A NEW booklet from Bradford on Avon Museum tells the unique story of Budbury, the area stretching from Newtown and Wine Street to Huntingdon Street and Bearfield.

Called Budbury from Hillfort to Houses, it has been written by local historian Pamela Slocombe and Roy Canham, who has focused on the finds from archaeological excavations in the area.

The name Budbury itself goes back to the Domesday Book but people have lived there for far longer, stretching back at least 2,500 years.

Now you can read all about it, from Iron Age hill fort and Roman villa through to the medieval manor, quarrying, industry and the development of modern housing.

Mrs Slocombe said: "The backdrop to Bradford-on-Avon is the steep hillside above the river with terraces of houses, many centuries old.

"It is not always realised that they cover the slopes of an Iron Age hill fort, occupied again in Roman times when the villa on the plateau above in the grounds of St Laurence School was built.

"In the late Anglo-Saxon period a king gave one of his thanes a small estate centred on the hill in return for knightly duties which probably involved guarding the river crossing below. This manor of Budbury remained separate from the town of Bradford on Avon through subsequent centuries."

Two studies of Budbury have been produced this year. Bradford-on-Avon Museum Research Group has brought together the results of various excavations and chance finds which have been published in volume 112 of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine.

In March, the museum also published the booklet by Mrs Slocombe and Mr Canham on the colourful history of the Budbury manor area to the present day. It has since sold out of the first 200 copies and has just taken delivery of a further 200 copies which are now available and for sale.

The booklet includes the St Mary Tory chapel, a medieval hermitage and hostel for pilgrims on the road to Glastonbury.

Below it Ladywell was said to cure diseases of the eyes and the clothier Paul Methuen built an underground conduit from it to take water to his house and business at the top of Market Street.

His son Anthony let out plots on the hillside where Newtown and two ranks of houses above were built from 1693.

The old hill fort was increasing quarried, particularly by the Jones family, who in the mid-19th century employed 400 workmen.

In the oldest quarry at the foot of Wine Street, there was first a cloth workshop, then a brewery and later a tanyard. In 1856-9 the huge malthouse was built.

The booklet also covers the gradual development of housing in the Bearfield area, Winsley Road and Wine Street.

It is available, price £7.50, from Ex Libris bookshop in The Shambles and Bradford-on-Avon Museum.