A new book offering "unusual and amusing insights" into the life of a member of a wealthy Victorian family from Warwickshire is now available at Kenilworth Books.

'A Vanished World - The Reminiscences of Mary Cordelia Emily Leigh' by Sheila Woolf tells the story of Mary Cordelia Emily Leigh who was born in 1866 at Stoneleigh Abbey, the youngest child of William Henry, 2nd Lord Leigh.

Her family were among the wealthiest and most influential landowners in Warwickshire.

Before she died at the age of 89 in 1956, Cordelia recorded her memories of Stoneleigh and beyond, as the old century became the new and the world with which she had been familiar in her youth was to vanish forever.

Among her many recollections are anecdotes about eccentric members of her family, as well as memories of key moments in her own life.

She recalls being fined 7/6 for failing to light the lamp on her tricycle, and almost being drowned in the River Avon when just 16.

Kenilworth, she says, "was just a village" in her youth, and she remembers laying the foundation stone at Westwood School aged only six, saying "I declare this stone well and truly laid".

Queen Victoria's stay at Stoneleigh Abbey, when she visited Kenilworth and Leamington, is also described, along with a recollection of meeting Princess – later Queen - Mary, when they compared notes about their chilblains.

These "Reminiscences" have just been published with a commentary by Sheila Woolf using hitherto unpublished material held at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, in Stratford-upon-Avon, and at Stoneleigh Abbey.

Sheila taught at King Henry VIII School in Coventry for many years where she was Head of English.

Since retirement she works as a volunteer historian and guide at Stoneleigh Abbey, and chairs the Stoneleigh History Society. This is her fifth book on Warwickshire local history.

The book was launched recently at Ashow Church, where Cordelia is buried.

"A Vanished World – The Reminiscences of Mary Cordelia Emily Leigh" is published by Lavender Cottage Publications and is available from Kenilworth Books and branches of Waterstones at £10. ISBN: 978-1-3999-5475-4