In this entertaining book the author identifies each of the old coaching inns which provide ample evidence of Amersham's importance as a stopping place on the great coach road from London to the Midlands. He traces the history of all the town's tanneries and proves that Weller's brewery is much older than previously believed and that its many maltings were selling vast quantities of malt to London brewers in the 17th century. He does not neglect the townspeople themselves, not least the Drakes of Shardeloes who dominated the political, religious and social life of Amersham for 350 years. Here he is able to draw on the unique knowledge of Barney Tyrwhitt Drake, a direct descendant. Julian Hunt's well-researched narrative is both comprehensive and easy to read. Splendidly illustrated, it is a significant contribution to the published history of Buckinghamshire and will be warmly welcomed in and around old Amersham itself.

Halesowen is an old place, planned and laid out by the monks of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Hales. Much has been written about its medieval past and William Shenstone's landscape gardens at the Leasowes, but this history of the town is the first to explore fully the growth of its industry, involving all levels of society in the manufacture of iron and its use in a host of products. In addition to an account of the churches and schools that catered for the needs of the growing town, he also traces the history of each shop and public house on the main streets, splendidly illustrated with elevations of the buildings specially prepared by the popular local artist, Bill Hazlehurst. These drawing should be of special interest to younger readers and more recent inhabitants in revealing the happy confusion of building styles that gave great character to the town before its redevelopment in the 1960s. A significant contribution to the published history of both Worcestershire and the Black Country, this is a very readable and well-illustrated book.

A pictorial history of Winslow, presented through a series of photographs and images. It also includes historical captions.

THIS unique collection of over 150 old photographs of Winslow has ben compiled largely from the collection of local historian Terry Foley, a former Mayor of Winslow. His own photographs are supplemented by many postcards loaned by friends in the town. Other images are supplied by the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies in Aylesbury. The photographs are accompanied by authoritative captions based on Terry's extensive interviews with older members of the community and the research of Julian Hunt, the former Local Studies Librarian for Buckinghamshire, who also lives in Winslow. The history of this small market town is traced from the eighth century, in which it was granted by Offa, King of Mercia, as an endowment for St Albans Abbey, to more recent centuries when Winslow society was dominated by the Lowndes family, builders of Winslow Hall. The authors include photographs of old farmhouses in Sheep Street and Horn Street, and of the historic Market Square, where cattle were sold until the end of the nineteenth century. They explain how the rural landscape was transformed following the enclosure acts of the mideighteenth century, and how the northern part of the town developed with the building of the workhouse in 1827 and the opening of the railway in 1850. This evocative collection of Winslow photographs shows residents at work and play, and will give pleasure to those old enough to remember many of the scenes portrayed and to those young enough to be intrigued by the history of the town.