Longlisted for the 2014 Thwaites Wainwright Prize Welcome to a large small island. The outline of the British Isles is instantly recognisable. But jostling within that familiar profile are countless vying maps of the country. Some of these maps are founded on rock, or on the natural features of the land. Far more are built on dreams – on human activity, effort, and aspiration. From investigations of caves and megaliths to canals and airspace, Joanne Parker reveals a country with countless competing centres and ceaselessly shifting borders – a land where one person’s sleepy, unexceptional province will always be the busy heart of another’s map. Britannia Obscura opens our eyes to the infinitely layered, rich and surprising landscape of Britain.

The excavations in the centre of Birmingham uncovered evidence of habitation from prehistoric and Roman times, but the 12th to 19th centuries presented by far the most evidence, from artefacts, environmental samples and structural remains. The medieval industrial past was of particular interest, with tanning and the manufacture of hemp and linen all playing a large role in the city's prosperity. Metal working reached its peak in the seventeenth century, with brass founding becoming important from the eighteenth century onwards. Most of the artefactual evidence attests to Birmingham's industrial past, indeed the evidence for domestic life is comparatively scant, with an anomalous burial of two people at Park Street presenting something of a mystery. This volume presents insights into the early industrial past of this important city and is an invaluable record covering eight hundred years of occupation.

Summaries in English, French and German (p.xiii-xv)

This fascinating selection of photographs traces some of the many ways in which the River Severn has changed and developed from Arley to Avonmouth over the last century.

The first of a proposed three volume series, reporting on six excavations carried out in Droitwich between 1967 and 1985. The town has been a centre for the large-scale production of salt from the Iron Age until the early part of this century. This industry was based on the brine springs of exceptional purity and strength that naturally occurred in the area of the town. This volume commences with a general introduction which considers some of the geological, technological, and economic aspects of the industry.

Thirty-third annual report ... abstracts for 1870 includes "summary of marriages, births and deaths registered in ten years 1861-70".