By Eugene Roelofsz
Published by Orphans Press in 1999, 284 pages. Hardback with Dust Jacket - c.22.5cm by 31cm (A4QWSO)
Signed on the first inside page - possibly the authors signature.
From the rear side cover: Eugeue Roelofsz, a distinguished' Dutch academic, unravels the fascinating story of two essentially English villages. Ombersley and Doverdale lie in the heart of Worcestershire and Roelofsz, in a style all his own, traces their history in minute detail from the Domesday Book to the present day. He looks at village life, its economies, the .developmentof farms and market gardens, shops, pubs and mills.
Throughout the book runs the thread of the aristocratic Sandys family who have lived at the Court for over 400 years. They have been not only lords of the manor but bishops, archbishops, colonial governors and M.Ps. One Sandys was a Charterer of the Mayflower. Another fought at Waterloo as ADCto his cousin the Duke of Wellington. Yet another, Mary, Baroness Sandys of Ombersley - a brilliant and forceful lady - changed the whole infrastructure of Ombersley village early in the 19th Century and it is still virtuallyunaltered today.
There are buildings in the villages by three architects of national importance Frederick Preedy. Thomas Rickman and Francis Smith of Warwick and they are described in detail. This book is a must for anyone interested in local history.
The condition of the book is generally very good. The dust jacket has one or two minor scuffs, and some light wear along the edges and corners, but the spine is intact and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.