English Heritage Red Guidebooks

Guidebooks

English Heritage's Red Guides are so much more than guide books. They bring history to life, putting each site in its historical context with vintage photographs, watercolours, reconstructed period floor plans and interviews with people who were part of the history. Alongside these unique guidebooks, English Heritage publishes colourful pictorial histories of its sites, excellent as guide books as well as offering a lasting souvenir of a visit.

Price Range

Inspire Me

Members' Handbook 2019/20

The English Heritage 2019/20 Members' and Visitors' Handbook is an informative guide to all the English Heritage sites and activities throughout the year. This year’s cover artwork is...

£10.95

Guidebook: Portchester Castle

Portchester Castle’s remarkable history begins in the 3rd century when the Romans built a fort here to combat attacks by barbarian pirates. In the 5th century it was transformed into a...

£3.50

Guidebook: Birdoswald Roman Fort

Birdoswald was one of 16 Roman forts built to guard Hadrian’s Wall – the north-western frontier of the Roman Empire. This strategic location, on a high promontory overlooking the Irthing v...

£4.00

Guidebook: Deal Castle

Deal Castle is the greatest of the three artillery forts created in the 16th century by Henry VIII to protect the important naval anchorage known as the Downs off the Kentish coast. This guidebook, wh...

£3.50

Guidebook: St Augustines Abbey

In AD 597 Augustine, a prior in Rome, was sent by Pope Gregory I to spread Christianity across southern England where, under invasions by the Jutes and the Saxons, the people had largely reverted...

£3.50

Guidebook: Peveril Castle

Even in its ruinous state, Peveril Castle is one of the most dramatic Norman castles in England. Its remote hilltop position at the head of Peak Cavern Gorge above Cave Dale, is spectacular, commandin...

£3.50

Guidebook: Orford Castle

Orford Castle, overlooking Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast, is the subject of the latest addition to the Red Guide series. Orford was built by Henry II (r.1154-89) in 1165-73 as a highly visible symb...

£3.50

Guidebook: Battle Abbey

The Battle of Hastings, 14th October 1066, was the most famous battle fought on English soil. William the Conqueror built Battle Abbey on the spot where King Harold died, and it thrived as a Benedicti...

£5.00

Guidebook: Rievaulx Abbey

Rievaulx Abbey was founded in 1132 and was the first Cistercian abbey in the north of England. It soon became one of the most famous centres of monasticism in Britain and was home to a community of ov...

£5.50

Guidebook: Sherborne Old Castle

Sherborne Old Castle was a magnificent fortified palace built in the 1120s by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, chancellor of Henry I. Sherborne was seized by King Stephen in 1139 and remained with the Crow...

£4.00

Guidebook: Cleeve Abbey

Cleeve Abbey, by archaeologist Stuart Harrison and Dr Michael Carter, Senior Historian at English Heritage, examines the architecture and history of this Cistercian abbey in Somerset, which contains s...

£3.50

Guidebook: Hailes Abbey

Hailes Abbey, by Dr Michael Carter, Senior Historian at English Heritage, explores the architecture, history and royal connections of this important Cistercian abbey in Gloucestershire, which came to ...

£4.00

Guidebook: Bishop's Waltham Palace

Bishop’s Waltham Palace was one of the grandest residences of the bishops of Winchester, the richest bishopric in medieval England. The bishops possessed vast estates and were frequently ministe...

£3.00

Guidebook: Stonehenge

Stonehenge is one of the best-known ancient monuments in the world and its global importance is reflected in its World Heritage Site status. Although its exact purpose remains a mystery, this magnific...

£6.00

Guidebook: Dover Castle

Dover Castle is one of England’s oldest and most famous fortresses. A medieval castle forms its core, but from the 1740s onwards its outer defences were dramatically reshaped in the face of the ...

£5.50

Guidebook: Eltham Palace

Eltham Palace is a building of striking contrasts. Behind the elegant façade is a stunning Art Deco mansion, built around the great hall of the medieval Eltham Palace. Eltham was initi...

£4.50

Guidebook: Apsley House

Apsley House was once the home of the 1st Duke of Wellington. The house has been a national shrine to the victor of Waterloo almost from the day the duke bought it in 1817, two years after the battle....

£5.00

Guidebook: Audley End

‘The rooms are high and hung with beautiful tapestries: the beds amply decorated with golden velvet and silk bed hangings and covers.’ From the account of the visit of Johann Ernst, Duk...

£5.50

Guidebook: Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens

Belsay has everything: a hall inspired by the Classical architecture of ancient Greece, a medieval castle with rare wall-paintings and magnificent gardens full of exotic plants and trees. This guidebo...

£4.50

Guidebook: Bolsover Castle

Perched on a ridge high above the vale, Bolsover Castle is an extraordinary 17th century aristocratic retreat, containing exceptional wall-paintings and interiors. The riding house is the earliest in ...

£4.50