Peter Leach

The Roman villa at Great Witcombe, Gloucestershire was discovered in 1818, and has subsequently been excavated several times, most recently by Ernest Greenfield (1960-73) whose work forms the basis of this book. By the later 3rd and 4th centuries, the villa had developed into a sumptuous country house of a courtyard plan, which included several mosaic pavements, two suites of baths and a prominent colonnaded central gallery and portico. It is suggested here that the villa belonged to the descendants of a veteran, settled on an estate established here at the foundation of the colonia at Gloucester.

Family firms are to be found in every sector of commercial activity. Commitment, family values and pride in the business are typically their special strengths, yet they also face major challenges in reconciling the needs of the business with those of the family. Drawing on the author's extensive experience of working with and advising some of the world's most successful business families, this new and updated edition of Family Enterprises: The Essentials explains the pitfalls, tensions and competing demands that destroy too many family businesses. These problems can be avoided, and Peter Leach reveals the techniques and strategies needed to do so. Running a successful family business is always a huge challenge, but this book offers real insight and guidance on how to keep both business and family united and buoyant.

The West Riding of Yorkshire was the largest of England’s historic counties. This volume, the first of two for the area, covers the northern half of the territory from the outskirts of York to the edge of the Lake District. It is full of contrasts, from the urbanised landscape of the cities of Leeds, with its proud civic buildings by Cuthbert Brodrick, and Bradford, possessor of one of the finest collections of commercial warehouses in the country, to their hinterland of tight-knit mill-towns and villages pushing into the Pennines. There can be found the highly distinctive houses of the seventeenth-century minor gentry, and the substantial yeoman farmers and clothiers. To the north-west are the still sparsely populated Yorkshire Dales – Ruskin’s ‘truly wonderful country’, its beauties and curiosities admired by tourists since the eighteenth century. On the gentler eastern edge of the Pennines are the major survivals of the Cistercian Order: Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, the nearby cathedral town of Ripon and spa town of Harrogate, and the opulently agricultural ‘broad acres’ beyond, forming part of the Vale of York, counting among its monuments the magnificent designed landscape of Bramham Park.

Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit - Monograph Series 1Written by Peter Ellis, Gwilym Hughes, Peter Leach, Catharine Mould and Jon SterenbergDescribes the results of archaeological investigations at a number of sites undertaken by Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit in 1996. New prehistoric sites were found along the length of the road corridor which, from Alconbury Hill to Norman Cross, coincides with Ermine Street. Here the major Roman road would have taken on additional importance where it skirted the fen edge. The book reports on a number of excavations along this section.