Visitors to Monmouth are in for a treat using a new guidebook to the town that’s just been produced by the History Society and even people who live here will probably learn much they didn’t know about their town.

The pocket-sized, 100-page book is richly illustrated and arranged around the sights to be enjoyed on half a dozen town-centre walks. It can be bought at Stephen’s Bookshop in Church Street and the Shire Hall, price £10. It is printed by Clarke Printing in Monmouth.

Compiling the entries for the guidebook has been a cooperative effort by members of Monmouth Field and History Society. “It has been an exciting adventure for all of us,” said chairman of the society Charles Boase. “The best thing of all – and this is borne out in comments received – has been the enjoyment our members have had in researching the story of our own town.

“Individually we have learnt so much that has enriched our delight in living in Monmouth, but we know that often we have only scratched the surface. That can be counted as one of our successes: the more we want to find out and share the better it is for our Society.

“We are approaching the seventy-fifth anniversary of Monmouth Field and History Society in 2027 and we want to do so in good shape, as worthy successors of the Society’s founding generation who set the research and publishing bar high in the years after the war. Producing this guidebook has been valuable experience on the way.”

MonLife, the culture arm of Monmouthshire County Council, assisted by allowing the Society to reproduce illustrations from its collections and the family of the historian Keith Kissack were equally generous in encouraging free use of his work.

Monmouth Field and History Society’s season of lectures over the winter and summer outings starts in September. Membership is £10. For more information see the Society’s website, MonmouthHistory.co.uk or ring 01600 715076.