Includes the Society's proceedings and list of members.

This fully-illustrated guide to Shropshire treats each city, town, and village in a detailed gazetteer and includes a variety of helpful maps, plans, and indexes along with an illustrated glossary. The book is an invaluable reference work on the appealing and unspoiled county of Shropshire, where many historic towns, including Shrewsbury and Ludlow, are especially plentiful in Georgian and timber-framed buildings. Shropshire boasts the Cistercian abbey of Buildwas and many important country houses, including the 13th-century fortified mansions at Acton Burnell and Stokesay; John Nash's Italianate villa at Cronkhill; and Norman Shaw's splendid Late Victorian mansion at Adcote. Shropshire is also home to numerous prehistoric hill-forts and the Roman town at Wroxeter as well as Coalbrookdale's spectacular bridge, the first in the world to be built of iron. The unspoiled county of Shropshire is among the most appealing in England for lovers of architecture. The county's many historic towns, of which Shrewsbury and Ludlow are the largest, are especially plentiful in Georgian and timber-framed buildings. Shropshire's villages, intriguingly varied in plan and building materials, reflect the diverse landscape of plains, hills and moorland and the rich and complex underlying geology. The Cistercian abbey of Buildwas is the finest of several notable monastic ruins, and outstanding medieval parish churches and castles are also numerous. Many of the country houses have a central place in the story of English architecture: the fortified mansions at Acton Burnell and Stokesay, thirteenth-century design at its most sophisticated; the vigorous Baroque houses of John Prince and Francis Smith; John Nash's Italianate villa at Cronkhill, looking like something in a Claude painting; Norman Shaw's splendid Late Victorian mansion at Adcote. Shropshire is also unrivalled for its early industrial remains, including the spectacular bridge at Coalbrookdale, the first in the world to be built of iron. More ancient cultures are represented by the numerous prehistoric hill-forts and the celebrated Roman town at Wroxeter. Each city, town or village is treated in a detailed gazetteer. A general introduction provides a historical and artistic overview. Numerous maps and plans, over a hundred new colour photographs, full indexes and an illustrated glossary help to make this book invaluable as both reference work and guide.

The public and political lives of the fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century gentry have been extensively studied, but comparatively little is known of their private lives and beliefs. Humphrey Newton of Pownall, Cheshire, offers a rare and fascinating opportunity to redress the balance, thanks to the fortunate survival of a commonplace book he compiled c.1498-1524. Drawing upon this unique manuscript, this interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional study of Newton explores his family life, landed estate, legal work, piety, and his literary skills [he composed nearly twenty courtly love lyrics]. It charts his social advancement and the self-fashioning of his gentle image, while placing him in the context of current discussions of gentry culture. What makes Newton even more noteworthy is that he was among the unsung and little known stratum of English society historians have labelled the 'lesser' gentry. As such, this book provides the first comprehensive biography of an early Tudor gentleman. Dr DEBORAH YOUNGS is lecturer in medieval history at Swansea University.

This volume, first published in 1990, commemorates one of the most notable economic historians of his age. Professor W.H. Chaloner taught in the History Department of the University of Manchester from 1945 to 1981. He preferred the article to the book as the most appropriate vehicle of publishing the results of his research. From 1938 to 1983 he wrote over 120 articles and prefaces, most of which appeared in historical journals and in the transactions of learned societies. These essays collected here cover a long period of time, from the Industrial Revolution to problems of the inter-war years in the twentieth century. They deal with a very wide range of topics, for Professor Chaloner was an authority on business, urban, transport, social and agricultural history.