Victorian Brackley was sometimes called Sleepy Hollow. Compared to many other places, growth in numbers was modest, but beneath the surface, there were extraordinary scandals and power struggles, some of which reached the national press. Above all, there was a great physical transformation involving the construction of a new Vicarage, Church Schools and Manor House, together with the restorations of St Peter’s Church and the College Chapel. This book investigates great Brackley characters such as Francis Thicknesse and Tommy Judge and the power struggle between Church and Chapel, Liberal and Tory. Finally it tells the story of the arrival of the Great Central Railway and the appearance of new forces in the decade before the First World War. Written by a leading authority on the history of the area, this richly illustrated volume recounts the remarkable transformation of this Northamptonshire town during the Victorian age.

JOHN CLARKE grew up in Brackley, where his family lived for several generations. He was educated at Brackley Junior School and Magdalen College School. He sang in St Peter’s Church choir and trainspotted at Brackley Central Station, where his father was the Booking Clerk. He studied at Wadham College, Oxford and took a First in Modern History in 1967. The same year he was elected as a Fellow of All Souls College. He completed his doctorate in 1972. He moved to the University of Buckingham in 1976 and stayed there until his retirement. He now lives in Lancashire. John Clarke’s books include George III; The Price of Progress: England in the Age of Cobbett; The National Interest: British Diplomacy and Foreign Policy 1793 – 1865; The Book of Buckingham; The Book of Brackley; Yesterday’s Brackley; and Castle House Buckingham.