This book describes many different sources of local history discovered by the authors in the course of extensive research and travel throughout Britain and Ireland. Carefully chosen examples and specially taken photographs show how disparate elements combine to broaden our understanding of local communities in the past. Local history is discovered through printed books, local records, national archives, museum collections, newspapers, pictures, maps and, of course, the vigorous memories of local folk. The landscape is a vital source whose every feature adds a chapter or a footnote to an unfolding story that extends far beyond the reach of memory and written record, deep into prehistory and to the very beginnings of settled society in every locality.