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Walks, reviews and other articles

Walks

Walking (or hiking or rambling, call it what you will) has been a favourite activity of mine, whether it be a gentle stroll in town of country, Munro ‘bashing’ or long-distance footpaths.

I have a real passion for ‘walking through history’ (with apologies here to Sir Tony Robinson). Over the years I have walked ‘with’ the Marquis of Montrose to Inverlochy, with Sir John Moore to La Coruña (below centre), and with Stonewall Jackson along the Shenandoah Valley.

I am privileged to have been part of the Royal Geographical Society’s Discovering Britain Project since 2011.

In 2014, I was asked to lead my Tyranny and Treason walk (below right). Limiting numbers to 20, the original walk was quickly oversubscribed and since then has been repeated twice in 2015. 

As well as being informative and popular, the walk raises money for the M. E. Association, a cause which is personal to me.

Book Reviews

I have been reviewing books for the Fortress Study Group’s Casement magazine and Military History Monthly for several years. 

Whilst generally, I’m asked to review books around my areas of expertise, I have reviewed titles covering a wide sphere of military history, from Ancient Greece to the recent air war over Libya.

Museum Reviews

As I travel home and abroad, seeking out sites of sieges and fortifications, I have visited numerous military museums, most connected with the 17th century, some not. I have reviewed a number of these for Military History Monthly:

  • ‘The Pegasus Bridge Memorial Museum’, Military History Monthly, 32, (2013)
  • ‘Athlone Castle’, Military History Monthly, 50, (2014)
  • ‘Combined Military Services Museum’, Military History Monthly, 52, (2014)
  • ‘The Royal Engineers Museum’, Military History Monthly, 54, (2015)
  • ‘Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire’, Military History Monthly, 56, (2015)
  • 'The Museums of Operation Market Garden’, Military History Monthly, 66, (2016)
  • 'King John's Castle' (Limerick), Military History Monthly, 75, (2016)

Other articles and essays

Other articles and essays

As well as my works on the fortifications of Vauban, and the sieges and fortifications of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, I have written a number of other articles on associated topics:

  • ‘1798 - The Last Invasion of the British Isles’, The Age of Napoleon, 27 and 28 (1998)
  • ‘The 17th Century Fortifications of Cape Town’, Casemate, 94, (Fortress Study Group, 2012)
  • ‘The Fortifications of Boulogne’, Casemate, 94, (Fortress Study Group, 2012)
  • ‘Military History from an Early Age’, Military History Monthly, 29, (2013)
  • ‘A Campbell's Kingdom - Kilchurn Castle’, Casemate, 98, (Fortress Study Group, 2013)
  • ‘The Scilly Isles’, Military History Monthly, 39, (2013)
  • On the Borderline - A self-guided walk around Berwick-upon-Tweed, (Royal Geographical Society with IBG, 2013)
  • ‘Tudor Walls: the birth of artillery fortification in England’, Military History Monthly, 63, (2015)

The photograph on the left is of the memorial in the village of Ballinamuck, Co. Longford, which was the site of a battle (8th September 1798) which ended the French phase of the 1798 Rebellion.

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