Welcome

Welcome to the website of Roy and Lesley Adkins. We are husband-and-wife historians, archaeologists and authors and are based in south-west England, close to Exeter in Devon. For many years we had a career as field archaeologists, but writing books and research took over. We are currently involved in maritime research.

By using our website’s menu (on the left of your screen or at the top of a smartphone), you can see our Latest News, read our collection of Newsletters (with all kinds of fascinating information), check out our maritime research (on the Lloyd’s Register and Maritime History page) and find out a bit about us.

Our website also has pages on the books we have had published. Our first book was The Handbook of British Archaeology, since when we have written many other books on historical and archaeological themes, ranging from detailed reference books to popular non-fiction. Click on the menu links for Jack Tar, Trafalgar, Gibraltar, The War for All the Oceans, When There Were Birds, Jane Austen’s England, The Handbook of British Archaeology, Empires of the Plain, The Keys of Egypt and The Little Book of Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

On the page called Our Other Books, there is information on our archaeological reference books: Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, Dictionary of Roman Religion, Introduction to the Romans, A Field Guide to Somerset Archaeology, Talking Archaeology: A Handbook for Lecturers and Organisers, Abandoned Places, An Introduction to Archaeology, Archaeological Illustration, Under the Sludge: Beddington Roman Villa, and Neolithic Stone and Flint Axes from the River Thames.

Another website page is devoted to Foreign Editions of our books, seventeen languages so far.There is also a page called Events and Interviews, giving some information on the talks and interviews we have given, such as at literary festivals, while the page called Articles, Features and Pictures has a summary of features published in various magazines, with a little piece at the end on our photography. There is also a link to our intermittent blog, which contains further stories.