A HISTORY enthusiast is releasing a new book about the ‘mining village with six names’.

Bryan Danforth’s book, aptly titled ‘The Book of Kexbrough’, explores the village’s history, using census data to share details of the community and people who have lived there.

Though the book came about as a bit of a challenge for the 72-year-old who grew up in the village, as he wanted to prove a friend who had said that ‘nothing interesting ever happened in Kexbrough’ wrong.

“Lots of people have lived here so there’s got to be something interesting,” Bryan told the Chronicle.

“It started as a family history project, but I got a bit greedy and wanted to know more about the area.

“I started researching and got this big collection of information about Kexbrough.

“When I joined the history group they asked me to put it together in a book.”

Bryan, who now lives in Grimethorpe, has already used his knowledge of the area to publish one book, but hopes his new one will be more personal and escape the history of ‘houses and rich people’.

It will launch on October 19 at Kexbrough Methodist Church, with Barnsley North MP Dan Jarvis attending and Bryan hosting a Q and A.

However, his book may cause some arguments, as he looks into one of the area’s greatest mysteries - how to actually spell Kexbrough.

“There’s always been a discussion about how to spell it,” he added.

“So I thought I’d use the front to embrace all the spellings - it uses all the different variations.

“The book opens with an article I found in a newspaper from New York that talks about the mining village with six names.

“I went to school there and attended Kexbrough Methodist Church as a kid where I was taught to spell it ‘orough’.

“But when I was writing I realised I was putting an extra letter in everything.”