Stenlake Publishing

Stenlake Publishing Independent publishing house founded in 1987. Stenlake's books hark back to a slower, quieter, simpler age.

Our 'Old' and 'Bygone' list of titles is bathed in nostalgia, replete with sepia images of long lost neighbourhoods, great houses and architecture, industries and skills that made Britain great and ways of life missed by many. We also cater to collectors and enthusiasts with our luxurious books on china, aviation, the history of ships and shipbuilding, horticulture and our detailed 'Lost Railways'

series. We also have some beautifully illustrated children's titles. We invite you to log on to our our website, pour yourself a glass of wine or a cup of tea, relax and browse a while.

This was first published in 1967 as a slim volume by A T Newham going through two printings. In 1989 Oakwood published a...
29/07/2025

This was first published in 1967 as a slim volume by A T Newham going through two printings. In 1989 Oakwood published a new edition by Michael Foster incorporating Newham’s work and it is this edition which we are have now reprinted many years on since it was last available, with a new cover design. The railway, between Listowel and Ballybunion, County Kerry, Ireland opened in 1888. Unusually it was a monorail built by the Lartigue Construction Company of France. Until the First World War the railway was able to keep its head above water financially due to both local and tourist traffic, but the war and the turbulence that followed played havoc with the finances. When the government of the new Free State were considering grouping railways into the Great Southern Railway, the Listowel & Ballybunion didn’t figure in their plans. By 1924 the inevitable had happened and the last train had ran.
With 112 pages and 100 illustrations retail price £14.95.

Where we publish books about presidents and prime ministers follow. As I write Keir Starmer has arrived at Turnberry Hot...
28/07/2025

Where we publish books about presidents and prime ministers follow. As I write Keir Starmer has arrived at Turnberry Hotel in South Ayrshire having travelled there from Prestwick Airport. Presumably he went in a motorcade better able to negotiate the Whitletts Roundabout than I am. Up until 1930 Keir would have been able to take a train from Prestwick south through Ayr and thence down the picturesque Maidens and Dunure Light Railway which went on to the golf resort and hotel at Turnberry built by the old Glasgow & South Western Railway in the 1900s. Passenger services part of the way were revived after WW2 when Billy Butlin opened a holday camp at Heads of Ayr having snapped up a redundant naval base. Meantime potato trains continued to use the Turnberry line until closure in 1968. Published in 2010 our Oakwood title on the line was written by Stuart Rankin and the late David McConnell. This is a very comprehensive study of the line at just over 300 pages and comprising 21 chapters and seven appendices. We still have stock from the original printing and, thanks to 15 years of inflation whittling away at it, the 2010 published price of £19.95 means this is now great value.

After some lunch, chit-chat and a couple of rounds of Crazy Golf, messrs Starmer and Trump are using the lucky dip option on the Stenlake website and heading off to Balmedie in Aberdeenshire, possibly mugging up on the history of the area using Rosie Nicol's book.

This seminal book was first published in hardback in 2001 and reprinted in 2004, that edition selling out in 2017. A new...
08/07/2025

This seminal book was first published in hardback in 2001 and reprinted in 2004, that edition selling out in 2017. A new edition has been in preparation by the author since before then and the book has become a rarity! So, due to public demand we have reprinted the 2004 edition which is now available as a chunky softback. The author describes his motivation as “a celebration of the small, narrow gauge Hunslet locomotives from the slate quarries of North Wales which have survived into preservation…but it rapidly became apparent that it was impossible to ignore the historic context of these engines in their working days.” Sixteen chapters include twelve on the different locomotive types plus “The Background”, “The Anatomy of a Hunslet”, “The Drivers”, and “Where They Work Now”. Three appendices include “Models” and a Locomotive Index. This new edition is in softback with 256 pages and a massive 197 illustrations. It retails at £24.95 and is widely available from specialist railway booksellers and of course directly from ourselves post free. Order online on our website or by phone during office hours (our number is 01290 551122).

This posthumously published book, an abridged version of a much larger manuscript prepared by the late Ralph M. Caple, i...
22/06/2025

This posthumously published book, an abridged version of a much larger manuscript prepared by the late Ralph M. Caple, is a railway social history of the Western Valley lines of Monmouthshire, drawn from newspaper accounts, magazine articles and oral history collected by the author. To tell its story as fully as possible Ralph found everyone he could to interview and recorded their experiences of being part of the railway community. Written sources form the basis of the background history Ralph has provided, enhanced by the verbal accounts which he carefully cross-checked for consistency. Unlike many railway histories, this book puts the men who did the work to the forefront, really bringing the story to life, and in a structured informative way. It's divided into chapters in the way that the other Oakwood books are, including The Permanent Way, Motive Power, Accidents and Transgressions, the World Wars and more. With 176 pages and 145 illustrations it retails at £18.95 and is available from various railway and transport booksellers, as well as local ones like Rossiter Books in Monmouth.

