Architecture & Street Furniture
Almshouses
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 583 0 / Shire Library 425 / 64 pp
Almshouses - shelter offered by religious institutions to needy elderly people - come in a variety of architectural styles and often have interesting features, including coats of arms, clock-towers and sundials, many have chapels and gardens.
Animal Graves and Memorials
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 643 1 / Shire Library 452 / 96 pp
Features memorials and graves of animals that enriched homes, saved lives, won bets, inspired poets, transported munitions, endured danger, achieved notoriety, and captured hearts. This work is of interest to animal lovers.
Art Nouveau Tiles
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 682 0 / Shire Library 470 / 64 pp
At the turn of the last century, Art Nouveau, characterised by its richly ornamental curvilinear design and use of sinuous line and vibrant colour, held sway as the dominant style in architecture and design – a style that defined the Edwardian period, with its departure from more formal Victorian styles. This book charts the impact of this sensuous new style on the tile industry in Britain, showing how tiles were made and decorated, and examining the diverse range of floral, animal and human subject matter found on Art Nouveau tiles that make them now so appealing to collectors and design historians.
Hans van Lemmen taught for many years at Leeds Metropolitan University and is an established author on the history of tiles and architectural ceramics, and has lectured on the subject in Britain and abroad. He has written or co-written many books on ceramics including ‘Victorian Tiles’, ‘Twentieth Century Tiles’ and ‘Architectural Ceramics’ all for Shire, He is Chairman of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society.
British Theatres and Music Halls
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 627 1 / Shire Library 442 / 56 pp
This book outlines the history of theatres and music halls from the late 16th century to the present time, noting changing fashions in entertainment and evolving official attitudes to safety that have, at various times, influenced the architectural characters of the buildings.
Cast Iron
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 493 2 / Shire Library 250 / 32 pp
This book looks at the history of cast iron that made the Industrial Revolution possible and at some of the products we appreciate today not only for the imagination and craftsmanship but also because they reflect the style, vigour and confidence of the era.
Church Clocks
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 687 5 / Shire Library 475 / 64 pp
The very first mechanical clocks in Britain were in churches, telling the time to the local community or displaying the phases of the moon and the heavens on an elaborate astrological face. Today the church clock has lost much of its importance as a timepiece but it remains a much loved part of many communities. This new, accessible history of church clocks traces their history from the clocks installed by wealthy abbeys and cathedrals in the middle ages through to the present day.
Hugh Rock is a former manufacturer of organic soft drinks. A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, he is interested in making things and how things were made, particularly during the great flourishing of industry in Victorian times. He is the author of a Shire title on pub beer mugs and glasses
Clay and Cob Buildings
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 579 3 / Shire Library 105 / 64 pp
This book describes the various processes of building with earth, examines the regional patterns and illustrates standing buildings of clay and cob in many parts of Britain.
Decorative Leadwork
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 082 8 / Shire Library 249 / 32 pp
Decorative leadwork - the use of sheet lead and carved moulds found on numerous artefacts.
Discovering Abbeys and Priories
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 589 2 / Shire Discovering 57 / 128 pp
What exactly is an abbey and does it differ from a priory? This book clarifies the seeming confusion by answering these questions and much more besides. This new edition, in a larger format, includes descriptions of over 200 individual sites open to the public and over 90 colour photographs.
Discovering Cathedrals
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 597 7 / Shire Discovering 112 / 176 pp
This title provides an introduction to the history and architecture of British cathedrals with a comprehensive gazetteer describing each one, including Anglican, Roman Catholic and Scottish cathedrals.
Discovering Churches and Churchyards
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 659 2 / Shire Discovering 298 / 264 pp
Looks at churches, their architecture, design and interiors.
Discovering Cottage Architecture
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 673 2 / Shire Discovering 275 / 104 pp
This book aids the recognition, understanding and historical interpretation of the surviving cottages in England and Wales. Their changing forms, quality and methods of building are explained and illustrated.
Discovering English Architecture
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 455 4 / Shire Discovering 244 / 152 pp
A concise but comprehensive survey of the development of architecture in England from the Neolithic chambered tombs, up to the carefully designed housing of the post-war new towns.
