News 2025
Tom Rolt at Wharf Station on the Talyllyn Railway in 1951
LTC Rolt and Railways - Angus Buchanan Memorial Lecture
In the morning of 15th November 2025, Dr Victoria Owens of the Bristol Industrial Archaeology Society is giving an illustrated talk on Rolt and the Railways. This is BIAS' contribution to the nationwide celebration of 200 years of railways in the UK.
The talk will take place at the Brunel Institute alongside Brunel's SS Great Britain. Visitors are welcome from 10.30 to 12.30.For more details and how to apply, please visit the BIAS website.
New Rolt book
The historian of waterways, Joseph Boughey recently (November 2024) published a book of essays focusing on Rolt's earlier life and work, before he devoted his time to writing professionally.
Boughey explores the landscapes that Rolt knew, the organicist movement of the 1930's and 40's, English canals and navigable rivers from the 1930's to the 50's, and the nature of craft and craftspeople.
Read more about the book and buy it from Amazon.Background article: writing v. campaigning
To accompany the book's publication, Joseph Boughey wrote an article using LTC Rolt as an example to wonder whether books or active campaigns were more effective in promoting the preservation of England's waterways and railways.
Read his article on the History Press website.
Rolt's ghost stories
Two of Tom Rolt's ghost stories from his collection Sleep No More have recently re-appeared in anthologies published by the British Library.
Circles of Stone - Weird Tales of Pagan Sites and Ancient Rites, published in 2023, features Tom's story New Corner, which is clearly based on the Prescott Hill Climb.
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And more recently Tom's story, Cwm Garon, re-appeared in 2025 in the anthology The Wayfarers Weird - Wild Tales of Uncanny Rambles.
Go to Amazon to buy both Circles of Stone and The Wayfarer's Weird.