I went to Sheffield from the beautiful St Pancras station last weekend to speak about my latest book: “Unbroken Chains: A 5,000 year history of African enslavement.”

I was fortunate enough to have a great audience at the University of Sheffield’s “Off the Shelf” festival, but I used the opportunity to take photographs along the way.

I hope you enjoy them. The blast furnace I show is a Bessemer converter, invented in 1856 to smelt iron. This furnace was working until 1974 – the last of its kind!

Contemplating a journey at St Pancras Station
Hurrying to catch a train at St Pancras
Sheffield Town Hall at sunrise

Commemorating walkers and ramblers – a plaque on the side of Sheffield Town Hall
The last Bessemer converter
Detail of the Bessemer converter
Sheffield fountain
Another traveller, on the train home