IT is an irony of history that the cradle of British trade unionism lies in the heart of oh, so Tory Dorset.

Think of radical politics in Britain and northern industrial cities come to mind. But it was the action of six agricultural labourers from Tolpuddle in Dorset, who in the 1830s challenged a reduction in their wages and for their pains were transported to Australia as convicts, that gave birth to trade unionism here.

The West Country, now cherished for its beaches, moorland and verdant countryside, also has a history rich in rebellion.

Nigel Costley's 'West Country Rebels' homes in on the many aspects of radicalism in the region, from the Prayer Book Rebellion, the great china clay strike of 1913 and in our own time, the battle over union rights at GCHQ Cheltenham.

The Chartists' political reform movement had its connections with Tavistock — a leading member, Henry Vincent, stood unsuccessfully as an independent radical at Tavistock in 1843. And the town became a safe haven for another Chartist, Henry Solly, a Unitarian minister, who moved there after upsetting local Baptists in Yeovil.

The book is replete with the radical past of what are now picture postcard villages and towns.

Bleak Dartmoor also gets a mention, albeit for an infamous incident, the massacre of American POWs at the gaol in 1815 when panic led to the deaths by shooting of seven prisoners, seven more having to have limbs amputated.

But the real massacre at the prison, writes Costley, was the ill-treatment of prisoners that saw 269 Americans die on Dartmoor between 1813 and 1815.

Modern radical figures feature — the book's foreword is by Tony Benn — and include the Gloucestershire-born playwright the late Dennis Potter and the environmental protester 'Swampy', aka Daniel Hooper.

But no work on West Country radicalism would be complete without mention of the Foot family, whose home was at Callington. Isaac Foot was a leading Liberal MP who was also famed for his huge library of more than 70,000 books. His son, Michael, who died two years ago, became Labour Party leader and was a respected intellectual — and passionate Plymouth Argyle fan!

l West Country Rebels by Nigel Costley is published by Breviary Stuff Publications, price £25.

COLIN BRENT