HISTORIAN and author Brian Curzon has turned his attention to the heritage of somewhere very close to home for his new book.

It'sAllOver:The StoryofaPlace on a Cheshire Hill reveals secrets of the ancient borough of Over which, in combination with Wharton, makes up modern-day Winsford.

Brian, an Over lad himself, chronicles the area, west of the River Weaver, from Saxon times to the present day and for such a small location there's a surprisingly large amount of history to

'With any bit of England you look at you are going to find interesting stories,' he explained. 'With Over, two important events happened - the Earls of Chester built their summer palace in

Darnhall, andontheedge

of Over, Vale Royal Abbey was built in the parish.'

The foundation stones of the abbey were laid by King Edward I (Longshanks), who had been made Earl of

Chester by his father

Henry III, and it seemed that Over was destined for great things.

So what went wrong? Brian said: 'The parish became a borough under the second Abbot of Vale Royal, Walter, at the end of the 13th Century, and a borough in medieval times meant that the people who lived there were exempt from manorial service - they could tend to the land if they wanted, but they didn't have to, they couldbecomecraftsmenand shopkeepers.

'Usually, boroughs grew into quite important towns like Bury St Edmonds, but in Over there was a plague more or less after the borough was founded.

'Then the King withdrew his financial support of the abbey to build castles in Wales and the abbot had to tax the people of Over to hell to pay for the abbey. 'The inhabitants rebelled and the borough just managed to carry on by the skin of its teeth when it could have been quite important.'

The amazing thing about Over is that it's still clinging on to that status today - and is in fact the smallest borough in the country! It even has claim to a mayor of its own-astatus revivedthisyearso that Mayor of Winsford Pam Booher can officially address herself as Mayor of Over.

The book charts all that and also includes photos of prominent landmarks including St John's Church, built as a memorial to Lady Delamere, wife of thelordofthe manor,theoldBlue Bell Inn by St Chad's Church, a modern copy of a previous pub which burnt down and even boulders carried to Winsford by glaciers 10,000 years ago, as well as illustrations by Hartford artist Michael Troy depicting times gone by.

Apart from giving an Over-view, Brian's book also looks at the lives of some of the borough's more famous residents, of whom Robert Nixon, the fabled Tudor prophet, is probably the best known.

Not that Brian holds much truck in this folklore figure, who supposedly predicted the dissolution of Vale Royal Abbey under Henry VIII amongst other things. He said: 'He's still a well-known local figure and some people say he predicted things like the invention of the aeroplane and man landing on the moon but he never said anything like that - a lot of it was gibberish that people believe.'

It's All Over is published by Winsford Town Council and is available from Winsford Library and Wyvern House.