Newport Pagnell, known to all since 1959 as a service station on the M1 Motorway, has a thousand years of history as a market town and resting place for travellers. In Domesday Book it is called Newport, meaning 'a new market'; only later was the name of the medieval owners, the Pagnells, added. It was this family who founded nearby Tickford Priory and gave the monks the right to buy and sell produce free of toll in Newport Pagnell market.

This book lays great stress on the town's strategic position in the Civil War, commanding the bridges over the Ouse and the Lovat, and on the quality of its coaching inns, reflecting its importance in the network of stagecoach routes. Newport Pagnell can justly claim that Tickford Bridge, built in 1810, is the oldest cast iron bridge in daily use by road traffic. Its role as a market for local agricultural produce and commercial centre for the bone-lace industry is highlighted and the Newport Pagnell canal and branch railway line feature prominently.

A wealth of photographic evidence of the town collected by the Newport Pagnell Historical Society and by the County Library, Museum and Record Office is complemented by the authors' narrative, bringing the past vividly to life.

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