The Britain Files

You know the town you live in. You've never seen what it's standing on.

The rock beneath the high street, laid down when Britain sat somewhere else on the planet. The reason the town is there at all, and what its name really means. What the ice did to the ground, and the villages nearby that vanished. Thirty real British towns, county by county, in one book that's already written and yours the moment you pay.

  • Edinburgh, whose castle stands on the plug of a volcano more than 300 million years old
  • Durham, raised on a rock the River Wear wraps round on three sides
  • Dunwich, once one of England's great medieval ports, now under the North Sea
See what's inside
The Britain Files
Instant PDF download One payment, no subscription 7 days to ask for your money back Every fact checked, every source named
30 Real British towns, county by county
1086 Domesday, where many first appear in writing
450,000 Years since the ice pushed the Thames south

Who I am

I'm Tom Ashworth. Every week on The Britain Files I take one county, region or city and count down the facts almost nobody knows about it: the vanished seas under the fields, the volcanoes under the castles, the drowned land off the coast, and one fact at number one that ties the whole place together.

We assume Britain is finished: surveyed, mapped, explained. But a map shows you where things are without telling you what they contain. So I wrote it down for thirty towns, the rock, the name, the ice, the lost villages, in one book.

One book. Thirty towns.

A map shows you the streets. This book shows you what they stand on.

Not a report written to order: one book, already written, that does for thirty real towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales what a map never does. The same questions for every town, in the same order, so you can open any of them and know where to look.

The Britain Files

The Hidden Britain

Thirty real British towns and cities, county by county, and what lies under each: the rock, the reason it exists, its name, the ice, the lost villages and its oldest map.

  • Thirty real towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales, grouped by county and region
  • The rock under each one: how old it is, what it was laid down as, and what it was worth to somebody
  • Why the town is there at all: the river crossing, harbour, spring, pass or mine that decided it
  • What the name really means, and the older names it carried
  • What the ice did to the ground: the ridges, valleys and old shorelines you drive past
  • The vanished neighbours: villages lost to the sea, to the sheep or under a reservoir
  • Each town on the oldest map it appears on, and one documented story it forgot
  • The records behind every town named, so you can check them yourself
  • Instant PDF download, large type, yours to keep
US$47.00
I want the book

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7

Seven days to change your mind

Read it. If it isn't what this page promised, write to us within seven days and you get your money back. No forms, no reasons asked. And if you know one of these towns and spot a fact we got wrong, tell us: we check it, and if it's wrong, we fix it.

Questions, answered

Is my town in it?
It may be, and it may not. This is one book about thirty real towns and cities, chosen across England, Scotland and Wales and grouped by county and region, not a report written for one town. If yours isn't one of the thirty, the towns nearest it often stand on the same rock and were shaped by the same ice, so the pages for your part of the country still tell you a good deal about your own ground.
What do I get for each town?
The same questions, in the same order: the rock under it and how old it is, why the town is there at all, what its name means and what it was called before, what the ice did to the ground around it, the villages nearby that vanished, the oldest map it appears on, and one documented story the town itself tends to forget.
Where do the facts come from?
From the public record: the British Geological Survey's maps, the Domesday Book, the old county maps and the Ordnance Survey, the place-name scholars, archives and old newspapers. Each town names its sources, so you can check anything you like. Where specialists still disagree, the book says so instead of picking a side.
Is it about my house or my family history?
No. It describes the documented geology, history and names of places, not of any single property or family. It isn't a land survey, a title search, a ground report or a genealogical record.
Do I need to know any geology?
No. Every idea is explained with something you already know: the high street, the river under the bridge, the hill the church sits on. Real places, real dates and real numbers, in miles, metres and pounds.
Is it just the videos written out?
No. The videos take one place at a time and count down its facts. The book goes town by town, deeper than a video has time for, and checks every date and figure before it goes in.
Can I give it as a gift?
Yes. It arrives as a PDF you can forward to them, or print the pages about the part of the country they come from. It suits the person who never left as much as the one who moved away.
How does it arrive?
As a PDF in large type, ready to download the moment your payment goes through. Read it on your phone, tablet or computer, or print it.
Is the price in pounds?
It's charged in US dollars, so the exact amount in pounds depends on the exchange rate on the day you pay. One payment, nothing to renew.
What if it isn't for me?
Write to us within seven days and you get your money back. No questions asked.

You'll drive through one of them this week.

Past the roundabout, the high street, the church on the hill and the sign with the name nobody can explain. Most of us drive straight past it. Under the tarmac, more often than not, is the floor of a sea that vanished, or a desert, or a tropical swamp from the days when Britain sat far to the south. A river chose that hill. The ice left that ridge. And a mile down the road there was a village that isn't there any more. The map never told you. This book does, thirty times over.

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The Hidden BritainUS$47.00 Get the book