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It's been a while since I checked in on Stone Pages. I just thought I would share the news that the guide book I researched and wrote about the Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments of England's Peak District National park is now available at lulu.com.
Here is the full background information:
England’s Peak District National Park is reknowned for its dramatic landscapes and outstanding natural beauty. Scratch below that surface and the visitor can also find and area steeped in thousands of years of mankind’s history. After the ice sheets retreated 10,000 years ago, man returned to the area to hunt and gather, then as the establishment of farming began and those nomadic groups began to settle and cultivate the land, they also began to mark this land with megalithic monuments of all shapes and sizes, many of which can still be seen today.
THE PREHISTORIC PEAK is a practical guidebook to discovering and exploring the Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments of the Peak District. The intention is not to explain their origins, but to encourage everyone to go and see them for themselves as they are today. After all, they are located in some of the most spectacular landscapes available to us in Britain today and make fascinating destinations for journeys that are about experiencing all the wonders of the world around us.
Each site was visited several times in order to record them through photographs, ground plans of what can be seen today, custom maps with step-by-step, clear, concise directions on how to find each one and all the necessary GPS and OS grid references.
It also includes practical advice on how to make your exploration of the Prehistoric Peak as pleasurable and safe as possible as well as a comprehiensive list of all other known sites in the Peak District along with their OS grid reference.
Further details, including sample spreads from the book, plus a downloadable pdf preview can be found at:
www.andrewjohnstonedesign.co.uk/Published/prehistoricpeak.htm
And the book is currently available at discounted price at:
www.lulu.com
Hope you don't mind my shameless plug. The book isn't about making money for me, my intention is simply to share the amazing experience I had (and continue to have) in discovering the prehistoric monuments of The Peak District.
Finally, here is a recent review from Current Archaeology Magazine:
"Every so often, an unexpected gem crosses our desks at CA. The Prehistoric Peak is the latest of these happy occurrences. This book is a step-by-step guide of the author's own journey to each of the 52 featured sites.
The author's casual curiosity developed into a passion for, British prehistory. Neither historian nor archaeologist, Johnstone produced this book for a graduate design course at Central St Martins. The end result is an absolutely gorgeous, easily digestible volume packed with practical tips, packing lists, basic introductions to time periods and monuments, colour photographs, and finally - the monument guides.
There are many people who struggle with map reading, and may be discouraged from visiting sites for this very reason. The maps and monument plans take the mystery and struggle out of this process. Colourful, highly accurate, detailed yet simple, easy to read and understand: truly a resource that puts the visitor in the picture. There is also explanatory text about walking conditions and what to expect, and standard information for each monument — including nearest town, OS map reference, as grid number, GPS data, altitude, and a difficulty rating."
—Review by LWW