Very sad too about the passing of Bob Yate, author of a number of Oakwood Press books. My predecessor, Jane Kennedy and ...
16/05/2025

Very sad too about the passing of Bob Yate, author of a number of Oakwood Press books. My predecessor, Jane Kennedy and her son Ian, knew Bob better than me. After our established Oakwood Press editor retired I quickly found a replacement, but when their circumstances changed I had to step in and edit Bob's Birmingham New Street book as my first (and maybe my last) Oakwood editing job. I have edited a number of Oakwood titles now but no Oakwood author I have read since has demonstrated the technical grasp of the workings of a railway that Bob had. He really knew his stuff like the back of his hand, probably a bit better than that. The photo shows that last book, but this isn't the end as work was advanced as far as galley proofs on his next book and Bob had been through these and returned them to Ian Kennedy. In time that book will be published. Our condolences to Bob's family.

Very sad to announce the recent passing of Gordon Shepherd, author of several books on the subject of Africa for us. Des...
16/05/2025

Very sad to announce the recent passing of Gordon Shepherd, author of several books on the subject of Africa for us. Despite living in the Scottish town of Larkhall, Gordon had an interest in British Central and East Africa, especially what was Rhodesia now Zambia and Zimbabwe. Having started Stenlake Publishing with Lanarkshire books we thought it would be fun to publish something on Africa by our Lanarkshire resident author. Gordon's books on Livingstone and the Victoria Falls, and the railways of Zambia and Zimbabwe sold in respectable numbers and we even managed to get some out to Zambia courtesy of our friends at Gadsden Books. Gordon passed away after a short illness and we send our condolences to his loved ones.

The seaside resort of Fleetwood lies at the north-west tip of the Fylde Peninsula in Lancashire and was founded in the 1...
16/05/2025

The seaside resort of Fleetwood lies at the north-west tip of the Fylde Peninsula in Lancashire and was founded in the 1820s, the railway reaching it in 1840. Fleetwood was a planned new town, but not in the plans was the fishing industry which developed through subsequent decades and made the town a leading fishing port until the trade declined in the 1960s and 70s. When a new dock opened in the 1870s Fleetwood became an important ferry port also for Belfast and Douglas, Isle of Man. The 20th century saw the development of visitor facilities reflected in the book’s illustrations which are accompanied by informative captions. Across the River Wyre were Knott End, reached by a brief ferry ride, and Preesall. The book retails at £11.95 and is available from our website and at the excellent Fleetwood Museum.

Very sad to announce the death on Saturday of Arthur Ord-Hume, author of many Stenlake aviation books. Arthur was a good...
31/05/2024

Very sad to announce the death on Saturday of Arthur Ord-Hume, author of many Stenlake aviation books. Arthur was a good age so his passing was not unexpected, but it's still a huge loss to the aviation and the mechanical music world. He wrote over 20 books for us, and previous to that had worked with other publishers and even published the odd title himself. His latest and last book for us was on his "baby", the Luton Minor. I've shown the cover below,but to see what Arthur was all about have a look at this post-war Pathe News clip of him on Youtube from 1953 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0GRi_UGNxU

Brechin is one of those towns you might visit and wonder why is all this here, slightly off the beaten track? The answer...
16/05/2024

Brechin is one of those towns you might visit and wonder why is all this here, slightly off the beaten track? The answer lies in its origin as an early religious site, with a cathedral now over 1,000 years old. A castle and a turbulent history followed and after that Brechin became a Royal Burgh and a market town, which in turn segued into its unlikely position at the forefront of the Angus linen industry using flax imported from Russia and Northern Europe. Besides spinning, weaving and bleaching linen Brechin also had a whisky distillery on account of its agricultural surroundings. The 19th century saw the town develop and grow further and although the photos in the book are mainly early 20th century they reflect Brechin in the late years of this growth spurt. Since then the weaving industry has closed, the cathedral downgraded to parish church, the railway connections severed and the town bypassed by the A90. The Caledonian Railway operating the old branch line is just one way in which Brechin looks to reboot itself as a tourist destination. With 48 pages in the traditional Stenlake old towns format the book has 56 photographs included and retails at £11.95.

