Hillingdon Manor existed in Saxon times, and is described in the Domesday Book of 1086. It predates the market town of Uxbridge, which eventually became the major settlement. In the past it was a pleasant village in the peaceful countryside of west Middlesex, and an ideal place for wealthy Londoners to live in or retire to. For the past century, the village has become an outer suburb of London, and the sprawling borough of Hillingdon was named after it, recognising its antiquity and important position at the heart of the area. Despite all the changes some of the village atmosphere survives, and Ken Pearce's new book attempts to recapture that charm of bygone days.