These events and developments have left traces that can be used to piece together the story of the area. The nearer we get to the present day, the more evidence becomes available.

Ordnance Survey maps contain information about Roman villas and medieval settlements. Place names provide clues to the kind of people who lived there in Saxon and Viking times. Buildings survive from Tudor times onwards, and there are plenty of documents available from the nineteenth century that can be used to build up a picture of life in Victorian times. For the twentieth century we can add information from photographs and oral evidence.