Rex Sawyer

The story of a newspaper like no other, written and printed every week for over forty years in the remote South Wiltshire village of Bowerchalke by its remarkable vicar, the Revd Edward Collett. Rex Sawyer, acclaimed Wiltshire author, lived for many years in Collett's former vicarage and found the remains of his printing activities, among much else, buried in the garden. The discovery led him to search out the newspapers and to reveal the fascinating social history told in its pages, of a village as it responded to the relentless changes of English rural life and the catastrophe of the First World War. Accompanied by many of Collett's photographs, preserved in albums in the village, this is a beautifully and touchingly written book. First published (as The Bowerchalke Parish Papers) in 1989, it was long out of print, until in 2004 for this new edition Rex thoroughly revised the text, included more photographs, and added an epilogue bringing Bowerchalke's story up to date. The 2004 edition became a local classic, and is now reissued in paperback for the first time. It is certain to enchant a new generation of readers now that almost a century has passed since Revd Collett's death.

The area of gentle rolling downland known as Salisbury Plain is divided by a number of river valleys radiating out from Salisbury like the spokes of a wheel. From the earliest times, human settlements have punctuated these valleys, as if in retreat from the sometimes bleak and unwelcoming landscape which characterises the undulating plateau of the Plain. With the advent of photography in the second half of the last century, it became possible to record for posterity something of the activities of the ordinary people who made up these village communities, and we are now able to look back on the lives, loves and labours of those who populated the valleys of the Nadder, Wylye, Till, Avon and Bourne.In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries daily existence rarely took the people who fill these pages more than a few miles from their homes. These photographs, many never published before, open a window on a way of life that has gone for ever, transformed as much by the social and cultural upheavals that have marked the last century as by the intrusions of the military. Sturdy and independent communities have been swept away by the motor car and the activities of the War Department.As well as chronicling this change, the book highlights the part played by the Plain in the early development of aviation, devoting a section to the lives – and often deaths – of the brave pioneer airmen whose efforts assisted the growth of the new aerial technology. It provides an intimate and often moving look back at a past that will provoke the curiosity of all those who think they know the area and fascinate anyone with an interest in the social history of Wiltshire.

Rising in the chalk hills to the east of Shaftesbury and fringing the Salisbury Plain, the River Nadder begins its route through the most beautiful pastoral country in south Wiltshire, its meandering course adding much to the diversity of the landscape. Fed by springs from the Donheads, the Nadder links with the River Sem north of Wardour before continuing its leisurely course through such historic settlements as Tisbury, Dinton and Wilton, the ancient capital of Wessex. The Nadder Valley has not suffered from the over exposure of tourism. Although possessing magnificent country houses, such as Wilton House, Fonthill, Pyt House and the two Wardour Castles, its charm lies in the river and its rich variety of scenery. Woods, fields, narrow waterways and gently undulating hills are the backdrop to the tiny hamlets and twisting country lanes that so delight the rural explorer.