Barley to Bayonets: a biography of nineteenth-century Bulford, before the soldiers arrived, by Peter Ball

Until the end of the century, when tracts of Salisbury Plain were purchased for military training, Bulford was a small and fairly typical downland Wiltshire village. This affectionate and meticulous portrait of Bulford and its people, from the lord of the manor to the men and women who worked in the fields, is a fitting tribute to their resilience as they adapted to social, economic and technological change in nineteenth-century England. Peter Ball brings their stories to life through an impressive collection of family histories extending well beyond the shores of this island. The characters enter and exit, but the steady pulse of the village continues to beat as the seasons ebb and flow. A model of detailed and absorbing local history. March 2015, 370 pages, illustrated paperback, £12.95, ISBN 978-1-906978-21-1 (also available in hardback, £20.00, ISBN 978-1-906978-20-4)