THE intimate lives of a Herefordshire gentry family are revealed in the pages of a new book Salt & Silk, in which the chronicles of the Aubreys of Clehonger are intepreted by D Meredith McFadden.

Sometime in the 1540s, the Welsh-born Morgan Aubrey ran away to London where he made a fortune as a salter, some of which was spent on property in Herefordshire, the most important being in Clehonger.

On his death, Morgan left a fortune in money and land, increased as his descendants married local heiresses and the dynasty that became known as the Aubreys of Clehonger was born.

Salt & Silk reveals how Morgan and his great-grandson, Herbert, responded to the times in which they lived, Morgan's account telling how he survived the religious upheavals of the Elizabethan age.

Herbert Aubrey II MP reveals how his family suffered in the Civil War and about the political challenges of the Restoration.

The book, the result of many years of research carried out by the author with genealogist Pam Buttrey, is published by Aubrey Warsash Publishing at £12.99, plus £2 p&p.

To order, send details to publishing@warsash.com.au