Review of Frank Priestley's book The Wirksworth Saga, by Julie Bunting
This review is by Julie Bunting, and was published originally in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on 24th March 2003, and is reproduced with Julie's kind permission.
THE WIRKSWORTH SAGA
by Frank Priestley
It's a funny thing about Wirksworth but people who 'end up' here, as
this author puts it, can feel that this is exactly where they are meant
to be. Wirksworth has a history as varied and 'hands-on' as anywhere in
the Peak, so it would be hard for anyone not to become fascinated by
some aspect of its past.
When Frank Priestley moved here some years ago, he knew nothing about
his new home town but over the years he has pieced together this
compilation which he describes as 'A short history over the last 300
million years'. It provides a chronological and continuous outline of
anything and everything which relates to the Wirksworth of today. It
really does start at The Beginning, when the area lay beside a tropical
lagoon with small active volcanoes and water teeming with sea-life - the
very birth of the limestone quarrying industry. Quarrying warrants its
own chapter later in the book.
The Wirksworth Saga takes us past Early Man, through all the waves of
invaders up to the Normans, then slots neatly into 500 years of
historical entries, beginning with the granting of a market charter in
1306 and ending with the drilling of local volunteers in their scarlet
and blue uniforms, preparing to defend England in the event of an
invasion by Napoleon.
No mention of Wirksworth is complete without references to lead mining,
other industries and the railways, not just the Cromford and High Peak
Railway but the Midland, which had an interesting official use for the
local station. Literary connections span the years from Daniel Defoe to
D.H. Lawrence, and a tour of the town takes in events and building uses
from 1800. There is a special chapter on the Wirksworth Project, which
went such a long way to halting the decline of a town almost brought to
its knees. The final chapter and conclusion praise a town to be proud
of.
The Wirksworth Saga is available from Wirksworth Heritage Centre,
Pastmasters Bookshop in Wirksworth and The Shop in the Yard at Cromford
Mill, price £4.95. Peak Advertiser readers who may live further afield
can purchase a copy at the special price of £4 post free, direct from
the publishers: Pipers' Ash, Church Road, Christian Malford, Chippenham,
Wiltshire, SN15 4BW.
Top
[Created 15 Mar 2003. Last updated 24 Oct 2008 - 11:02 by Rosemary Lockie]