Mapledurwell [Victoria History of Hampshire], John Hare, Jean Morrin and Stan Waight, Victoria County History, 2012, 85p. ISBN 978-1-905165-89-6.

Mapledurwell is still a relatively remote location near to Basingstoke. This volume is part of the new programme whereby the Victoria County History publishes, in paperback form, parish and urban histories, so as to enable local research to reach the public domain as quickly as possible.

Apart from having no direct personal knowledge of the local topography, my instinct is that this volume provides me with a great deal of local understanding, of how this community emerged, how it was organised and what happened within its boundaries. In one sense a report on one settlement will be much the same as another but this report has its surprises. For example in the section on Parish Government and Officers, the writers reveal that there is some evidence of women taking local government roles as early as the 17th Century, part of an emerging trend of piecemeal evidence being unearthed locally which is beginning to transform our understanding and awareness of what women did do in the past. Equally elsewhere evidence of watercress beds is reported, with these beds being developed in the mid-19^th Century and continuing into the present time. They do report that this trade was associated with streams to the north of the parish and that the development was to meet demands from London and Liverpool markets. Those of us who have particular interest in the watercress industry know that watercress only can only be grown successfully in the cleanest of chalk streams, therefore we can know that the local water quality has been, and continues to be, at a very high level of purity.

Anyone interested in Hampshire or the development of downland villages will find this a very useful source.