THE first book on the history of the battle to save Twyford Down has been published.

The book chronicles the direct action campaign to stop the completion of the last section of the M3 between 1992-1994, writes Andrew Napier.

Twyford Rising, subtitled Land and Resistance, Voices from the first road protest focuses on The Dongas Tribe, the mainly young activists who camped on the down to try to stop construction.

Although they failed, the campaign along with subsequent ones such as Newbury, stopped the billion pound road programme.

Twyford Down is seen as the start of ecological direct action that today has developed into the campaigns against climate change and the HS2 railway from London to Birmingham.

The authors Helen Beynon, who joined the Dongas Tribe, and local campaigner Chris Gillham, have spoken to many of the people who took part and collected many photographs never published before.

Ms Beynon said: “Writing the book was like re-living those days again - all the stories were so vivid, so filled with both joy and grief. It reminded me what a remarkable time it was and how the echoes of what happened at Twyford Down are still felt in the environmental movement today. When you look at what is happening with HS2, you can trace the roots of it back to Twyford.”

Chris Gillham added: “This book has been a long time coming, but that time has allowed those of us who were caught up in Twyford Rising; in the tragedies and triumphs, the personal costs and the exhilaration of action, the sense of loss of beauty and gain of long friendships, to reflect maturely on what it all meant.”

"The road was built, so first it was a victory for Philistine government. The campaign inspired many others culminating in the great Newbury campaign. And those roads were built too. But those campaigns undoubtedly brought about the change of mood that in two short years saw the abandonment of Mrs Thatcher’s whole Roads to Prosperity programme, with 650 schemes collapsing to a mere 6. Twenty three years on from that collapse and despite the terrifying spectre of climate catastrophe now apparent to almost everybody else, the forces of reaction are back in control of government and a huge new road programme is in prospect, with ambitions for ruin even beyond that of Twyford Down, including Europe’s most important prehistoric site."

The book has been produced by Sarsen Press on Hyde Street, Winchester.

October Books in Southampton is hosting an online event on February 25 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-twyford-rising-land-and-resistance-by-helen-beynon-tickets-137846710221?aff=ebdsoporgprofile.

For more information see https://twyfordrising.org/