Book Reviews

This book is a welcome follow-up to the excellent Beats, Boots and Thieves A history of Policing in North Bedfordshire by Des Hoar and Richard Hanscomb and still available from Des at £10. It provides a unique analysis of trends […]

A short, illustrated book for children which tells the history of Bedford and the people and events that shaped it. It starts with a colourful ‘Timeline’, touches briefly on ‘The Stone Age’ and ‘Bronze & Iron Ages’, before getting into

The Bedford Amateur Musical Society was founded in 1867. Now the Bedford Choral Society, it is still thriving. Michael Benson tells the story of the Society, from its inception and founders, its struggle to survive during the inter-war years, the

A delightful eclectic booklet, edited and prefaced by Marion Maule, providing excerpts from Dorothy Shuttleworth’s diary of her round the world trip in 1906. Dorothy’s wit and sharp observation shines through the transcript of the diary she kept of her

Methodism was a major social movement during the 18th and 19th centuries, transforming individual lives and popular culture, as well as influencing opinion and political participation. Rodell describes three phases in the growth of Methodism within Bedfordshire (from 1736 to

Two well-researched, well-illustrated and readable booklets on the development of Willington. The first – Willington in the Eighteenth Century The Marlborough period – provides an account of Willington during the mid-18th century, when it belonged to the Duke of Marlborough.

The ‘Pevsner’ series, founded in 1951 by Nikolaus Pevsner, will be well known to many. This is the first comprehensive update and revision of Pevsner’s guide to Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough since its publication in 1968. The new edition observes

Neither technically a ‘local book’, nor necessarily of general interest, but included because provides an excellent, scholarly review of the latest thinking and evidence of the evolution of open field systems in England – key to understanding the development of

Windmills and watermills are a ‘signature’ element in the rural landscape of southern England, celebrated by artists and travel writers alike. Think of Flatford Mill, or Ivinghoe Windmill set dramatically on the Chiltern scarp above Ivinghoe. They are more than

Those who remember the Bedfordshire Magazine (the A5 size publication ‘now sadly defunct’ and not the more recent County Council’s coloured publication of the same name) will have fond memories of Bernard West’s Sketch-books. These were pen and ink drawings