More than a hundred people packed into the hall for the talk, which had been painstakingly researched by Darren, who said he believes he is the first person to tackle the job of compiling a detailed history of the village. His work included poring over literally hundreds of deeds.

Although Alfred Williams's 1912 book about South Marston, called A Wiltshire Village, is arguably the single most important document relating to its more recent history, Darren was able to show that the village has a long and interesting history, including Saxon origins and Roman connections.

And while the talk was packed with fascinating details about the village and how it had developed over the centuries, Darren admitted that discoveries yet to be made were the key to a proper understanding of the past, and also had implications for its future.

With the area earmarked to be the site of up to 12,000 new homes as part of Swindon's latest expansion, Darren said it was important for a commitment to be made to intensive archaeological investigations, because the ground had yet to give up its greatest secrets.

He speculated that future archaeologists might discover dinosaurs in South Marston's Kimmeridge clay, locate the final resting place of the 150 people who died in the village during the Black Death and turn up traces of a lost-long Elizabeth mansion.

Slides from the talk can now be downloaded as a Powerpoint file, via the South Marston website's history pages.

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