Discovering Scottish Architecture
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 748 7 / Shire Discovering 278 / 128 pp
Using numerous photographs and illustrations, this book surveys a range of Scottish architecture to the twentieth century. It is intended for the visitor to Scotland and student of Scottish history, as well as the Scots, native and expatriate, who value a unique culture and believe it worth preserving in an age of increasing mass uniformity.
Discovering Timber-framed Buildings
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 215 0 / Shire Discovering 242 / 96 pp
This book looks behind the common image of 'black and white' houses, showing how timber buildings were built and how they vary from region to region.
Discovering Traditional Farm Buildings
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 556 8 / Shire Discovering 262 / 80 pp
This book looks at the purely agricultural buildings in turn, so that each can be recognised, as a barn, a cowhouse, a stable and so on, and examines their features and construction.
Discovering Your Old House
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 498 7 / Shire Discovering 14 / 176 pp
This book describes how, step by step, the history of your old (or not so old) house may be discovered.
Dovecotes
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 504 5 / Shire Library 213 / 40 pp
This book explains why it was important to keep pigeons and describes the wide variety of buildings that were constructed to house them over the years.
East Anglian Village and Town Signs
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 557 1 / Shire Library 166 / 40 pp
The idea originated with Edward VII, who thought that special signs would encourage local pride in the villages, and the first examples of a decorative village and town sign were erected on the Sandringham Estate.
Follies
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 624 0 / Shire Library 93 / 56 pp
This book defines what a folly is and shows that these architectural curiosities are to be found all over Britain.
Fountains and Water Features
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 607 3 / Shire Library 435 / 64 pp
This book describes the development of fountains and water features in Britain and illustrates many different aspects of them, from mythical allusion, through private pleasure gardens to contemporary civic display.
Icehouses
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 150 4 / Shire Library 278 / 32 pp
Icehouses were designed to store ice in bulk for summertime use in the days before refrigeration. This book examines icehouses in Britain, where they were built in increasing numbers from the early seventeenth century, initially to provide chilled refreshment for the wealthy. By the mid nineteenth century most country estates would have had one. Their design improved as scientific knowledge increased and, although the majority of icehouses remained plain, some exuberant structures were built. Commercial icehouses were erected to serve confectioners, grocers and the fishing industry, for which huge quantities of ice were imported from North America and Norway.
Tim Buxbaum is a chartered architect in private practice in Suffolk, where he lives with her wife Ruth and two sons. Much of his professional work is conservation-orientated, but he also designs new buildings. This Album stems from his interest in garden architecture, which is reflected in his other publications. Scottish Garden Buildings, from Food to Folly, and, for Shire Publications, Scottish Doocots, Pargeting and the Shire County Guide to Suffolk.
Lighthouses
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 556 4 / Shire Library 312 / 48 pp
Mausoleums
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 518 2 / Shire Library 396 / 40 pp
Milestones
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 526 7 / Shire Library 401 / 48 pp
Old Cinemas
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 488 8 / Shire Library 357 / 32 pp
This book examines the rise and fall of the picture house in Britain before the advent of the dreary and unadventurous multiplex.
Old Letter Boxes
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 446 8 / Shire Library 188 / 40 pp
Although many letter boxes are ordinary, some types, such as those that survive from the 1850s, are understandably rare. This book describes some of those from the Channel Islands, where pillar boxes were first introduced in 1852, to Scotland, which has had its own design of letter boxes since the Queen's accession in 1952.
Pargeting
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 414 7 / Shire Library 341 / 32 pp
Pargeting is the decoration of plastered and rendered finishes on the outside of a building. It is associated mainly with East Anglia, but there is a revival of interest in the technique. This study describes how craftsmen are being commissioned to renew their acquaintance with pargeting.
Piers and Other Seaside Architecture
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 693 6 / Shire Library 406 / 32 pp
Originally constructed as landing stages for trippers by boat in the nineteenth century, piers later developed into attractions in themselves, with ornate pavilions, delicate ironwork and exotic lighting. Lynn F. Pearson, an architectural historian, outlines the fascinating history of pier and pavilion construction, using colour illustrations and photographs to show the development of these attractions from simple wooden structures to complex entertainment venues. This book explores the allure of seaside developments from the Victorian charm of Weston-super-Mare’s grand pier to the seaside developments of the twenty-first century, such as Ilfracombe’s Landmark Theatre, which continues to impress and entertain to this day.
