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Fringed With Mud & Pearls
£9.99
An English River's Story, Told With Wit and Wonder
Ian Crofton's captivating journey along the River Thames
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About the Ebook
One of the Daily Telegraph's 20 Books Perfect for Travel Scotland has its rugged Hebrides; Ireland its cliff-girt Arans; Wales its Island of Twenty Thousand Saints. And what has England got? The isles of Canvey, Sheppey, Wight and Dogs, Mersea, Brownsea, Foulness and Rat. But there are also wilder, rockier places – Lundy, the Scillies, the Farnes. These islands and their inhabitants not only cast varied lights on the mainland, they also possess their own peculiar stories, from the Barbary slavers who once occupied Lundy, to the ex-major who seized a wartime fort in the North Sea and declared himself Prince of Sealand. Ian Crofton embarks on a personal odyssey to a number of the islands encircling England, exploring how some were places of refuge or holiness, while others have been turned into personal fiefdoms by their owners, or become locations for prisons, rubbish dumps and military installations. He also describes the varied ways in which England's islands have been formed, and how they are constantly changing, so making a mockery of human claims to sovereignty.Why You'll Love This Ebook
- Travel through history, geography, and culture along England's most iconic river
- Enjoy Ian Crofton's engaging, anecdotal storytelling on every page
- Discover unexpected stories from the river's source to its mouth
- Read another celebrated title from Birlinn Ltd - Independent Scottish Publisher
About the Author
Ian Crofton's books exploring the interplay of landscape, nature and history include Walking the Border: A Journey between Scotland and England, rated by both The Guardian and Trail magazine as 'excellent'. His Fringed with Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey was described by the BBC’s Countryfile as 'really engaging', and by Coast magazine as 'a fascinating study about what it means to exist on the fringes'; it was selected by the Telegraph as one of their top twenty travel books of 2021. Upland: A Journey Through Time and the Hills was published in May 2025.Publication Details
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Publication Date: 06 May 2021
Print Length: 288 pages (Ebook edition)
ISBN (Ebook): 9781788852982
Format: Ebook
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