Local History and the Local Area

Below is a selection of some of our most popular books featuring Shropshire and the Church Stretton area:
"Last Christmas" by Julia Williams £6.99. An irresistible gift of a tale that will warm the hearts of Christmas-lovers and Scrooges alike!
Read about our very own Burway Books in the latest wonderful book by the lovely Julia Williams- (we have copies for sale here in the shop)

“A Night in the Snow”; by Reverend Donald Carr, £2.50. The true story of a struggle for life on the Long Mynd one wild, snowy evening in 1865.

“Victorian Farm”: by Peter Ginn, Alex Langlands and Ruth Goodman, £20.00. Based on the hugely popular BBC2 series, this book follows the lives of three historians as they spend 12 months at Acton Scott running a farm as the Victorians would have done.

“Wild Mynd”: by Peter Carty, Leo Smith and Caroline Uff, £14.99. The Long Mynd is the centrepiece of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Wild Mynd is superbly illustrated throughout with almost 200 colour photographs and especially commissioned line-drawings. It also includes annotated wildlife walks, nature through the seasons and the best places to observe the special flora and fauna.

“Border Wanderings”: by A T D Evans, £16.95. A local and social history of the Marches with old photographs by Robert Newton Heyworth.

“A Shropshire Lad”: by A E Housman. Various prices. We have several versions of this ever-popular verse.

“Geology of Shropshire” by Peter Toghill, £18.99. This book explains the geological history of Shropshire, lasting 500 million years, from the Antarctic Circle through the Tropics and across the equator to our latitudes, a distance of 12,000km.

“Folklore of Shropshire”: by Roy Palmer, £12.95. Popular folk tales including Wild Edric, Mad Jack Mytton, Humphrey Kynaston, Caractacus, plus ghosts, witches, charmers, and many more.

“Shropshire Murders”: by Nicola Sly, £14.99. Read about the dark and evil deeds that were committed in Shropshire, including two in Church Stretton.

“The Long Mynd”: by Kate Thorne, £7.99. The story of the Long Mynd told through its rights of way.

“Old Houses of Shropshire in the Nineteenth Century”: by Julia Ionides, £25.00.

“Never on a Sunday – Memories of the Stiperstones Mining Communities”: by Shropshire Mines Trust, £11.95.

Rare and Out of Print books

Please contact us to enquire about availability and price for the following books:

“Church Stretton”: by David Bilbey

“Fordritishope: History of a Shropshire Parish”: by Alan Dakers

“Hope Bowdler and Eaton Under Heywood – A Millennial Review”: by Alan Dakers

Local Authors

We are always pleased to support local authors and below is a brief summary of both
A) ~“Recent Publications” and
B) ~“Popular Local Authors”.
We have included website links where possible, and are always happy to order these books for you if we do not already have them in stock.

A) ~Recent Publications

A selection of latest releases from a number of authors living in and around Shropshire:

Baxter, Sylvia Ann: “A Dog’s Life”: £5.99 True-life dog biography set in the late 1970s/80s on two outlying Shropshire farms, relating the compelling thirteen year long bond between a young woman and her Labrador dog.

Carole Anne Carr: “First Wolf”, £5.99. A novel aimed at 9-12 year old children, this book tells the story of a young boy, Toland, and his quest to save the Lindisfarne Gospels from the Vikings. www.thecakeandcustardbookshop.co.uk

Tiffany Corbett: “The Baby Burper”, £4.99. Easy to read tips for parents from a mum of two who knows how “the little things make life easier”.

Douglas Grounds: “Son and Servant of Shropshire - Life of Archdeacon Joseph (Plymley) Corbett”, £18.50 Hardback, £13.95 Paperback.

A E Housman: “A Shropshire Lad”, £20.00. Beautiful pictorial version of Housman’s famous poem with photographs by Gareth Thomas.

Robin Jukes-Hughes: “Portrait of the Shropshire Hills”, £14.99. A stunning pictorial book filled with over 150 glorious colour photographs of the Shropshire Hills. www.shropshirehillsphotography.com

John Lawrie-Welsh: “Cuelsin”, £6.99. A novel: a recently disgraced government minister has attracted the attention of British Intelligence. Rob McAlister follows a trail of business deals from Hungary to the UK accompanied by Cuelsin, his East European contact. In a remote Scottish university town the Politician's ruthless plan for a return to power is uncovered. The outcome for both McAlister and his target is completely unexpected.

