FILM supremo Lord Rank, a farmer who saved the English watercress industry, and an international fraudster caught by Hampshire police.

These are just some of the colourful characters featured in an exhibition of more than 350 old photographs at Sutton Scotney, called The Dever Villages - A History In Pictures and Words'.

Together with parish and school records, maps and written accounts, they provide a fascinating glimpse of life in the villages of Wonston, Stoke Charity, Hunton, Micheldever, Bullington and Sutton Scotney, say organisers.

Jane Gray, a retired farmer's wife, who has lived in Wonston parish for 50 years, started collecting photos in the early 1990s after she heard it said Sutton Scotney had no history.

With the help of Sue Lane, of Sutton Scotney, she organised the collection and expanded it to include all the villages of the Dever Valley.

The photographs, stored by Winchester Museum Service in Hyde Historic Resources Centre, were previously exhibited in 1993 and 1996.

Among the snapshots are farming pictures showing the gradual replacement of horses by tractors after World War One, steam trains on Sutton Scotney railway station, and the Sutton Scotney Brass Band leading a parade to Holy Trinity Church, Wonston, in 1936.

Caroline Edwards, who works at Hampshire Records Office and lives in Hunton, said: "The photos are terribly evocative and transport you to a different era."

There are also aerial photos of watercress beds farmed by Joe Biggs of Bullington, who was hailed as the leading authority on the salad crop by the National Farmers Union.

When a disease, called Crook Root, wiped-out English watercress in the 1940s, he was the first to import new seed from France which is the strain still used today.

One of Sutton Scotney's most famous residents was J Arthur Rank, who lived at Sutton Manor estate and was made a peer in 1957.

A committed Methodist, Lord Rank began making films as a way of spreading the Gospel and used to teach in the Sunday School at Sutton Scotney Methodist Church.

His empire, known as the Rank Organisation, grew to control half the theatres in England. But in Sutton Scotney, his films were shown in Victoria Hall.

Mrs Gray said: "Lord Rank used to stand at the door and shake everyone by the hand.

"He was a very, very good landlord."

More recent history includes crooked businessman Alex Herbage, who ran Sutton Manor as an arts centre with concerts by internationally-acclaimed musicians and a sculpture park, including works by Henry Moore.

But the 35-stone financier was jailed for 15 years in 1987 for defrauding investors of $38 million.

The exhibition opens this Saturday (March 3) at 10am, at the Victoria Hall, Sutton Scotney, and continues until Sunday March 4.