Wootton Bassett books
I spent four years researching everything happened in Wootton Bassett during WW1, in painstaking detail, including the stories of all the men who served during the war.
I wrote this series of books quite some time ago when I was living in Royal Wootton Bassett. In total I spent four years researching everything happened in the area during WW1 in painstaking detail, including many months going through newspapers on microfiche, reading War Diaries, and conducting genealogical research. I went as far as I could with the documentation available at the time (more comes to light each year). I unearthed the stories of all the men who served during the war, as well as all the families who lived in the area and played their part on the home front.
All three books in the Wootton Bassett series are still in print, and are available in paperback, or on Kindle for £1.79 each.
Wootton Bassett 100 Years Ago, The Great War
tells the story of Wootton Bassett and the surrounding area, with its own unique experience of the war.
Wootton Bassett 100 Years Ago, The Town
is a house-by-house gazetteer which tells hundreds of individual stories - some short, some long. It includes literally every house in the old parts of the town.
Wootton Bassett 100 Years Ago, The Country
extends the house-by-house gazetteer into Coped Hall, Stoneover Lane, Longleaze, Woodshaw, Noremarsh, Dunnington, Bath Road, Crossways, Whitehill.
I am conscious that there are many updates and corrections needed to complete this mammoth research project to my own satisfaction, and I would love to add some of the information which has come to light since publication (largely thanks to ongoing digitisation projects). One day I hope to combine the three titles and extend them with my unpublished research into some of the hamlets and villages around Wootton Bassett, as a 'bumper book'. A project for retirement, perhaps?