01. Introduction

By way of introduction I have little to say. About Normanton a considerable amount of matter has been written by different writers at different times. What they have written is scattered about in various books, magazines and papers of various periods, and I have thought it might be worth the trouble to collect this scattered and scrappy material and string it together in some sort of a connected form and present it in such a consecutive way as would be likely to arouse, and hold, the interest of the general reader. To what has already been written I am afraid I shall not be able to add very much, and in dealing with the past history of Normanton it seems to me that my work will be more that of a collector and compiler than a writer of original history.   

In pursuing my task I shall not confine myself strictly within the limits of our own town. If I find in some of our neighbouring townships, any interesting local history that connects them with Normanton, I shall not hesitate to include it.  

To collect authentic history is not always an easy task, it entails much time and trouble and sometimes difficulties.  

Yet, to one who has the time and the inclination the task is not altogether an uninteresting or unpleasant one. of the modern history of Normanton I think much could be said that is worthy of a place in the printed page, and before I conclude this work I hope to be able to make some contribution to the local history of our town during the last fifty years  

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Note: The photographs used alongside the text of the book are taken from the Library's digitised collection - Twixt Aire and Calder.

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