Locals celebrate Past & Present in rural West Wight
edited by Mark Hammer
A time-lapse picture of life in a special part of the Island, combining childhood memories and retirement pleasures, changes in landscape and agricultural working, the comings and goings of village life.
Even a brief look at the Ordnance Survey map of the West Wight reveals a swathe of open countryside at its very heart, fringed on three sides by towns and villages and on the fourth by the natural barrier of the Downs.
In their time these fields have been the site of many settlements, and though the detail of the landscape has changed over the years, there has been relatively little development to detract from its essentially historic character, evidenced by manor houses, farms and cottages.
The threat of a huge industrial wind farm bringing permanent and irrevocable change prompted those living in the area to reflect upon what they personally find so special about it and to celebrate both its past and its present.
The Editor writes: ‘This small book does not pretend to be either a history of an area or simply a collection of memories, but rather a mosaic made up of the many ways in which this particular locality is seen as special by those who live here.’
14.5 x 21 cm paperback 80 pages £4.50
A typical double-page spread (click to enlarge)
