REVIEWS:

BY piecing together evidence from a wide range of original sources, Margaret Gowling has produced a vivid picture of the changing influences which have shaped the history of Brough across the centuries. This deeply-researched book illustrates how much detail about the everyday lives of ordinary people can be recaptured, even for distant periods in the past, by a local historian skilled in interpreting archive sources. Rare indeed is it to find a local study which brings to life not only the miners, paupers and cotton mill workers of the 18th century and the yeomen farmers of the 17th but also the men and women who lived and worked in the area in the middle ages. Dr Angus Winchester, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, Lancaster University

Margaret Gowling's history of Brough-under-Stainmore is thorough, scholarly and readable, and sets an example for all Cumbrian local historians to follow. She draws on a wide range of primary sources, paying careful attention to their strengths and weaknesses, and supplements them with well-chosen (and attributed) use of secondary sources. Her purpose is to concentrate on the people who lived in Brough from the 14th century onwards, and on the kind of life they led. Her work will be essential reading for all students of the Upper Eden Valley, and also excellent material for comparative studies. I warmly commend it. Richard Brockington,
Secretary, Cumbria County History Trust.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The author, a geography graduate of the University of Nottingham, spent her working life in teaching. She, and her husband and fellow researcher, John Gowling, both have post-graduate degrees in history from the University of Lancaster. The Gowling family has been associated with Brough for over four hundred years.

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