This new book, using previously unpublished photographs by the late ENC Haywood, is a celebration of his love of trams a...
16/05/2024

This new book, using previously unpublished photographs by the late ENC Haywood, is a celebration of his love of trams and his love of the city of Aberdeen which he visited at least once a year to visit relatives. On his journeys between his native Nottingham and Aberdeen in the late 1940s, 50s and 60s he photographed the UK’s surviving tram networks, railways and other industry. Aberdeen trams were close to his heart perhaps because the city had purchased many of Nottingham’s trams when its network closed in 1936. Aberdeen’s trams stopped running in 1958.

Mr Heywood was a proficient photographer who understood good composition and sought out unusual vantage points. Although he was interested in the trams his photographs of them feature plenty of background so the book works in its own right as a collection of beautifully taken street scenes of Aberdeen’s city centre and outlying districts at this time. His early photographs, taken during the austerity of the post-war years, are in black and white but by the mid 1950s he was sometimes using colour film so the book is a mix of these. It has 48 pages and 53 photographs included with a retail price of £12.95.

I absolutely love this book. This is a quirky illustrated travelogue memoir by the inimitable and now retired Irish-bor...
15/05/2024

I absolutely love this book. This is a quirky illustrated travelogue memoir by the inimitable and now retired Irish-born Glasgow journalist Hugh Dougherty, of his week touring and exploring Ireland by public transport when he was an 18 year old. It’s fully illustrated with his own photographs and a picture of his long-kept battered and sellotaped 1969 summer trains timetable! With just the cash in your pocket and no atms or mobile phones if things went awry travel in 1969 was a bit different from today. In Hugh’s recollections you can feel his excitement, and the fear too! Plus his encounters with people and the joys of being at the sort of tender age when some people could be kind and some would try to take advantage. We've all been there (though sometimes it is hard to remember...),

Locations include Loughrea Station, Cork (with a train going down the middle of the street behind a flagman), Connolly Station in Dublin, Portarlington, Cork Kent Station, Cork Bus Station, Cobh, Tralee, Attymon Junction, Pearse Station, a mad crazy busy Wexford Quay, Howth (with a GNR (1) ‘BUT’ railcar set), and Waterside Station in Derry. The book retails at £12.95 as it is mainly in colour and includes 46 illustrations plus Hugh's travelogue. It's a different kind of railway book for sure. Please check with them that they still have stock but besides ourselves at www.stenlake.co.uk these other booksellers have been or are stockists: Douglas Blades, Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, Tornado Books and Hobbies, Rail Books, Camden Miniature Steam, MDS Booksales, Bill Hudson Books, Booklaw, Desmond McGlyy in Dublin, DC KIts-DE Videos, Platform 5 Publishing and more.

The author’s first love was trains. With British Rail he started as a porter, later becoming a signalman, but after bein...
15/05/2024

The author’s first love was trains. With British Rail he started as a porter, later becoming a signalman, but after being made redundant for the third time in three years he headed off to Ireland for fresh adventures with his new wife and his Rolleiflex Model T camera. This book is the result and includes images taken by the author between 1974 and 1982, also four “must-haves” from 1956 by Peter Barlow. Locations featured include Kilonan Junction, Limerick Engine Shed, Newcastle West, Rathkeale Station, Ballingrane Junction, Patrickswell, Foynes Junction, Colbert Station Yard, Limerick Check Cabin, Lisnagary Station and Dromkeen Signal Box. The rrp is £11.95 and the book is available from ourselves at www.stenlake.co.uk and other transport book retailers. Please check with them before travelling to ensure they have stock of the book but the following have all had the book from us: Railway Prservation Society of Ireland, Tornado Books and Hobbies in Birmingham, Douglas Blades, MDS Booksales, Rail Books, Booklaw in Nottingham, Platform 5 Publishing in Sheffield, Desmond McGlynn of Dublin, Bill Hudson Books, and Camden Miniature Steam.

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In an age of change Stenlake Publishing is an old-fashioned independent book publisher based in the west of Scotland in the heart of Burns country. We are best known for our books on old towns, transport and industrial history, but we have a thousand titles in print between our various imprints namely Stenlake Publishing, Oakwood Press (railways mainly) and Alloway Publishing (Robert Burns & other general interest titles). We also have books on bee-keeping, horticulture, studio pottery and some other odds and ends. All our books are shown on our website at www.stenlake.co.uk but please like our page to keep abreast of new titles and quirky commentary. You can buy or books on-line on our website, from other online retailers, from good bookshops (any bookshop still open qualifies for the epithet good), on the phone, or by calling at our Catrine factory shop Monday to Friday 9 to 5 except holidays.