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OXFORDSHIRE LOCAL HISTORY OXFORDSHIRE LOCAL HISTORY OXFORDSHIRE LOCAL HISTORY OXFORDSHIRE LOCAL HISTORY NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWS

The Newsletter of the Oxfordshire Local History AssocThe Newsletter of the Oxfordshire Local History AssocThe Newsletter of the Oxfordshire Local History AssocThe Newsletter of the Oxfordshire Local History Associiiiationationationation

Issue 125 Spring 2013Issue 125 Spring 2013Issue 125 Spring 2013Issue 125 Spring 2013

ISSN 1465ISSN 1465ISSN 1465ISSN 1465----4695469546954695

Chairman’s Musings

As I compose these musings, Oxfordshire is gripped by

snow and ice. Having a number of unavoidable car

journeys to make, my mind has been occupied by the

condition of the roads. The need to plot safe routes over

the county’s increasingly pothole-pocked thoroughfares

has got me poring over roadmaps of the county.

We tend to take the roads for granted, especially those

we use every day, but many have an interesting history.

For example, I live near Faringdon, on the A420, the

main road between Oxford and Swindon. Thousands of

people drive along it daily, oblivious to why it is where

it is or how its significance has changed over time. A

glance at the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map reveals that,

in 1877, opposite our row of cottages, was a milestone.

It read ‘Faringdon 2, Abingdon 12, London 68,’ an

indication of the destinations most important to local

travellers in the 19th century. No mention of Oxford or

Swindon, the prime destinations of most of the road’s

users today.

Indeed, our stretch was, for some four hundred years,

part of the main route from London to Gloucester via

Abingdon. But the road’s history goes back much

further, to prehistoric times. Although it is barely

apparent to modern travellers, the A420 follows what

used to be known as the North Berkshire Ridge, the

geological feature that separates the Vale of White

Horse from the floodplain of the

upper Thames. This ridge

mostly consists of corallian

limestone, rich in fossils. The

colour of this rock gives the

ridge its alternative title, the

Golden Ridge, a name some say

was coined by the late John

Betjeman, who lived nearby for

many years. Thus, unlike the

better-known Ridgeway of the

Berkshire Downs, the A420 in the Faringdon area is a

commercially successful version that has stood the test

of time.

A mile to the south of the A420 is a bridleway, running

from Little Coxwell to Pusey, more or less parallel to

the main road. It would be easy to dismiss it as just

another track but it appears to have been a Roman road.

Thus, in close proximity, we have two interesting

ancient routes, one upgraded to modern standards, the

other downgraded to recreational and agricultural use.

The study of our county’s roads is a fascinating subject,

full of surprises and helpful to our understanding of

local history.

Tony Hadland

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Explore Faringdon and the Golden Ridge

If the Chairman’s musings have inspired you to take a look around Faringdon and the surrounding area, a group of

volunteers in Faringdon has produced a set of 8 walk cards with very clear maps and directions for some pleasant walks

of between 4 and 8 miles. The cards can be downloaded from www.faringdon.org/llwalkcards.htm.

The warm, honey coloured coral-rich grit stone from the Golden Ridge was used for many of the traditional buildings in

the town. Faringdon is also famous among geologists for another stone - the Faringdon sponge gravel which contains

fossilised sponges. The Oxfordshire Geology Trust has a map and description on its website of three sites in the town

where specimens of this stone may be seen (www.oxfordshiregt.org/faringdon.htm).

For further information about the local history and archaeology of Faringdon, the Faringdon History Society’s website

can be seen at www.faringdon.org/hysoc.htm. Longworth, also aligned along the A420 and the Golden Ridge to the

east of Faringdon, has a thriving Local History Society which is featured on page 4 of this Newsletter.

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Oxfordshire Local History News - Issue 125 Contents page

Chairman’s Musings …………………………….. 1

Association News and Notices …………….......... 2

Spring Study Day and AGM …………………... . 3

Oxfordshire History Centre Update ………….…..4

Berkshire Record Office Update ………………... 5

News from the Victoria County History ………… 6

Spotlight on Local Societies and Museums ……...7

Obituaries ………………………..……..………. 10

OUDCE Courses ….. ……...………………..….. 11

Notices of Events …………...…………...…..…. 12

New Publications ……...………...…………...… 13

Diary of Talks and Meetings .....………………. 15

List of Local History Societies in Oxon ………...19

Oxfordshire Local History Association

Officers and Committee

Tony Hadland : Chairman

Norma Aubertin-Potter: Secretary

Liz Woolley: Treasurer and Membership Secretary

Chris Hall: Journal Editor

Vicky Jordan: Study Day Organiser

Simon Townley (Victoria County History)

Malcolm Graham (ex Centre for Oxon Studies)

Kathryn Davies (English Heritage)

Email Contact:

Chairman: chair@olha.org.uk

Membership: membership@olha.org.uk

Journal: journal@olha.org.uk

Newsletter: newsletter@olha.org.uk

Study Day: studydays@olha.org.uk

Website: www.olha.org.uk

Notice is given that the Annual General

Meeting of the Oxfordshire Local History

Association will be held in the Old Manor at

Mapledurham House

on 18 May 2013 at 12 noon.

