Exploring the past helps us understand the present and suggests where we might go in the future. It lets us appreciate daily life in other centuries and how decisions made long ago has built and shaped what we often see around us to-day — ancient patterns affect modern lives.

Wellington, Birley and the Pyons is based on wide reading, a detailed study of the parish registers — some of them dating from 1538 — and comparing them with more modern census returns. It is written in non-technical language and organized to make the topics obvious and the themes easy to follow. Numerous photographs and illustrations bring the sections to life, and there are some surprises hidden in the text.

The four parishes have always been geographically next to each other but how their communities related to one another is not always what we might expect. Herefordshire has not been at the centre of great national events, but the details of its history have something to contribute to the bigger picture of England and Wales. This book will be of interest to anyone who lives locally and also to people who may want to do some digging in their own area.