Publications
We (Peter, author and Elaine, administrator) publish as "Broomlee Publications". There are now many books for sale, largely relating to Peter's key interests, plus two children's books by Megan Walker, our daughter. (See the full list below). To find out information about particular books e-mail publications@broomlee.org and Elaine can send you further information. All books can be posted first class, with an invoice that gives details for payment by bank transfer or by cheque, or you can buy via PayPal those listed with PayPal links below.
The best selling book is Reading the Fabric: an investigative guide to the medieval churches of Northumberland. This gives details of all of the medieval churches in the county, with plans, photographs and a ‘walk round’ guide.
The most recent publication is Coast of Saints, Coast of Ghosts: an antiquarian peregrination along the south coast of Fife. This is Peter's first book based around our new location. It includes his own line drawings of interesting remnants, looking at what has come and gone over the years along the coast of Fife between Kincardine and Crail.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Broomlee Publications exists primarily to publish works by Peter F Ryder, FSA, relating to his specialisms. The following titles are currently available to purchase directly from Broomlee Publications (publications@broomlee.org – please include the postal address to which the book(s) should be sent). In all cases an invoice will be enclosed with the book – payment can be made by cash, cheque or bank transfer. (RRP is the price that you should expect to pay at a bookshop or online, excluding p&p.) For bundles, the postage and packing cost will usually be less than the individual totals.
| Title | Book price (direct from publisher) | P&P where relevant | Total cost | RRP (exc p&p) |
| Memoirs of a Moldwarp (few copies) | £6.00 | £3.00 | £9.00 | £8.75 |
| The Death and Resurrection of St Helen's, Eston and the Old Churches of Cleveland, together with an appendix detailing their remarkable Cross Slabs | £5.00 | £4.00 | £9.00 | £10.00 |
| St Cuthbert's Way: An Alternative Companion | £4.50 | £1.50 | £6.00 | £6.00 |
| The Stave Churches of Norway: an English Guide | £6.00 | £3.00 | £9.00 | £8.00 |
| Swaledale above and beneath (illustrated by John Longstaff) | £7.00 | £3.00 | £10.00 | £10.00 |
| Reading the Fabric: an interpretative guide to the medieval churches of Northumberland | £22.00 | £5.00 | £27.00 | £27.00 |
| Stones and Stories: some Medieval Monuments in Eastern Dumfries | £6.00 | £3.00 | £9.00 | £9.00 |
| A Tale of Three Churches: Bellingham, Corsenside, Elsdon | £6.00 | £2.00 | £8.00 | £9.00 |
| Winged Spirits and Death’s Heads: the 18th century headstones of Elsdon churchyard | £5.00 | £2.00 | £7.00 | £8.00 |
| Three Churches and Winged Spirits if sold as a pair | £10.00 | £3.00 | £13.00 | |
| Monastic Sites in Northumberland | £8.00 | £3.00 | £11.00 | £12.00 |
| Dissent in Darlington | £8.00 | £3.00 | £11.00 | £12.00 |
| North York Moors, above and below (with John Dale) | £8.00 | £3.00 | £11.00 | £12.00 |
| The Ebenezer Project Volume II: Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in County Durham (excluding Tyne and Wear) | £15.00 | £5.00 | £20.00 | £22.00 |
| The Ebenezer Project Volume III: Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in Northumberland (excluding Tyne and Wear) | £15.00 | £5.00 | £20.00 | £22.00 |
| Teesdale Above and beneath (illustrated by John Longstaff)_ | £6.00 | £3.00 | £9.00 | £8.00 |
| Coast of Saints, Coast of Ghosts | £10.00 | £3.00 | £13.00 | £12.00 |
| Children’s books by Megan Walker (Peter’s daughter): | ||||
| My Garden Bird Book (photos MWImages) | £5.00 | £2.00 | £7.00 | £8.00 |
| The Adventure of Ahaz the Ammonite, illustrated by Peter Ryder | £5.00 | £2.00 | £7.00 | £8.00 |
We can also supply copies of Peter’s book Towers and Bastles: defensible sites in Northumberland, published in December 2021 by Northern Heritage, £19.99 including p&p. The Ebenezer Project Volume I: Tyne and Wear is available via Vindomara Solutions, price £23.14.
Memoirs of a Moldywarp
Episodes of Underground Exploration by Peter Ryder with cartoons by Cluff
This is Pete’s caving book; you can buy it here for £8.75.
It is about caving, that is, the practise of going down into natural limestone caves, exploring then, mapping them, and generally enjoying the underground environment, and the company of like-minded people who also find this is one of their pleasures. It is not a scientific treatise, and does not seek to relate events that changed the world. Writing it was merely a pleasurable exercise, to some extent self-indulgent, which enabled the author to relive in mind forty years of speleology without suffering the pain that reliving it in body would have meant.
Peter Ryder is a founder member of the Moldywarps Speleological Group. Cluff, who did the drawings, is an old school friend and also an the original Moldywarps, who cartoons full time (you can see his work every day in ‘The Northern Echo’ but has also figured in such august publications as Punch and Private Eye).
The Cross Slabs of Brancepeth...
after the fire, a major archaeological discovery by Peter F Ryder
Price is £5.00 plus £1.00 postage and packing.
When St Brandon's Church at Brancepeth in County Durham was gutted by fire in September 1998 the virtually complete destruction of its unique fittings and furnishings was one of the greatest art/historical losses that the North East has suffered in the last century or so.
However, as the burned-out church was slowly reconstructed, literally dozens of medieval cross slab grave covers came to light, eventually totalling over a hundred. Peter supervised archaeological recording throughout the reconstruction, and in this book describes and discusses this remarkable collection of medieval monuments, and what their varied and beautiful cross designs, emblems and symbols might mean.
Also included is a section detailing how the post-fire recording aided our understanding of the complex structural history of the church itself.