Agenda

1) Apologies and declarations of conflict of

interest.

2) To receive the Minutes of the AGM held at the

Bus Museum, Long Hanborough, Saturday, 21

April 2012.

3) Matters arising from the Minutes.

4) Officers’ Reports

(a) Chairman

(b) Treasurer

(c) Newsletter Editor

(d) Journal editor

(e) Meetings Secretary

5) Election of Officers and Committee.

6) Election of independent examiner of annual

accounts

7) Consideration of matters raised by members of

which due notice (as set out in the Association’s

Constitution) has been given in advance to the

Chairman.

8) Any other business

Oxfordshire Local History

The Journal of the Oxfordshire Local History

Association

The next issue of Oxfordshire Local History, which

we hope to publish in April, will span the centuries -

Robert Heath-Whyte revisits the mediaeval wall

paintings in St Mary’s, Chalgrove.

Liz Woolley assesses the impact of the coming of

the railways on Oxford.

Allan Goode tells the story of the Russell Street

power station, Oxford.

Pat Preece recalls service as a World War II nurse

in the Wingfield hospital.

There will be book reviews by (among others)

Norma Aubertin-Potter, Chris Hall, Graham

Hollister-Short and James Nash.

A second issue is planned for later this year and will

inter alia mark the centenary of the Bliss Mill strike

(1913-14) at Chipping Norton. The aim is to explore

some neglected aspects of that prolonged and bitter

struggle.

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Joint Meeting of Oxfordshire Local History Association and Berkshire Local History Association.

Saturday May 18th 2013

For our Spring Study Day we will be looking at water power, and in particular watermills.

The day will be unusual on three counts – we will have talks in the afternoon, not morning; it will be a joint

meeting; the Annual General Meeting will be at lunch time.

Our venue is also unusual, the secluded Mapledurham estate, which is a fascinating House, mill and village on the

banks of the Thames, with the Chiltern hills as a backdrop. We will be exploring the last working watermill on the

Thames at Mapledurham, where flour is still ground and can be bought in the shop. There has been a mill here since

the fifteenth century, the present building dating from a little later, and the miller, Cory Starling, will explain its

history, and its working. A modern use of water power from the Thames is the turbine powered by an Archimedes

screw, installed in 2011, to generate electricity which is sold to a large store in Reading. The number of units

generated is displayed outside.

Mapledurham House, the home of the recusant Blount (now Eyston) family, was built four centuries ago adjacent to

the fourteenth century Old Manor, now used as a tea room. On our private tour of the Elizabethan house our guide

will show us the many family portraits, interesting furniture, original plaster ceilings and great oak staircase.

Outside, the grounds stretch as far as you can see in all directions. The village has old flint and brick cottages and

the church of St Margaret, which unusually has an aisle owned by the Catholic lord of the manor.

The Annual General Meeting will be held in the Old Manor before lunch.

Part of the estate is the Caversham Heath Golf Course, situated a mile or so from the house on a minor road. Picnic

lunches can be eaten here, or at Mapledurham. The golf club has a very reasonable menu of sandwiches, paninis and

other bar food as well as meals such as cottage pie or fish or pasta – if you order in advance you will save waiting.

After lunch we will hear two experts on watermills and their importance in the economy of Oxfordshire and

Berkshire - Dr Jonathan Brown from the Museum of English Rural Life and Dr Ron Cookson from the Mills

Archive. The booking form enclosed with this Newsletter gives further details.

On a fine day in May the estate of Mapledurham is idyllic, an oasis of peace, yet close to Reading. We hope to meet

like-minded people from our neighbouring county to share knowledge and experiences. Places are limited, so please

book early.

Mapledurham Watermill

Vicky Jordan (Study Day Organiser)

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________________________________________________________________________________________________

LOCAL HISTORY AROUND THE SHIRES

_________________________________________________________________________________

Oxfordshire History Centre Update

As many of you will already know, Carl Boardman

retired as History Centre Manager in January after more

than 25 years working at Oxfordshire History Centre

and its predecessors, and over 20 of those years as head

of the service.

