AFTER more than 80 years, a book about Darlington's history was formally published on Thursday night.

The book is the result of research carried out by the Victoria County History, a project started in 1899 and dedicated to the Queen.

In the North-East, three volumes on Durham were published but then, with work on the Darlington volume on the typewriter, the First World War broke out and work was suspended.

History then overtook the Victoria County History, until it was decided to reinvigorate the project to mark the end of the 20th Century. The Darlington typescript was taken out, dusted down, re-researched and re-written by the County Editor, Dr Gillian Cookson.

"By modern standards, the old material was very brief and insubstantial," she said. "It was mainly medieval history and there was a massive amount on the fabric of St Cuthbert's Church. It was very Anglican and institutional."

Modern research has been much wider, as is shown in the paperback book, called The Townscape of Darlington. However, the work is only a small part of the final 180,000-word tome on Darlington which is due to be published at the end of next year.

"We are aware that the big volumes, which sell for £90, are not what most people want," said Dr Cookson.

"With the paperback, we hope we have produced something that people find immediately interesting, useful and affordable."

The book includes copious footnotes in the hope that it will inspire people to go off and discover more information on the specific fields they are interested in.

* The Townscape of Darlington, by Gillian Cookson (Victoria County History, £16.99) is available from bookshops.