University of Hertfordshire Press

09/06/2025

Discount available in our Summer Sale

The economics of buying or renting accommodation in Moseley are addressed, showing what was involved in setting up a single-family home, the key marker of belonging to the middle class. Aspects of this, such as how the interiors of homes were demarcated, decorated and furnished, have not previously been considered in the context of suburban studies to any extent. Additionally, this book has a particular focus on the suburban middle-class woman, her achievements and opportunities, roles and responsibilities, both inside and outside the home.

“I enjoyed reading this book; Berry's extensive research pulled together a broad range of archive resources which she has used to benefit the narrative. I particularly enjoyed the layering of histories of middle-class men and women who lived in Moseley during the second half of the 19th century wi...

05/06/2025

"This is a book to recommend wholeheartedly, and about which just as wholeheartedly to argue - the hallmark of good, successful research."
Susan Oosthuizen, Journal of Medieval Archaeology

“Specialists in the history of landscape and rural society may turn to this monograph as an exemplary contribution to knowledge, which defines settlements named with this element as early or late, notes their consistently subsidiary status, and relates them to local geology and soil. It is a fine ...

02/06/2025

20% discount available in our Summer Sale!

This is Edward Hasted's map of the Sevenoaks area, recorded as the 'Hundred of Codsheath' (an ancient division of land). Prominence is given to aristocratic estates, so clearly the cartographer's work is aimed at this more lucrative market.

For more, visit: https://www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/books-content/sevenoaks-1790-1914

30/05/2025

In this richly illustrated account, Letchworth Local History Research Group look in detail at the town's foundation in the early 1900s and the energetic organisation and administration that enabled it to get off the ground quickly and successfully.

https://www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/books-content/industrial-letchworth

“This splendid book… is well produced with a wealth of archive photographs, plus useful fold-out maps and a timeline summarising Letchworth's industrial evolution.”

28/05/2025

"This splendid volume is said to have taken ten years of meticulous archival research to compile. It recreates the world of those experiencing hard times in eighteenth and early-nineteenth century Birmingham, whilst painting a picture that would undoubtedly be replicated in many other towns and cities across the country."
Paul Gaskell, Oxfordshire Family Historian

“It is difficult to see how this book could have been better done. It is an exemplary study which adds considerably to our knowledge and understanding of Poor Law provision before the legislation of 1834, and will be invaluable to those writing about these issues from a national perspective. It of...

25/05/2025

"For those readers interested in the history of parks, hunting, and early modern landscapes, this volume will be an essential addition to their shelves. But it is more than that. Parks were status symbols, taking potentially valuable land and restricting access to it and to its resources. They marked the owner as a man of importance — and often of ambition. They were integral to the lifestyle of gentlemen, aristocrats, and royalty, and so for anyone studying the early modern period, this book will provide an invaluable insight into many aspects of that society."
Fiona Beglane, Journal of British Studies

“The county case study approach to the investigation of parks was pioneered by Leonard Cantor in the 1970s, but has been taken to a new level here by the author's thorough and meticulous approach to the evidence. When this book is placed alongside its companion, Hertfordshire must now surely rank ...

23/05/2025

From Dickens' 'Bleak House'. We should not assume that all brickmakers lived like this, although it is likely many of their homes were poorly built and overcrowded. The small space of the interior had to be put to a multiplicity of uses, an experience shared by many working-class households.

https://www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/books-content/bricks-of-victorian-london

18/05/2025

"Achieves... 'an impressive range of new research methodologies from straight garden history... through industrial, urban and suburban history and the history of science medicine and health, to cultural, class and gender approaches'"
J.V. Beckett, Midland History

“Achieves… ‘an impressive range of new research methodologies from straight garden history… through industrial, urban and suburban history and the history of science, medicine and health, to cultural, class and gender approaches’”

17/05/2025

"Elizabeth Griffiths's work on the archives of Norfolk gentry has shown just how much can be gleaned from material as prosaic as accounts, not only regarding the estate economy and family finances, but also on other aspects of gentry lives and attitudes."
Patricia Croot, The English Historical Review

https://www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/books-content/managing-for-posterity

“[A] significant contribution to the economic history of East Anglian estates generally and a window that could be opened on the landscape of north-west Norfolk.”

12/05/2025

"As David Lowenthal wrote, 'the past is a foreign country' and, as such, it is implicitly hard to decipher. To journey back into this foreign place and thus to understand its history, evolution and even decline requires a multi-disciplinary approach, as demonstrated in this book so effectively by Barnes and Williamson. Finally, the book is lavishly illustrated with numerous full-colour plates and at £16.99 is excellent value."
Ian D. Rotherham, Landscapes Journal

https://www.herts.ac.uk/uhpress/books-content/the-orchards-of-eastern-england

“As David Lowenthal wrote, ‘the past is a foreign country’ and, as such, it is implicitly hard to decipher. To journey back into this foreign place and thus to understand its history, evolution and even decline requires a multi-disciplinary approach, as demonstrated in this book so effectively...

10/05/2025

"By making empirical academic scholarship available at an accessible price, University of Hertfordshire Press provides an important service to local and landscape historians, many of whom do not enjoy easy access to university libraries. In the eleventh volume of their series 'Studies in Regional and Local History', Philip Slavin deploys an impressive number and range of documents to investigate how Norwich Cathedral Priory (which, in the early fourteenth century, housed approximately sixty monks and 240 lay brethren and staff) met its enormous requirement for bread and ale, the bedrocks of the medieval diet."
David Stone, Landscape History

“This is another fascinating volume in University of Hertfordshire Press's laudable series of affordable local studies.”

06/05/2025

"A comprehensive and absorbing study."
Richard Stone, The Historical Association

“Marjorie McIntosh, Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a respected social and cultural historian of late medieval and early modern England. This book, volume 12 in the well-established Studies in Regional and Local History series published by Unive...