When Carl (pictured left)

started with Oxfordshire

County Council in 1985,

the Oxfordshire County

Record Office was

situated in cramped

conditions in the

basement of County

Hall, where staff and

visitors shared office space, and many of the archives

were at an outstore 15 miles away. Carl became County

Archivist in 1989, rebranded the office as Oxfordshire

Archives, and over the next decade fought hard to

improve the image and quality of the service which the

office offered to depositors and a rapidly increasing

number of users (the family history boom was under

way).

In 1997 he secured an agreement with Oxford Diocese

for the soon-to-be-renamed Oxfordshire Record Office

to take over the use of St. Luke’s church in Cowley.

This ensured that for the first time in its history the

office had a facility fit for purpose and in which it could

store all its holdings. In 2008 Carl also took charge of

Oxfordshire Studies in the Central Library in Oxford.

He masterminded its very complicated merger with

Oxfordshire Record Office, so that even more of the

county’s historical material was under one roof.

Carl’s contribution to the history services of

Oxfordshire has been enormous, and his vitality and

tenacity have ensured the accomplishment of projects

which might not have seemed achievable.

It is now more than 18 months since Oxfordshire

Studies and Oxfordshire Record Office merged at St

Luke’s to become Oxfordshire History Centre. The staff

have needed to spend a long time acclimatizing to new

working practices and unfamiliar resources, but we do

now feel like one team. We hope that if you are a user

of our office, you will feel that we are providing as good

a service as we can.

The reduction in staff numbers has meant that most of

our time and energy in the past year has been

concentrated on the immediate requirements of our

visitors and remote users. We do, though, have

additional projects at various stages of completion.

Electronic access to the Oxfordshire consistory

(bishop’s) and archdeaconry probate records is still not

available: Origins (who are hosting the images on their

website) reckon the first of the registers will be

available by the time you read this, but the original

documents are still some way off. The District

Valuation survey maps and books (1910-1915) have

also taken longer to digitize than envisaged.

The digitization of the Oxfordshire parish registers is

now well under way, in conjunction with Oxfordshire

Family History Society, who have generously financed

the work. So far about 40% of the registers have been

filmed.

After grappling for several years with the problem of

better public access to our huge photographic

collections, a solution is now on the horizon.

Oxfordshire History Centre has concluded an agreement

with House of Images to provide online access to

300,000 image catalogue records and 120,000 digital

images. Although thousands of photographs remain

uncatalogued, this still represents a doubling of the

material first published on our Heritage Search website

in 2007. The dedicated website provided by House of

Images will use the web address pictureoxon.com,

which will show a temporary ‘placeholder’ page until

launch, later in 2013. Crucially, Picture Oxon will offer

the facility for online ordering of high quality copies.

For staff and volunteers, the software behind Picture

Oxon will provide a bespoke cataloguing system which

will allow us to publish new material online much more

quickly.

As well as cataloguing incoming new publications, local

studies staff are still chipping slowly away at the former

Oxfordshire Studies printed books card catalogue, with

gradually more and more Oxford City and Oxford

University items being added to the OLIS online

catalogue. These additions to OLIS are also uploaded to

Heritage Search at the beginning of each month –

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/heritagesearch.

Within the past year we have extended our online

subscriptions to include the British Newspaper Archive.

This new site gives access to the digitized content of

historic newspapers from the British Library for the

period of 1750 to 1949, extending by fifty years either

side the coverage of the original British Library 19th

Century Newspapers website. For Oxfordshire

researchers, this still only includes access to Jackson’s

Oxford Journal, so we wait hopefully for the range of

newspaper titles to grow. Our licence allows for two

(Cont. on p 5)

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Oxfordshire History Centre Update (cont.)

concurrent users of the BNA, at Oxfordshire History

Centre.

After almost a year without a full-time Receptionist (the

post was covered expertly by other staff on a rota basis),

Jason Hale has recently started as temporary

Receptionist, for at least 15 months. He has settled in

very well with everything that’s so far been thrown at

him! To finish with, just a reminder that we recommend

booking in advance if you plan to use our

searchroom. We know that visitors aren’t always sure

until the day itself whether they’re going to come, but

pre-booking does prevent problems on busy days or if

we have to employ a restricted service. You’re very

welcome to visit on a Saturday, which has always

tended to be our quietest day.

Mark Lawrence, Local Studies Manager

Mark Priddey, Archives Manager

Oxfordshire History Centre, St Luke’s Church, Temple Road, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2HT Tel 01865 398200

oxhist@oxfordshire.gov.uk, www.oxfordshire.gov.uk

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Carl Boardman, who has recently retired from the Oxfordshire History Centre, was

committed to widening access to local archives and to overturning “the traditional

perception of archives as staid and boring – the ‘dusty old documents cliché

beloved of every media report on the subject”1. With this aim in view, in May 2007

he launched the interactive Dark Archivist website which features Oxfordshire

Records and is aimed at 12-16 year olds. This imaginative website can be seen on

www.darkarchivist.com/.

