This book of over 200 photographs depicting the life and times of Leyland in the first half of the twentieth century has been compiled jointly by the South Ribble Museum and Exhibition Centre and the Leyland Historical Society and was a contribution to the centenary celebrations of Leyland Motors. The origins of the town's spectacular growth, from a country village of handloom weavers and the Faringtons, into one of the most famous manufacturing centres in Europe, is traced through the lenses of contemporary photographers. The story of the town's rising industrial might is balanced by pictorial travelogues along the roadways radiating from Leyland Cross; from enormous factories on Hough Lane, to Worden Hall with it's priceless contents, the cotton hamlets of Leyland Lane, and the echoes of an older, rural Lancashire along the moss-side. Yet throughout, it is the people of Leyland whether at work, or participating in community or church events, sports, or world war, who emerge from these pages, providing a clear insight into the local life and hopes in the years up to the 1951 Festival of Britain celebrations, a period which was to see the name of Leyland become rightly famous throughout the world.