West Bridgford, though an early Saxon settlement, remained a small, agricultural village until 1881, by which time most of the land belonged to John Musters. When he finally allowed development he took care to produce a residential area with covenants controlling the type of houses that were built. " Rarely does one come across such a gem of a book which caters for young and old, the serious and the not so serious historians ... It is truly champagne Oldfield." Nottinghamshire Historian