Somerset Books

(Gordon Rendell).  The author, aged three at the start of the war in 1939, experienced the following six years with a sharp intensity.  Having an enquiring mind and time of his hands, he studied the village characters and was often…..

(Jack Sweet)  The author describes the many times and the variety of ways in which the people of Somerset enjoyed themselves – sometimes very oddly indeed – in those ’good old days’ when the world and our lives were simpler……

(Clarence Bradley).  The author, who moved to Montacute from Stoke-sub-Hamdon three years after his birth, joined the Air Training Corps in his teens.  This nurtured in him an interest in military aviation and local people’s involvement in the Second World…..

(Richard Sims)  Coker Canvas provides the first detailed account of the textile trade in the area around East and West Coker.  Textiles have formed the core of area’s economy from the 17th century and, although not as important as it once…..

(Jack Sweet) During the First World War, Yeovil men and women served on the Western Front, in Belgium and France, and many other places. Letters to and from home were welcomed by all recipients and during the four years of…..

(Ann Heeley, Louise Clapp & Liz Snelgrove)  Life is shown as it really was in the twentieth century in the words of those who have lived through great changes, drawn from a collection of over six hundred oral recordings of…..

(David Shorey)  John Aldridge’s School, Kingston School, Yeovil County School, Yeovil School: 1845, 1850, 1925, 1938, 1974, 1995; all names and dates that trace the life of a school which lived and died, but its Old Yeovilians lives on.  150…..

(Pam Woodburn)  Memories of Locking Road School.  The school was opened in 1899, and the author was a pupil there for six years from 1945.  She provides her own memories of the school, and has collected the memories of several…..

(Robin Ansell, Allan Collier & Phil Nichols)  This book is a celebration of Somerset’s photographic history, as seen through the lives and work of nearly 800 photographers. Each photographer is listed with details of where he/she was working and when,…..

(Phil Nichols)  A detailed look at the lives of 86 servicemen who were born in, or who lived in, the village before or during the Great War. In addition to the standard research sources for the period, the author has…..

(Derek Shorrocks)  A guide to tracing the history of your house in the Somerset Record Office, first published in 1988 and revised in 1998. The book includes a short section providing notes on a few successful case histories. 23 pages……

(Mick Davis and David Lassman)  In this book the local authors take a journey through Frome to discover some significant and little-known aspects of its rich and varied past. From buildings and streets to people and events, the book highlights…..

(Michael McGarvie)  A review of the origins and meanings of Frome street names, based on an original paper written by Rev W E Daniel, Vicar of East Pennard, in the late 1890s. The information has now been updated with the…..

(Michael McGarvie)  An anthology of items extracted from original documents, to illustrate the life and activities of Frome from earliest times to the present century. 176 pages.  Soft Covers.

(Mary Clark)  The book relates the history of Bathampton Down after its rabbit warren was enclosed in the early 1700s.  Many aspects of this period are covered, including its industrial heritage – farming, stone quarries and the later reservoirs. There…..

(Michael McGarvie)  A history of Frome covering more than a century.  Includes many photographs and an excellent index. For this new (fifth) edition the photographs in the book have been enhanced to provide better reproduction.  The biography and index have…..