WHITCHURCH and Ganarew Local History Society have been investigating many of the area’s older buildings and have uncovered some amazing things.

Among these are the stories of a Vice-Admiral who entered the Navy as a cadet in 1848 and lived at The Manor House in Ganarew in 1901, and the man that funded the start of Braces Bread, who lived at Riversdale in Symonds Yat West.

The author CS (Dorothy) Peel wrote several books, including an autobiography Life’s Enchanted Cup first published in 1933 was linked by family to the Doward Hotel.

Another personality was Albert Brydges Farn from Doward Cottage, Crockers Ash, who was a well-respected British amateur entomologist, who wrote to Charles Darwin about a particular moth.

He had moved to the area to study a rare ‘comma butterfly’ that could be found locally in the Doward Woods.

Then there is the tale of a man who had had to spend much of his time on a prison ship in Portsmouth Harbour in the early 1800s.

These are but a drop in the ocean of what has been uncovered and to see and learn more you can visit the exhibition at the Memorial Hall, at Whitchurch this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September 28/29 between noon and 4pm.