Humphrey Welfare

The first biography of William Roy, exploring his life, career and legacy Considers the influences on William Roy and his work by examining the people in his circle, including some of the most famous scientists and explorers of the dayReviews the importance of the Military Survey of Scotland to the history of cartographyConsiders the significance of his experiments in measuring heights by barometric pressureRe-assesses – for the first time since 1917 - his important contribution to British archaeologyBorn in Clydesdale, William Roy was a polymath and a visionary. His work established the path that would lead to the formation of the Ordnance Survey and to all of the paper-based and digital mapping products that we use today. His story – very much one of the Enlightenment – demonstrates how one man’s curiosity and diligence enabled him to excel across a diverse range of topics: military reconnaissance and intelligence; the lessons that could be learned from the past about the tactical use of landscape; the science of determining the height of mountains; and the development of a meticulous methodology to achieve an unprecedented accuracy in topographical measurement. In this biography, Humphrey Welfare uncovers the career and activities of this important figure, and in doing so paints a vivid picture of the inner complexities of 18th-century Britain.

William Roy was a polymath and a visionary. His work established the path that would lead to the formation of the Ordnance Survey and to all of the paper-based and digital mapping products that we use today. His story very much one of the Enlightenment demonstrates how one man's curiosity and diligence enabled him to excel across a diverse range of topics: military reconnaissance and intelligence; the lessons that could be learned from the past about the tactical use of landscape; the science of determining the height of mountains; and the development of a meticulous methodology to achieve an unprecedented accuracy in topographical measurement. In this biography, Humphrey Welfare uncovers the career and activities of this important figure, and in doing so paints a vivid picture of the inner complexities of 18th-century Britain.

The name 'Wessex' is full of echoes of the ancient past - of Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill - and of the regional novels of Thomas Hardy. The ploughing up of traditional downland pastures and the removal of ancient hedgerows, woodlands and wetlands from the vales have changed some of Hardy's windswept grasslands and dairy-rich lowlands. Even so, Wessex contains some fine countryside and a wealth of monuments of different ages. Besides the glories of the prehistoric legacy, there is much else to absorb in the later landscape: the great churches of Salisbury Cathedral and Sherborne Abbey; famous mansions such as Wilton and Longleat; remarkable castles such as Portland and Corfe; the picturesque villages of Lacock and Milton Abbas; as well as important industrial monuments in Bradford-on-Avon and Swindon. In this lavishly illustrated book, one in a series of four National Trust histories, Humphrey Welfare explains the creation of the Wessex landscape and introduces the region's rich heritage of buildings and archaeological sites, some of them well-known and hugely popular, while others that are virtually overlooked.

The county's remarkable and richly varied military architecutre, from Hadrian's Wall to Warkworth, contrasts with monastic ruins buried deep in the valleys of the Coquet and the Aln or standing proudly by the sea at Holy Island and Tynemouth. Newcastle upon Tyne has the most elegant nineteenth-century city centre in England. Elsewhere the distinctive smaller towns include Alnwick, dominated by its castle, Hexham with its priory, brick-built Morpeth, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, ringed with exceptional sixteenth-century fortifications. Great country houses range from Vanbrugh's theatrical Seaton Delaval to Sir Charles Monck's austere Belsay and Norman Shaw's romantic Cragside. Monuments of a great industrial past, as well as a wealth of smaller buildings, such as bastle houses (peelhouses or stronghouses unique to the Border country), are all vividly described in this revised guide to Northumberland's architectural pleasures.