So you thought very little memorable happened in Wellesbourne in the last 200 years.

All right, you knew about Joseph Arch and his speech in Chestnut Square, you dimly remembered a mention of the cricket field in Tom Brown’s Schooldays, while success in Restoration Village has recently put Chedham’s Yard under the magnifying glass. But enough to justify a 350-page book?

Local historian Peter Bolton’s meticulously researched book shows how much was going on. There were many organisations, including church, chapel and sports clubs, and also many shops, far more than there are now, but just one overworked policeman.

Wellesbourne had no large properties on the scale of Charlecote Park, Walton Hall or Compton Verney, but there were several very considerable houses, such as Wellesbourne Hall. Many important properties, now lost, like The Grange and Holly Lodge, have names remembered in modern developments.

There was a Wellesbourne Season in Victorian times, with many of the larger houses being tenanted by outsiders; too many of their owners often found it difficult to make ends meet. Later, local councillors did not always agree with proposals for improving or altering the village.

Even those most knowledgeable about Wellesbourne will find something new here, though the book would be greatly improved by a map and possibly an index. It is difficult, for example, to remember exactly which house is which in, say, Chestnut Square or Church Street. And the Naples of the Midlands? Read the book and find out.

Geoff and Shiela Freeman