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This website, drtomsbooks, is a collection of documents written by Dr Tom Robertson. You can read more about Tom on the ‘About the Author‘ page.

Each document is accessed by clicking on the relevant item on the menu, immediately above, which gives access by way of links to PDF files ,which can be viewed on-line or downloaded.

There are a large number of photographs on this website, which has no income and is of course free to access, and trawl for information. Many of the photographs were taken by the website author, but others have come from the web; those, taken, were not protected from copying, but should anyone object to their presence here, they can have them removed immediately by making contact, by way of the comments facility. A statement like this has also appeared for a long time in other places on the website, but is inserted here to ensure visibility.

Please go to the ‘About the Author’ Page to find important comments about the future of the website

The Preparation of the Documents on the Website entailed the Purchase of a Large Number of Relevant Books, some of which, are now being made Available For Sale here   

Contents of the Website – accessed by clicking on the titles at the top of the home page, are as follows.

1. Historic Bridges of Britain; is a unique document which presents information and photographs for 935 bridges, dating from before 1700, many standing as built, but all of which have surviving coherent elements; it is almost a century, since a comparable survey was made by Edwin Jervoise. The document uses the data to make comparisons, and draw conclusions about bridge building from medieval times onward.
2. Historical Journeys along British Rivers; contains accounts of journeys from source to mouth along 56 rivers, around Great Britain. The descriptions highlight the landscape, and historical features, with a focus on bridges and watermills. Appendices prepared by Alastair Robertson, give the locations and identify the functions of well over10000 mills of all types in the river catchments, and consider the implications of this data.
3. Bridges over the Lower Water of Leith; presents Alastair Robertson’s take on the many bridges, which have carried railways, roads, and paths over Edinburgh’s river. The account is based on Alastair’s regular walks along the Water of Leith, and utilises many of his photographs.
4. Contemporary Road Journeys with a Strong Historical Perspective: A number of accounts of virtual journeys within the British road system, are accessible by way of this document. They are based on observations made during actual journeys in the period from 1970 to 2020, backed by information obtained from desk top exercises. The focus is on historical aspects with attention given to the landscape, especially the built environment, commercial developments, and notable people associated with places on the routes. The accounts are as follows; (i) All of my Roads Led from Middlesbrough (ii) A Contemporary Road Journey through the English Heartland and the Welsh Marches (iii) A Contemporary Circuit through Southern England
5. Earls of Danby and Shaftesbury; is a double biography of two of the most significant political figures of the 2^nd half of the 17^th century. The former was first minister for more than 10 years, and was a key player in the Revolution of 1688, but also spent 5 years as a prisoner in the Tower of London. The latter served Cromwell, and King Charles II as a member of the Cabal, but later opposed the government, and was a founder of the Whig political party.
6. Marshal-Duke of Luxemburg; is the only biography in English of one of a trio of great French generals of the 17^th Century, who served King Louis XIV; the others were the Great Condé, and Marshal Turenne. Luxemburg had a turbulent career, often losing favour with the King, but won a string of victories, in the 1670s and 1690s, notably against armies led by King William III, who never bettered him.
7. Lord Liverpool; deals with the career of the early 19^th century Prime Minister, who held the office for 15 years between 1812 and 1827, after holding other senior positions in the previous decade. His government achieved much, including the defeat of Napoleon, avoiding revolution or major disturbances in the difficult years of depression after the conclusion of the wars, and starting a process of liberalisation in areas such as the economy, trade, and judicial policy. Yet, his self-effacing personality led to his being under-rated until recent times; the account was conceived as a corrective.
8. Early Georgian Britain – Soldiers and Statesmen; contains a set of mini-biographies of political and military figures, prominent in the first half of the 18^th century. I do not include Walpole and Marlborough, the most important in their fields, as they have been considered by many historians, but focus on the likes of James Stanhope, who has a claim to be Britain’s greatest Foreign Secretary, though he previously failed as a headstrong general, and the 2^nd Duke of Argyll, who was influential as both politician and general.
9. Spain and Great Britain at War in the Early Modern Era – 1558 – 1760; Spain and England, and later Great Britain found themselves at war with each other, or on opposite sides in wider conflagrations, on 12 occasions during the period. The historically aware think they know of the late 16^th century, when the Great Armada was defeated in 1588, but there is a tendency to focus only on confrontations with France thereafter. This account shows that for all that Spanish power was in decline, they largely held their own against Great Britain in the regular struggles which followed.
10. Greater Medieval Religious Houses; is a compendium of 751 religious institutions, which functioned in the medieval period, before the Reformation. Information and photographs are provided for abbeys, priories, friaries, secular colleges, chantries, cathedrals, minsters, and the establishments of the Knights Templar, and Knights Hospitaller, along with a few hospitals, if they have left tangible masonry remains. Parish churches, however grand, and granges are not included.
11. A Selection of Interesting Castles; is a compendium of 944 castles, built prior to 1600, which have left masonry remains. Information and photographs are provided for all of them, and floor plans for many of the more complex. A few observations are made on variations in design across the country, and with time.
12. Miscellaneous Essays; are a set of shortish articles on various subjects, as indicated by the listing below.

• A Scottish Jacobean Politician – Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline
• An Essay on Golf
• Starting Working Life in Middlesbrough in the Early1970s
• Musings on the Philosophy of Science
• The Life and Times of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk
• Some Thoughts on History
• The Campaigns of Field Marshal August von Mackensen (1849 – 1945) on the Eastern Front during the 1st World War