Privies and Water Closets
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 702 5 / Shire Library 479 / 64 pp
Although Thomas Crapper is most commonly associated with the invention of the flushing toilet, his models were in fact the result of a long line of improvements to earlier designs which date back to ancient times. This book is an ideal introduction to the history of the toilet, tracing its development from the primitive - and very smelly - privy maiden to today’s one-piece, all-ceramic WC. Illustrated with superb photographs, this book tells the story of the lavatory, from the Elizabethan era to the modern day.
Public Art Since 1950
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 642 4 / Shire Library 451 / 64 pp
Postwar public art encompasses the wide range of intriguing, curious and colourful artworks, which can be seen in urban and rural locations throughout Britain. This illustrated book reveals the history of postwar public art and provides a detailed guide to nearly two hundred of the most interesting and accessible works in United Kingdom.
Robert Adam
An Illustrated Life of Robert Adam, 1728-92Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 603 5 / Shire Library 500 / 48 pp
The name of Robert Adam is equated with taste, style and elegance. As visionary in the decoration of interiors as he was ingenious in the design of exteriors, Adam was more often responsible for the renovation, alteration or completion of existing buildings than for the creation of entirely new ones.
Scottish Doocots
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 848 4 / Shire Library 190 / 32 pp
Shell Houses and Grottoes
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 522 9 / Shire Library 398 / 40 pp
The artificial grotto has a long and intriguing history in architecture and garden design. This book describes the origins of the grotto in Renaissance Italy, its heyday in eighteenth-century England, its decline in the nineteenth century and its return to favour in the twentieth century.
Sir Edwin Lutyens
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 582 3 / Shire Library 507 / 48 pp
England's most prolific architect since Sir Christopher Wren, he designed the Cenotaph in Whitehall, country houses, and the memorials to commemorate the dead of the First World War.
Stables and Stable Blocks
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 105 4 / Shire Library 261 / 32 pp
Stables and stable blocks are one of the building types most evocative of the spirit of bygone times. This book examines the architecture of stables of all kinds from humble farm buildings to the ornate and stylish courtyard blacks of country houses. It also illustrates a range of examples and relates them to a pattern of building development.
Sundials
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 558 8 / Shire Library 176 / 48 pp
Sundials have played an important role in regulating the daily life of mankind throughout Europe and the British Isles. This text describes and illustrates each particular class of sundial likely to be found on buildings, in churchyards, public squares, and remote countryside locations.
Thatch and Thatching
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 588 5 / Shire Library 16 / 64 pp
Thatching is a craft most people know nothing about and which is commonly thought to be dying out. This book outlines the history of thatching in Britain from its use as the commonest form of roofing and explains how the thatcher works with his traditional materials.
The Architecture of Canals
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 632 5 / Shire Library 444 / 56 pp
Our appreciation of the network of canals through Britain is greatly enhanced by the structures that dot their course - bridges, locks, tunnels, aqueducts, cottages, pubs and workshops. This book looks at the variety of structures that made the canals work in their commercial heyday.
War Memorials in Britain
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 626 4 / Shire Library 441 / 56 pp
War memorials are a feature of Britain's landscape, and part of the fabric of its history as a nation. The Imperial War Museum's National Inventory has sixty thousand war memorials spanning two millennia. This work presents examples that are intended as a tribute to the victims of war and as tangible reminders of significant events.
Watermills
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 654 7 / Shire Library 457 / 56 pp
Water power has been used for over 2000 years. This book explains the history and development of watermills as working buildings and the importance of the wider appreciation of the built environment and the use of natural sources of power.
Wattle and Daub
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 652 3 / Shire Library 455 / 48 pp
Sticks (wattle) and clay or earth (daub) has been used to fill gaps in wooden framework buildings. This book explains the technique and mysteries surrounding this building method.
Windmills
Price: £5.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 653 0 / Shire Library 456 / 64 pp
Provides important clues to the need to protect and maintain windmills, the continued survival of which allows an insight into the historic use of renewable energy, the development of engineering, and the processing of grain, for flour and bread, as well as other essential products.