Leonie Martin reviews Wirksworth, a History – a new and fascinating book about this ancient and enigmatic Peak District town.
ACCORDING to a local saying, ‘Wirksworth was a town when Canterbury was a village and Liverpool was a swamp’. This may seem like a grandiose claim, but now, thanks to an exciting new book by dedicated local historians Mary Wiltshire and Anton Shone, some of the facts and fables behind it are revealed. Wirksworth, a History, contains a wealth of domestic detail, landmarks and signs from the past. Readers will be taken through the town in both time and space: from the grand Georgian lawyer’s house in the market place to the higgledy-piggledy workers’ cottages clinging bravely to each other, Wirksworth tells its story…