1 ‘Dark Archivist: Meeting the needs of non-users’, Carl Boardman (Sep 2007), Archives and

Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, Vol 1 No 1, http://archivo.cartagena.es/files/36-186-DOC_FICHERO1/09-

boardman_dark. pdf

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Berkshire Record Office Update

An Historical Atlas of Berkshire: First published in

1998, this new, expanded Atlas contains features on 74

aspects of Berkshire’s history, together with specially-

designed colour maps and other illustrations. Many of

the articles in it draw on the BRO’s resources, and the

book itself was launched at the Record

Office. Coverage spans from prehistory to the twentieth

century, and includes new articles on subjects as diverse

as the Civil War and the Roman occupation.

The Atlas can be ordered directly from

http://www.berkshirerecordsociety.org.uk/brsatlas.htm

or from the BRO, price £20 (+£4 p&p).

New Probate Index Now Available: You may have

come across this by now, but another new publication is

the complete index to Berkshire Archdeaconry probates,

1480-1857. Available on CD, every purchase benefits

various local societies as well as the BRO. It’s a

fantastic resource for local historians: there are around

39,000 names in it which are also searchable by dates,

places and occupations. It costs £25 and can be

purchased online at

http://www.berksfhs.org.uk/shop/Recent-Additions/

Berkshire-Probate-Index-1480-1857-CD-BFHS/

flypage.tpl.html.

Schools Gazetteer Research Continues: Our band of

volunteers is making steady progress with our plan to

create a directory of pre-1833 schools in old and new

Berkshire. Some people are now working on parish and

charity material in the BRO, while others are extracting

details from newspapers. We’ll need to work our way

through Jackson’s Oxford Journal, amongst other

publications, and if any readers would like to help out

then please do get in touch. We have an Excel template

for you to work from, and instructions will be given.

At the current rate it will probably take another couple

of years to gather the data. Amongst other things, we

should get a decent amount of names out of the project,

and we are considering how best to publish these when

the time comes.

Researching Historic Walks: The Thames Valley

Network of U3A branches approached us for ideas for

their next project, and we suggested that groups might

like to research historic highways and byways in

Berkshire. The plan is that individual branches will get

a research team together to track a route through time,

describing buildings and other markers along the way.

Then in the summer, members can go out and do the

walk, now freshly interpreted for them by other

members.

(Cont. on p.6)

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Berkshire Record Office Update (cont.)

This seemed to us a really good idea for encouraging a

social side to local history. History walks have tended

to be done in towns, but almost any walk will pass by

features that can be researched, and almost any walk can

be plotted back in time through maps. We’ve already

had various branches visit and we look forward to the

sight of U3A groups roaming the countryside this year!

Guide to Rate Books: We’ve added a new short guide

to our existing series. This one details the valuation

lists and rate books that we hold from councils and

parishes across the county. You can pick up a hard

copy from us, and an electronic version is available on

our website (www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk).

Rating records are great for tracking people, particularly

for when the census returns stop; as well as for tracking

the history of a property, sometimes for hundreds of

years. Take a look at the new guide to find out what

survives for your area.

Mark Stevens, Senior Archivist, Berkshire Record Office

_________________________________________________________________________________________

News from the Victoria County History

Since the last Local History News there’s been much

activity on the VCH front – publication of Volume 17

on the Kelmscott area; continued progress on the

Ewelme Hundred volume; and the hatching of plans for

Volume 19, which will focus on Wychwood Forest.

Volume 17 was

launched last

September, in the

incomparable setting

(thanks to the Society

of Antiquaries) of

Kelmscott Manor.

Kelmscott is, of

course, widely known

for its associations

with the designer

William Morris, who

rented the Manor as a

holiday home ‘for the

wife and kids’ from

1871. The new volume explores the Morris theme, but

as always looks at the area in a broad context,

encompassing village development, buildings,

landownership, farming, trade, social history, and

religious history.

In all, it covers nine places – Broadwell, Broughton

Poggs, Filkins, Grafton, Holwell, Kelmscott, Langford,

Little Faringdon, and Radcot, which in the Anglo-

Saxon period all belonged to a single large estate. The

19th-century mansion house at Bradwell Grove is now

best know as the focus of the Cotswold Wildlife Park

(opened in 1970), while Filkins was notable for its

quarrying, and for the community building projects

initiated in the 1930s by the well-known politician Sir

Stafford Cripps. The tiny riverside parish of Radcot

played an important role in the Thames river trade, and

recent Time Team investigations there uncovered

traces both of a planned 11th-century village and of a

demolished Norman castle.

