THE past and present of the villages of Great Bedwyn and Little Bedwyn unfolds in a new history book called The Book of The Bedwyns.

The team of authors includes founder members of the history societies of both villages that were founded in the early 1990s and merged in 1999.

Dozens of villagers have contributed to the book indirectly by providing archive photographs and their recollections of life in the Bedwyns in bygone days.

The result is a glossy-covered hardback book of 160 pages that tells the story of the two villages through the years up to and including their Millennium celebrations.

Unusually the book has come about because of an approach made to some of the village historians by publishers Halsgrove from Tiverton in Devon.

Halsgrove has published many local history books in other West Country counties including Dorset and Somerset but never before in Wiltshire.

Bill Marchant Smith, who chaired the Bedwyn History Steering Group, which put the book together, said: "It was the publishers who approached the village, presumably because they wanted to get their foot in the door in Wiltshire."

It has meant that the lavish book littered with photographs has not cost anyone in the village a penny to produce.

The publishers have promised that if and when the book goes to a second print, royalties will be paid to the Bedwyn History Society.

Retired Army officer Mr Marchant Smith who has lived in Great Bedwyn since 1969, used the old military technique of delegation to get the book written.

He led the steering group that consisted of six other members of the village history society each of whom was given the responsibility for writing a chapter on a particular aspect.

The compilers were Mr Marchant Smith, Graham Bathe, Anthony Gotley, Andrew Hutchinson, Ann Lane, Ian Mackintosh and Val Patrick.

Sketches and drawings were contributed by Tony Adcock, Ruth Cooper, Mick Goss, Anthony Gotely, Angela Rawson and Yvonne Slade.

Dozens of villagers contributed by digging out cherished photographs of past events and scenes and with their recollections of life in bygone Bedwyn.

In the foreword Bedwyn's district councillor Rosemary Cummins recalled the first meeting held in the Cross Keys to discuss the book.

At that time said Coun Cummins, villagers were working to prepare a Village Design Statement and a revised conservation area statement for Little Bedwyn.

"Two years later all three adorn our bookshelves and are widely recognised to be of exceptionally high quality," wrote Coun Cummins.

"Indeed, here is proof of the vitality of a community and its spirit, for these demanding projects for the fruit of voluntary effort and commitment."

In his introduction Mr Marchant Smith said there was evidence of settlements in the area of the Bedwyns for more than 4,000 years.

He wrote: "Traces of these still exist in the landscape and history books are full of the deeds and achievements of earlier local inhabitants.

"This book does attempt to do more than cover the highlights of our past in a way that appeals both to serious historians and to those with a more general interest in days gone by."

Great Bedwyn, which once boasted a town hall standing in the triangle where Church Street and High Street join, never quite developed into the commercial centre it once promised to be, said Mr Marchant Smith.

The Book of the Bedwyns, priced at £19.99, is available from Great Bedwyn Post Office and the White Horse Bookshop in Marlborough.

More than 655 were sold in the first few weeks after publication.