Dorothy Nicolle: “Discovering Shropshire Towns”, £12.99. Dorothy is a professional tourist guide and her latest book contains walks in 16 Shropshire towns. We stock a number of Dorothy’s other books too including: “Shropshire Walks with Ghosts and Legends”; “Shropshire's Oddities”; “Charles Darwin”; “Rob the Paradog”; “All About Christmas”. www.nicolle.me.uk

Alison Owen: “High Jinks and Happiness”, £9.99. Beautifully illustrated book for children containing four seasonal stories about a herd of Hereford cattle.

Anthony Poulton-Smith: “Shropshire Place Names”, £12.99. A dictionary of Shropshire place names that examines their origins and meanings. It includes not only towns, villages and hamlets, but also rivers, streams, hills, fields and woods, as well as streets, buildings and public houses.

Phil Rickman: “Merrily’s Border”, £20 Hardback, £12.95 Paperback: A photographic tour of the Shropshire and Welsh Border locations that Phil uses in his Merrily Watkins novels – a lovely book that every Rickman fan should own!

Michael Shaw: “The Lead, Copper and Barytes Mines of Shropshire”, £12.95. A fascinating, in depth history of mining in Shropshire – once one of the country’s largest producers of lead ore.

Janet White: “The Sheep Stell”, £10.00. An account of the author's life as a shepherd, islander, smallholder and hill farmer.

Other popular local authors (alive and dead!):

Charles Darwin: We carry a large stock of books by and about Charles Darwin.

Andrew Fusek-Peters and Polly Peters: Authors of several very popular books for children – stories and poetry. www.tallpoet.com

A E Housman: In addition to the pictorial edition of “A Shropshire Lad” mentioned above, we also stock other versions of the poem along with Housman’s other works.

Peter Andrew Jones: Peter is an internationally renowned artist who has produced artwork for many bestselling sci-fi novels, the BBC, and also Hollywood posters. He now resides in Church Stretton and runs his own publishing company: we are proud to stock his unique, limited edition “artists books” that contain paintings and prose about the local area. Peter is currently working with Burway Books’ very own Hilary Jones on book about the Stiperstones, due for release in the Spring of 2010. Some of Peter’s paintings are also on display in the shop – come in and have a look.http://www.peterandrewjones.net/

Wilfred Owen: We stock several collections of Owens’ poetry, along with his biography.

Martin Roach: Martin has written, and ghost-written, many best-selling celebrity biographies and autobiographies for musicians and sportsmen, including David Coulthard, Chris Eubank, Take That, Westlife, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Coldplay … and many more. He has also written “Tattoo Soup” and “Doctor Martens: The Story of a British Icon”. www.impbooks.com

Malcolm Saville: We stock a number of titles by the late Malcolm Saville, particularly his Lone Pine series that was set around this area. Many of his books have gone out of print, but as and when they are re-printed we try to keep them in stock. We also have copies of books about Malcolm Saville, including “Complete Lone Pine” by Mark O’Hanlon.

Shropshire Mines Trust: Popular books about the lead mines over at Snailbeach – “Never on a Sunday” contains the fascinating recollections of people whose families lived and mined in the Stiperstones area, whilst “Snailbeach Lead Mine” tells the history of the mines. www.snailbeachmine.org.uk

Mary Webb: Another very famous local author, who died in 1927, and whose books occasionally come back into print. We stock “Precious Bane”, “Golden Arrow,” and any other titles that we can get. We also have biographies of Mary Webb by Gladys Mary Coles.

Simon Whaley: Simon lives in Church Stretton: his books are always amongst our bestsellers, and include: “Best Walks in the Welsh Borders”; “One Hundred Ways For A Dog To Train Its Human”; “One Hundred Muddy Paws for Thought”; “Puppytalk”; “Little Book of Alternative Garden Wisdom”; “The Bluffer's Guide to Hiking” … and others. www.simonwhaley.co.uk