ABSTRACT
To a certain extent local history in its wealth of resources and detail can be almost as overwhelming as national or global history. Sometimes the fascination it can have for the enthusiast means that research and exploration become rambling and unfocused. In our endeavours to show the rich potential of the local, we have cast our net sometimes broadly and sometimes in depth to find examples and possibilities. In practice, it is easy to become over-immersed in one aspect and to follow a link which takes you somewhere that is quite remote (geographically or conceptually) from the starting point. At other times threads can lead to dead ends. However, this is the excitement of history and, more specifically, of history through the local.
