Logaston

Publication 21st November 2024, Logaston Press

This long awaited new edition describes 100 of the most significant chambered tombs in Wales, in eight regional groupings. Author Dr George Nash discusses the Neolithic period and the five types of chambered tomb known from the time of our early farming ancestors.

The most conspicuous legacy of the Neolithic period (c.4,000–2,000 BCE) are the enigmatic tombs and monuments that mark the landscape, many characterised by their use of colossal stones – megaliths.

In Wales, more than 250 Neolithic burial-ritual sites endure, and this book explores 100 sites for which significant remains can be seen. The author examines the various regional architectural styles deployed to venerate and house the dead, identifying five different styles of chambered tomb – Portal Dolmens, the Cotswold-Severn tradition, passage graves, gallery graves and earth-fast monuments – and exploring why these different styles developed in the ways and locations they did. Following recent site analysis, this book presents the latest knowledge and understanding of monument construction, burial practices and rites during the Neolithic period.

Richly illustrated with photographs, drawings and maps, this important and thought-provoking book provides startling insights and greater understanding of these enigmatic and spiritual sites.

Dr George Nash elaborates;

Dr George Nash is an Associate Professor at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and an Honorary Researcher within the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool. Dr

Nash has directed excavations at many Neolithic burial-ritual monuments, and is the author of numerous books on the Neolithic and prehistoric, and contemporary rock art.

Format: 288 pages, 240 x 210 mm, c.300 colour photographs, illustrations, maps and plans
ISBN: 978-1-910839-72-0
Paperback with flaps: £25.00
Publication: 21 November 2024
Fully updated and revised 2^nd edition: first edition published as The Architecture of Death, 2006
UK orders available from: logastonpress.co.uk

For a review copy, to contact the author or for further information, please contact Su Wheeler on 01544 327182, mobile 07957 898963 or email info@logastonpress.co.uk

New book reveals ten ‘firsts’ of the Three Choirs Festival 

Publication: 26 July 2024 by Logaston Press

This much-anticipated new book examines ten concerts that shaped the world’s oldest classical music festival.

The Three Choirs Festival is the world’s oldest classical music festival, originating in the early eighteenth century and alternating each year between the cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester.

This book offers a concise, illustrated history of the Festival through ten landmark concerts – concerts that helped to shape its character and place in the classical music world. From the first performance of Handel’s Messiah in 1757, through premieres of works by Elgar, Parry, Howells, Vaughan Williams and Alice Mary Smith (in 1882), to the first concert to be applauded by the audience in 1969.

Sample pages:

The context and significance of each concert is explored in detail, along with lively responses to the programming drawn from contemporary press reviews and the Annals of the Three Choirs.

Three Choirs Festival in ten concerts provides the first concise, accessible history of this celebrated and much-loved institution. As Jonathan Clinch notes in his foreword, ‘Music comes to represent people, places, and relationships. Breaking it down – three choirs, three cathedrals, ten concerts – seems a very logical way to get your head around it. However, what emerges is a wonderfully human sense of the messiness of history, the interconnectedness of everything, and how some things never change. 

Simon Carpenter is the volunteer archivist and historian of the Three Choirs Festival, and is a Gloucester Cathedral guide. 

For a review copy, to contact the author or for further information, please contact Su Wheeler on 01544 327182, mobile 07957 898963 or email info@logastonpress.co.uk

Purchase at the Logaston bookshop: logastonpress.co.uk | £12.99

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Publication 9 February 2024

WALES FROM THE AIR: HISTORY IN THE HILLS

New book uses cutting-edge drone technology to present a dazzling collection of aerial views of Welsh sites and monuments, dating from roughly 4000BC to AD 1500.

The surviving archaeological and architectural heritage of Wales encompasses a period of 6,000 years, from the first settlers raising mysterious monoliths, through to the fortifications of warring Celts and Roman conquerors, to the towering edifices built by medieval craftsmen.

This book offers a literal overview of the early history of Wales, told through bird’s-eye views of the more striking and unusual constructions that can be seen in the landscape today. The monuments and buildings included range in date from late-Prehistoric times up to the start of the Early Modern period (4000BC–AD 1500), and include burial mounds, stone circles, hillforts, boundary dykes, deserted farmsteads, churches, monasteries and castle ruins.

Using cutting-edge drone technology, more than 250 photographs and illustrations provide unique views of landscape features, that would seem insignificant from the ground, helping to unravel the activities of the people who have made Wales their home down the centuries.

Paul R. Davis has worked for the Dyfed Archaeological Trust, and is currently a surveyor based in South Wales. He has written and illustrated a number of books on the historical architecture of Wales, particularly relating to medieval castles, (including Forgotten Castles of Wales and the Marches), as well as a guide to the archaeology of the island of Ibiza. He is presently researching the vernacular architecture of the industrialised valleys of Gwent.

Wales from the Air contents: Introduction; The Ages of Stone & Bronze (c.4000–800bc); The Age of Iron (c.800 bc–ad 43); Roman Wales (ad c.43–410); The Early Medieval period (ad c.410–1100); Medieval Wales (ad c.1100–1500); Selected further reading; Index of places

Format: 208 pages, 240 x 210 mm, c.250 colour photographs & illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-910839-69-0
Paperback with flaps, £20.00
Publication: 9 February 2024

UK orders available from: logastonpress.co.uk/product/wales-from-the-air/