the so-called 'School of Bruges'. He carried on their method of painting, and added to it a quality of gentle sentiment. In his case, as in theirs, Flemish art, founded upon local conditions and embodying...