A LOVE of seeking out fine old books led to Steve Maguire writing a book of his own.

He found a copy of a book written in the late nineteenth century by a lady called Elizabeth Harcourt Mitchell, a member of the Rolls family of Monmouth.

This formidable lady had researched and written about ‘The Crosses of Monmouthshire’, having visited, by pony and trap, every churchyard and wayside cross she could find within the county. Her book then described the whereabouts of the church with a small line drawing of each cross.

Inspired by this, Steve, assisted by his brother Kevin, decided to find every place described in the original book and update it into a modern version complete with photographs.

They subsequently toured the old county of Monmouthshire, finding the crosses in the original book, and some more not described by Harcourt Mitchell.

The resultant publication by Steve contains, alongside the original entries of Harcourt Mitchell, details of every churchyard cross and how to find it, with beautiful colour photographs and descriptions of the churches and the villages where they are situated.

At a recent well-attended book launch, held at the Sessions House in Usk, Steve explained: ”Some of the crosses were really hard to find, and some were in a very dilapidated condition, or overgrown with weeds, which we cleaned up so that we could photograph them.

“We also heard some interesting stories and myths, including about one cross that is supposed to bring bad luck.’

He added: ‘The old county of Monmouthshire is quite large, so the research took a long time, but was very satisfying – the writing of the book was a lot harder!’

‘The Crosses of Old Monmouthshire…. And how to find them’ by Steve Maguire is published by Saron Publishers and is available from Amazon and from The Retreat in Llanover and The Three Salmons in Usk, priced at £15.99.

A hardback version is also available to order – for more information go to [email protected].