IT may once have been used by love-struck brides, and its beautifully-coloured pages capture the drama and passions of centuries gone by.

Now a unique prayer book, dating back to the 15th century and worth £465,000, is being returned to its home at Lyme Park, Cheshire.

The National Trust, which runs Lyme Park, bought the sole surviving copy of the Sarum Missal, a popular version of the Catholic Mass used in pre-Reformation England. It was printed for William Caxton in Paris in 1487.

The missal was the first book printed in Paris using two colours and to bear the printer's device or trademark of Caxton, England's first printer.

The book, which had been in the north west since at least 1508, was in the ownership of the Legh family for hundreds of years and was at stately Lyme Park, Disley, Stockport, until 1946.

The National Trust bought the book from the family for £465,000, with funding coming from a number of sources, including £316,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £100,000 from the Art Fund.

It will now be returned to Lyme Park, which featured as Pemberley in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride And Prejudice, and will go on display in the magnificent home's library from spring next year. The book is covered in alterations added over the years. There is an English marriage service added by hand next to the Latin text and there is `censoring' during the Reformation - the name of St Thomas Becket and prayers for the Pope have been crossed out.

It is printed in red and black and has two full-page hand-coloured woodcuts.

When it goes on display next year the missal will be joined by a digital copy with an interactive page-turning facility, so the public will be able to browse the whole volume themselves. Mark Purcell, of the National Trust, said: "It is one of only two Caxtons in the world which has remained in the ownership of a single family for 500 years."

Sara Hilton, Heritage Lottery Fund manager for the north west, said: "It's marvellous to see this book return.

"Its pages capture the religious, social and political history of the region. Its display at Lyme, where it was kept for hundreds of years, will offer visitors an intriguing window into the past."