Vol 1: The Bluets - Lackham Countryside Centre

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The Authors
Tony Pratt and Karen Repko have been researching the history of the
Lackham estate, and its owners, for over a decade - initially
independently and latterly jointly. In that time Tony has produced
several works on various aspects of the estate and the families
connected with it. An increasing interest in the medieval period led to
the current work. It started life as a re-write of the Bluet section
for the next (fourth) edition of the major history The Manor of
Lackham but took on a life and direction of its own, as these things
usually do. The work before you is the result of many years of trans-
Atlantic collaboration; what would we do without email?
Tony came to the English county of Wiltshire over 25 years ago. He has
been associated with the Lackham estate near Lacock since 1990, where
he did his PGCE teaching practice in the Horticultural department of
what is now Wiltshire College, Lackham. He was a lecturer in
horticulture at the start of this association and is now a member of the
Gardens Staff using, rather than teaching, his gardening skills. He
started investigating the history of the Lackham estate after
completing a research M.Phil in 1997, having become accustomed to
having no spare time. This has resulted in three editions so far of the
main history of the estate, and several other smaller publications, as
well as the only current history of the Wiltshire village of Alderton! He
tries to keep busy, often giving talks within and outside the College on
the history of the estate. He spends a lot of time bothering the staff
at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and is very happy they have
moved to Chippenham and are open on Saturdays. He is currently trying
to improve his Latin, which gives him something else to do and keeps him
out of the hair of his long-suffering partner, Lynne Thomson.
Karen lives in Ohio, in the United States of America. Karen retired from a
career as a Quality Engineer in 2001, a career which was largely
responsible for her devotion to detail and her enjoyment in doing
research. Even before she retired, she devoted large amounts of time and
effort to researching her extensive family tree, and places the
responsibility for this devotion on her maternal grandmother, who was a
Montagu. Karen spent many wistful afternoons listening to tales of
knights and lords of the manor from the tales that had been passed down
in the Montagu family told by her grandmother. She is an excellent
genealogist, and has travelled extensively to use national research