(Illustration: Kelmscott Manor as depicted in William

Morris’s News from Nowhere, 1890).

Meanwhile, work continues apace on Volume 18

(scheduled for completion in 2015/16), which is

looking at the area between Benson and Nettlebed. The

VCH website includes downloadable drafts on

Cuxham, Easington, Great Haseley (with Latchford

and Rycote), Nettlebed, Nuffield, Swyncombe, and

Warborough, and work is under way on Brightwell

Baldwin, Chalgrove, Warpsgrove, Ewelme, Benson,

and Berrick Salome. Some Ewelme buildings are being

investigated with the help of the Oxfordshire Buildings

Record, and we are also liaising closely with my

former VCH colleague Stephen Mileson, who is

running a separate Oxford University project on key

aspects of the area in the Middle Ages. Watch this

space!

With the end of that project now in sight, we are also

beginning to think about Volume 19. This will cover a

dozen places in the Wychwood area, looking at the

royal Forest and at the settlements in and around it –

Shipton-under-Wychwood, Langley, Leafield,

Lyneham, Milton, Ramsden, Ascott, Fifield, Bruern,

Idbury, and Cornbury Park. Some preliminary work

will start next year.

Completion of Volume 19 will leave just four more

volumes needed to complete the VCH’s coverage of

the whole county. But for this to happen, we urgently

need to maintain or increase our current levels of

fundraising through the VCH Oxfordshire Trust. If

you have an interest in any of these places, please do

consider making a donation, however large or small!

Donations made for a particular area can be ring-

fenced for that purpose.

Simon Townley, VCH

VCH websites:

www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/Oxfordshire

www.british-history.ac.uk (published volumes online)

VCH research: simon.townley@history.ox.ac.uk

Trust fundraising: LiamTiller@waitrose.com, Liam

Tiller (Treasurer), East House, Roke, Wallingford

OX10 6JB; 01491 839618

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SPOTLIGHT

on Oxfordshire’s Local History Societies

In this section of each Newsletter, we are hoping to

give an opportunity to two Local History groups

from the county to tell other members of the OLHA

about their programmes and projects in the local

communities. Local history in the county is very

fortunate in having so many dedicated and

knowledgeable volunteers. This column will be a

chance to share some of their work with others.

Longworth and District History Society

The Longworth and District History Society serves the

villages of Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor, Hinton

Waldrist and Longworth, an area some 12 miles from

Oxford which sits astride the Golden Ridge, a

limestone ridge which carries the A420 connecting

Oxford with Swindon.

We are very local in our focus, with a programme of

talks, visits, and publications all of which engender a

feeling of belonging and a sense of place and our past.

We have published a series of booklets each covering

one of the three villages we serve. These village

‘landscape companions’ combine an exploratory village

walk with a reference book introducing the history of

the village. Much of the text was edited from over 200

interviews, carried out by members of our society,

recording appropriate members of our communities.

With the aid of grant support we were able to provide

each village household with a copy of the completed

book for their village.

We followed this up with circular walks in our Golden

Ridge countryside, the coloured folded pocket map

being again issued free to all householders in our

villages. Currently we are publishing books with a focus

on local families but revealing the activities of our

villages over the past 100 years, such as the local rose

industry, chapel life, teenage life in Longworth and,

about to be published, the story of a local stonemason’s

family.

A regular magazine, The Longworth Rose, helps build a

strong cohesive bond within our membership. A long

period of such activities has led the British Association

of Local History to recognise the work of our

Publications Officer, who is to receive a national award

for outstanding personal achievement in this area.

Publishing represents a strong thread in our activities,

but sub-committees also handle our interests in

developing a healthy archive unit, a local history

lending library, and a wills project. Our strong talks and

visits programme draws in large audiences and the

support of an active membership continues to sustain

the work of our vibrant society. Long may it last.

Peter Keene, LDHS

(Photo:St Mary’s Church, Longworth)

Please send an email to

newsletter@olha.org.uk

if you would like your local society to be featured here.

Kidlington and District Historical Society

The Kidlington Society was founded forty years ago.

With a regular attendance of some 50 or so members,

our monthly meetings have stimulated an enthusiastic

interest in Kidlington’s local history.

This sustained interest over the years at our monthly

meetings has been greatly encouraged by our

'occasional series' of publications, written by various

members of the society. A grant from the Greening

Lamborn Trust in 1981 enabled us to produce our first

publication, a transcription of the Kidlington Parish

Register but most of our subsequent publications (26 to

date, see details on our website) have been self-

financing. This series of booklets, all on a very local

area or subject, have proved very popular and sell

readily to the wider Kidlington public and beyond.

