Amberley Blog

I might be (okay, I am) biased but there’s no one quite like a supporter of Leeds United. We are proud, proud to be Leeds fans, the great unwashed, the outlaws with noses pressed to the window, knowing that one year, maybe this year, will be our year. Allan Clarke following his appointment as Leeds manager, 18 September 1980. (Leeds...

People have lived and worked in Sussex on the South Downs, Weald and the coast for thousands of years. The earliest prehistoric evidence of human activity in Sussex is the 500,000 year old site at Boxgrove, which was excavated during the 1980/90s. There were sea cliffs here then as well as at Slindon. Highdown had a sea cliff 100,000 years...

We love our diverse and magnetic city of Peterborough which continues to undergo a lot of change particularly to the road and cycle networks to improve access and ease congestion. The train station is located in the heart of the city with fast trains to London, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham and more. It’s very easy to travel via train to and...

As we once again approach November and our thoughts turn towards Remembrance I would like to talk about a battle during the Second World War which for the Allies, particularly Canada, was one of its costliest in terms of the percentage of men and equipment taking part, that were lost. The battle in question was an assault on the German-occupied...

Gloucester is perhaps not as well-known a place as it should be. It is one of the top ten historic cities in England, but doesn’t get the plaudits for it like York or Chester. It is better-known as a brand for the city’s rugby team, for Single or Double Gloucester Cheese, for the Gloucester Quays outlet centre or the Gloucester...

In one of the strangest cases of wishful thinking, medieval historians often bemoan the birth order of King John’s two legitimate sons, Henry and Richard. Had there been a Richard II instead of a Henry III, England would’ve avoided the war that blighted the late part of Henry III’s reign. It’s as much nonsense as the term ‘Second Barons’ War’...

The North East of England has been famed for change and innovation since the dawn of history. After the Romans abandoned their great Hadrianic frontier across the North East, the region became the cradle of Christianity in Britain; a thousand years later it fuelled the Industrial Revolution and then was the epicentre of what became the Railway Mania. Now, the...

Canal Boat Lives came from a commission in 2022 from ‘This England’ magazine who asked me for a four-page spread depicting the lives of people living and working on our waterways. I had no idea where to start so I contacted the RBOA Residential Boat Owners Association who were really helpful and they put me in contact with Judy Head...

This book looks at a variety of demonstration vehicles, on display, in use, and after being sold off, as well as vehicles that were bought experimentally or modified extensively during their service life. Seen outside Earls Court at the 1972 Commercial Motor Show is Seddon Motors GBU 196K. (Demonstration, Trial and Experimental Buses, Amberley Publishing) I have always had an...

This book in the ’50 Buildings’ series features the London Borough of Newham in the East End of London. This was formed in 1965 by the merger of two former County Borough Councils, East Ham and West Ham. The area is bounded on three sides by water – the River Lea in the west, River Roding in the east and...