The missing story of Penally village has at last been recorded in a new book which was launched last weekend when the author, Margaret Davies, signed copies at Tenby Book Shop.

It is a hard back copy beautifully printed on good quality paper and lavishly illustrated with over 70 drawings and photographs. It sells at £9.95, surely a good price for such a book of reference.

It has already attracted a great deal of interest locally, and copies have been ordered in advance from all parts of the UK and abroad.

Overshadowed by an ambiguous relationship with Tenby, Penally has lacked a record of its post medieval history. This book puts the village in the context of the parish, and includes census information, heath and land tax returns from the time of Elizabeth I.

There are chapters covering the infamous murder which took place in 1721, the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods, the two World Wars and life in the village up to the time of Elizabeth II.

It is a lively and often amusing account of a village and the characters in it, told with affection and a light touch.

The preface has been written by no other than the president of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society, Dillwyn Miles, himself a prolific writer on the history of the county. His endorsement gives it a right to a place on the shelf with the others, which says much for the effort of Margaret Davies, who describes herself modestly as 'no writer but an enthusiastic amateur'.

This book has something for everyone, from the oldest inhabitants to holiday visitors or hopeful house hunters, and the author has earned her own place in the Penally Chronicles.