Research for these publications often makes interesting

mini-history displays which we can show at various

unrelated events, particularly in Kidlington, and this

again raises the profile of local history to a wider public

and increases our publication sales.

A large archive of oral history has been recorded over

the years and as time moves on these recordings have

become a rewarding collection of memories by some of

the older members of our community – including Elsie,

a bright 104 year old! Even the more modern

interviews (eg with the manager of Kidlington’s

Sainsburys store) are beginning to have some real value

after only 10-15 years.

As well as our regular monthly talks, evening visits and

day outings are organized and we even have our own

'history' lending library operating at most of our

monthly meetings.

Kidlington and District Historical Society meetings are

held on the last Tuesday of the month at the St John

Ambulance Hall, High Street Kidlington starting at

7.50pm. All are welcome. www.communigate.co.uk/

oxford/kidhist/ (Note: The KDHS will be hosting the

2013 Oxfordshire Past event on 1 June, see p 11).

David Phipps, KDHS

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SPOTLIGHT

on Oxfordshire’s Museums and

Archive Collections

We hope to cast another spotlight in

each issue of the Newsletter on some

of the resources and collections held

in the county’s museums and

archives. This issue features two

small museums with impressively

ambitious programmes: Pendon

Museum of model railways and the

Churchill Heritage Centre

Pendon Museum

Representation of The Stores, East Hendred

Roye England, an Australian, came to the Vale of

White Horse in the 1920s, and founded Pendon

Museum after witnessing changes that he felt were

ruining the natural beauty of the area. He captured this

beauty by using highly detailed models, requiring the

accurate recording of colour, texture and construction

of both the landscape and buildings if it were to

succeed.

Over the years, Pendon has painstakingly recreated a

composite picture of vernacular buildings found

through this part of old Berkshire, depicting locations

as diverse as Badbury, Lyford, Bishopstone and

Culham. Many of the model buildings are based on

buildings in Uffington and East Hendred, and the latest

is the Old Stores from the latter village. Delivered to

the Museum at the end of 2012 the model was built

using archive information including old photographs

and accurate site measurements.

Modelled from card and coloured with artists’

permanent watercolour, this is truly three-dimensional

art, with over 30,000 individually handcrafted roof tiles

and a detailed representation of the crooked timber

frame and herringbone brick infill. The real building

was constructed in the 1550s as a yeoman farmhouse.

Changes include storage buildings added in the late

1700s and conversion into a store and Post Office in

the Victorian period. The stores burnt down in a fire in

1969, and the representation at Pendon is now the only

opportunity to appreciate how the original looked 100

years ago.

The real Ducks Store, run by Robert Duck, (above)

from a photograph taken in 1919, with the

proprietor and family proudly standing outside.

The front of the Pendon model of Ducks Store,

(above left) and the rear (above) showing the

outbuildings to the right which were added in the

18th Century and burnt down in 1969. When placed

in the village scene, the rear aspect will be largely

hidden from view. The Pendon model is 1:76 scale.

Chris Webber, Pendon Museum

www.pendonmuseum.com/

9

Churchill Heritage Centre

The Earth and the Empire: What a Cotswold

village gave to the world

Housed in the remains of the last medieval building

(photo below) in the village, the Heritage Centre may be

only 15' by 30' but its ancient walls contain state of the

art technology, with touch screens telling the

remarkable stories of two eminent sons of the

village, Warren Hastings (1732-1818) and William

Smith (1769-1839). The part played in the community

by the village squire,

James Langston (1796-

1863), is also

displayed on a new

touch screen unit.

In 2010, The Heritage

Centre was awarded a

Heritage Lottery Fund

grant to enable work

on the maintenance of

the building, enhance

the displays and extend

the projects of the

centre and ensure

wider public engage-

ment. It has just

completed this project and is

looking forward to opening to the public again at Easter

2013. (See www.churchillheritage.org.uk).

In addition, a group of village volunteers has been

discovering that where there's a will there's a way!

Thanks to the HLF funding, they are currently taking

part in a fascinating project in Churchill to transcribe

17th century probate records of the community. Very

few of the surviving wills have been studied

before. The wills and related documents contain a

wealth of information about local families and their

homes and, when they

are transcribed, will

reveal a valuable

source of local history

which will be avail-

able at the Heritage

Centre and online.

The Churchill

Heritage Centre is

open on Saturdays,

Sundays and Bank

Holidays, 2.00pm –

4.30pm, from Easter

2013.

Juliet Ayres

Churchill Heritage Centre

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oxfordshire Museums

There are around 35 museums in Oxfordshire, ranging from the big University museums with international reputations

in Oxford, through prominent museums in town centres such as Woodstock and Banbury, to many smaller museums

tucked away in out-of-the-way places, largely run by volunteers, which frequently form the focus of their communities.

