One of Mike Salter's fine county gazetteers, although the histories and descriptions can come from elderly sources. This is a pretty comprehensive guide to the castles of Staffordshire and the Former West Midlands County. The detail on individual sites is good. The book is well illustrated and the plan and diagrams are very good. However, the book is spoilt by an ugly font. This is improved in the second edition but this does not cover the West Midlands.