Wymondham Books

Accessibly written, and with over 300 watercolour illustrations, Building Norfolk is an illustrated history of Norfolk's buildings, up to the present day. In the middle ages, Norfolk was one of England's most powerful regions, with Norwich the second biggest city in the British Isles. But by the time of the industrial revolution Norfolk was something of a backwater, and the transformations of this period passed it by. As a result, there is a higher density of old buildings left in Norfolk than anywhere else in Britain, and Building Norfolk does full justice to this extraordinary heritage of barns, farms, manor houses, villages, market towns, stone walls, churches and the great houses of Holkham and Houghton. But the book is not only about the past. Matthew Rice passionately believes in the value of earlier, local, solutions in addressing the challenges of future development. In its final quarter, his book becomes a plea for a well-mannered, intelligent modern interpretation of vernacular architecture, and concludes with a proposal for Worsted, a new town to built following the lessons of generations of Norfolk builders.

Modern Archaeology is showing Norfolk to be a distinct region of national and international significance. This book traces the story of this area from the Ice Age and the first appearance of people, to the end of Roman Britain. In particular it focuses on the many remarkable and exciting discoveries made across what is now Norfolk, often through the contribution of amateur enthusiasts. The remarkable and continuing pace of new finds, principally in the form of individual artefacts, as well as through the more conventional processes of aerial photography and fieldwork, has served to transform our understanding of the county's past in recent years. Norfolk's distinctive landscape provides a dramatic backdrop against which the achievements of the inhabitants are followed. Evidence is sought for the ancestors of Boudica, who responded to a series of changes and challenges, from very earliest prehistoric times through to the early historical period under the Romans. Many images previously never published before and many in full-colour. John Davies has been keeper of Archaeology at Norwich Castle Museum since 1997 and is now also Chief Curator for Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service. He has worked as an archaeologist in Norfolk since 1984. During the time he has been involved with the promotion of a positive liaison between professional and amateur archaeologist, in particular metal-detector users. He is a specialist in the coinage of Roman Britain and has published widely on the subject of coinage from British archaeological sites. His most recent interests include aspects of Iron Age East Anglia and Roman Norfolk.