HER letter told of hay time in the dales and sending dinners to the men in the fields. But her son, Herbert, would never read it.

For that day in August 1917 he became another of the 168 servicemen from Wensleydale who were killed during the First World War.

Like many other families, Elijah and Alice Allen of Gayle would commemorate a lost son on one of the many war memorials dotted around the dale. The stories of those men and the life they left behind have now been told in Wensleydale Remembered: The sacrifice made by the families of a northern dale 1914-18 and 193945.

This history, which includes Thornton Steward and Masham as well as Bellerby and Hardraw, has been meticulously researched and written by Keith Taylor and will be launched at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes on Saturday, October 9, 10am-5pm.

"I have tried to put their deaths in the context of life in the dales to show the poignancy of it all, " said Mr Taylor. "It must have been devastating. An awful lot of the families are still around and this is still very much part of the Dales.

"A lot of my research depended upon the strength of the community. The Dales people have been wonderful, and very patient and kind when giving their time."

He began by listing all the names on war memorials and then checking them against the telephone directory. Having located a couple of families, he found that the interest was so great that he was passed from one person to another. "I didn't know any of the families when I started, " he commented.

Mr Taylor is also very grateful for the assistance of those like Mary Kington, Ann Holubecki, Jose Hopper, and Marion and Liz Kirby, who have already done a lot of local historical research, as well as the Dales Countryside Museum and Clive Torrens for letting him use so many photographs.

There are 380 photos in the book, which help to show what life was like in the dale that the men left, including their pastimes such as playing in Hawes and Leyburn brass bands.

Mr Taylor also did research in the records and diaries of more than 30 regiments and battalions, as well as reading many old editions of the D and S Times, which he said, had good coverage of the First World War, and gave a good account of the child evacuees to theDdales as the Second World War began.

His book is not easy reading, simply because it recounts the loss of so many men, often still in their Twenties. But this is lightened by so much fascinating detail, from the exploits of the Home Guard to the exciting motorbike hill climbs of George Cockbone in Bainbridge. Not surprisingly, Cockbone joined the RAF and became a fighter squadron pilot. He died in June 1942.

Like several pilots from Wensleydale, he attended Yorebridge Grammar School at Bainbridge, where the more famous Flt Lt John Broadley DSO, DFC, DFM (died February 1944) had also been a student.

This books shows how the angel of death stalked all the wartime servicemen, no matter what their background, from draper's son (L Cpl Carl Milner, died August 1918) and the child of a single mother (Pte Frederick Cockett, died October,1914) to Lt Cmdr Percival van Straubenzee (died November 1914) and Lt Percy Orde-Powlett (died May 1915) who would have become Lord Bolton.

Mr Taylor, a retired teacher who lives in the house he has called Wensleydale near Matlock, Derbyshire, has written two other similar books and became fascinated by this aspect of Dales history during his many walking holidays in the Dales.

"I enjoyed the detective work, " he said. "I think it has been a worthwhile task and it has been quite an honour to tell the stories of these men."

Published: 01/10/2004