You can read reports from two of these smaller museums, above, but the large museums in Oxford also contain

collections of interest to local historians. The Pitt Rivers Museum, for example, launched The Other Within: An

Anthropology of Englishness website in 2009 at (www.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness.html), and the Museum of the History

of Science contains a fine collection of Oxfordshire clocks (see also the notice about the forthcoming clock exhibition

at Adderbury on p. 12). The Oxfordshire Museums Council was founded more than 30 years ago and includes

representatives from all of the museums in the county. The OMC holds regular meetings and publishes an excellent

Museums Guide annually: see www.oxfordshiremuseums.org for links to all the member museums and an on-line

version of the Guide. Each year, the guide contains a trail quiz which can pleasantly occupy summer weekend

afternoons and offers the prospect of generous prizes sponsored by Blackwells for the most correct answers received.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Local communities and local history in a globalized world

It is a paradox of 21st century hyper-globalized society,

where action on a world level is seen as the only way

forward to solve pressing problems of environmental

change, poverty and financial market regulation, that

the push towards globalization has largely been made

by individuals, small groups and grass roots

movements who cross national boundaries, both

physically and electronically. At the same time, in

many countries, such as the UK, individuals and small

groups have also become increasingly concerned about

preserving and recording the local heritage of the

places where they live and recreating community

bonds which have been lost as people have moved

away from the places where they were born. This has

been a long-standing tradition in many of our glorious

Oxfordshire villages, but can also be seen in much

newer communities. For example, a new local history

group was launched on 19 February this year in

Blackbird Leys, a Civil Parish within the City of

Oxford, developed only half a century (Cont. on p.10)

10

(Cont.) ago and reputed to be one of the biggest

housing estates in Europe.

On a global level, concern about the loss of their

contribution to world diversity by fragile communities

and their traditions led to the UNHCR codifying the

Convention for the Preservation of Intangible Heritage

in 2003 (www.unesco.org/culture). 151 countries,

many from the developing world, have already signed

up to this commitment to preserve knowledge about

traditional crafts, customs and festivals. There is

currently an E-petition to Parliament in circulation

calling for the UK to do likewise. This is unlikely to

be top priority for British governments at present and,

indeed, severe cuts in national and local government

spending on museums and libraries are now causing

considerable concern in the sector. However, some

encouraging small developments at national level have

quietly been put in place. There is of course, the

current review of the schools’ History curriculum

with a call for greater emphasis on chronology rather

than cherry-picking of topics. In February last year,

English Heritage was given £3m by the government as

part of a new cultural education initiative to set up a

network of ‘brokers’ who will be compiling lists and

arranging visits to local historical sites in order to

inspire children by ‘our rich island story”

(www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/

heritage-schools/). Meanwhile, the Heritage Lottery

Fund will be distributing another £3m in its Sharing

Heritage (small grants) and Our Heritage (medium

grants) programmes (www.hlf.org.uk); the VCH’s

HLF-funded England’s Past for Everyone project for

the Schools Learning Zone has recently completed a

project in Oxfordshire schools on the buildings of

Henley and Burford (www.englandspastforeveryone

.org.uk/schools/projects); and several local history

programmes have been included in the Transformation

Fund’s programme for developing adult education

opportunities (www.transformationfund.org). _________________________________________________________________________________________

OTHER LOCAL HISTORY NEWS AND NOTICES

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Obituaries

Diana Wood (1941-2012)

Members of OLHA will be sorry to hear that Dr Diana

Wood died suddenly in July 2012 aged 71. She was a

distinguished scholar and teacher of medieval history,

and will be remembered by many Oxfordshire local

history students.

Diana’s early career was in publishing, followed by

study as a mature student at Birkbeck College in

London for a BA and then a PhD on the fourteenth-

century Avignon pope Clement VI. For several years

she held an academic post at the University of East

Anglia, commuting between Headington and Norwich,

and she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical

Society. From 1985 to 1999 she edited and contributed

to many volumes of Studies in Church History, the

conference proceedings of the Ecclesiastical History

Society.

In 1998 Diana became a history tutor for Oxford

University Department for Continuing Education. At

first she protested that she was ‘not a local historian’,

but within a very short time she found that this new

approach was close to her own interests and she became

a popular tutor for classes around Oxfordshire. When a

temporary post replacing Chris Day as course director

of the Diploma in English Local History came up, Diana

was an obvious choice, and she went on to direct the

course for six years. Her students on the Diploma course

remember her as an inspiring teacher and a generous

adviser, especially to those who shared her enthusiasm

for the medieval period.

