AN account of the county's watermills has finally been published after a 68 year wait - and High Wycombe's Pann Mill was the site for its launch.

The Buckinghamshire Archaeological Socie- ty (BAS) has spent more than a year putting together the writings of Stanley Freese, who lived in Great Missenden and catalogued the county's mills in 1939. Mr Freese cycled round Bucks with his camera recording how the mills looked, their history and interviewing the people that ran them. However, due to the outbreak of the Second World War he could not publish his manuscript, which has sat dormant since the 1950s.

But now The Watermills of Buckinghamshire has finally been published by BAS, which chose National Mills Day to launch the book at Pann Mill on The Rye two weeks ago.

Author and TV star Bruce Alexander, best known as Superintendent Mullett from ITVs Touch of Frost, attended the launch along with BAS president Professor Bill Mead.

Mike Farley, who helped edit the book, said: "It was never published. He deposited the manuscript at Bucks County Museum and it just sat there ever since.

"We thought it would be a really nice thing to bring it to the attention of the public. We're very pleased with the result and we think people will be interested in it."

The book costs £12.99 plus £2.25 postage and is available from BAS, c/o County Museum, Church Street, Aylesbury, HP20 2QP.