Following her retirement from OUDCE in 2006, Diana

continued to pursue her research, writing and teaching

in local and social medieval history. She served briefly

as an OLHA committee member. For three years she

was editor of the county journal Oxoniensia and

published two articles in the journal, on Oxfordshire

local history’s benefactor EA Greening Lamborn, and

(with David Clark) on John Coombes’s charity school in

St Thomas’s parish, Oxford. One of her last publications

was the entry on medieval chantries and hospitals in the

Historical Atlas of Oxfordshire (2010) edited by Kate

Tiller. Her long-term research project on the medieval

Sunday sadly remains unfinished except for one early

article.

Diana was always involved in music in Oxford,

particularly as a choral singer, and for many years she

ran the Byrd Consortium which specialised in early

church and secular music. More recently she joined the

Cathedral Singers at Christ Church. Her home in Oxford

was Headington Quarry, an area that she loved and to

which she returned after a brief period in Kent, and she

was buried there in the churchyard of Holy Trinity. She

will be missed by her many friends at OUDCE and in

the local history community in Oxfordshire and beyond.

Adrienne Rosen, OUDCE

_____________________________________________

Aelfthryth Gittings (1939-2012)

In the course of less than a decade Aelfthryth Gittings,

who died on 31 December last year aged 73, made a

considerable contribution to local history.

(Cont. on p. 11)

11

(Cont.) Aelfthryth took a history degree at Somerville

in 1961 and spent her professional life mostly in what is

now NatCen Social Research. After she and her

husband John (for many years The Guardian’s China

specialist) retired to Shipton-under-Wychwood in 2003,

she took the OUDCE palaeography course and helped

form the Burford (now Oxfordshire) Probate Group

which transcribes wills and inventories for the VCH.

The fruits of its work are in the Burford and Henley

volumes of the England’s Past for Everyone series and

the VCH (volume XVI). She then worked on probate

documents in the Ewelme Hundred for the VCH. Active

in the Wychwoods Local History Society, she started

probate work in those villages too.

The article ‘Two brothers from Northleach: William and

Matthew Bishop’, which she wrote with Angela Dix,

appeared in Oxfordshire Local History (Vol 9/3), a few

months before she died - her first published historical

research. At Aelfthryth’s memorial gathering Angela

explained that their interest in the brothers had been

triggered because William had won a degree at Oxford,

a remarkable feat for the son of a butcher in the early

17th century.

It was a privilege to have published Aelfthryth’s work,

and it is our loss that there is no more to come.

Chris Hall, editor ‘Oxfordshire Local History’.

Janey Cumber (1951-2013)

Janey Cumber, who died in January this year, was well

known to many fellow local history students at

OUDCE and also to archaeologists, students and

members of the public who became involved in the

Oxford University excavations at the Marcham/Frilford

site for over a decade from 2001. Janey graduated from

St. Andrews in 1973 with a degree in mediaeval history.

However, marriage to her farmer husband Will, and the

bringing up of three children, meant that not until 1999

could she rekindle her interest in the past.

She first did the Undergraduate Certificate in Local

History at OUDCE, before joining Kellogg College to

study for her Masters, for which she made a study of

Abingdon, and its development after the dissolution of

Abingdon Abbey. Her pleasure in doing this, and the

original research it involved, led her to apply to do a

DPhil on a part-time basis. For this she went into a

more detailed investigation of the town, including

reading many wills, all written in secretary hand, and

studying the previously un-analysed Amyce Survey, a

record of who owned and occupied what properties in

the town in 1554. Her thesis, entitled “Tudor

Abingdon” was completed in late 2010, and her

doctorate was awarded at the Sheldonian in May 2011.

It was a chance encounter at OUDCE with archaeologist

Gary Lock which led to the annual training dig for

Oxford archaeology undergraduates coming to Manor

Farm, the Cumbers’ farm in Marcham, to investigate the

previously un-dug Iron Age and Romano-British

remains in a field next door to the Roman-style temple

discovered in 1937. Eleven years of excavation led to

the discovery of numerous Iron Age pits, stone

foundations of many buildings, the enclosure wall

around the temenos or sacred area of the temple, and the

large circular amphitheatre-like structure which is now

interpreted as a semi-amphitheatre or arena.

Janey’s love of history naturally led to a fascination for

archaeology, and she was instrumental in setting up the

Vale and Ridgeway Trust, which has been able to access

two Heritage Lottery Fund grants, the second of which

is covering the costs of the post-excavation analysis of

all the many finds.

Will Cumber

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oxford University Department for Continuing Education courses in Local History, Spring/Summer ’13

Day- and Weekend-schools

Friars and Friaries in Late Medieval England Saturday 16 March at Rewley House

The Victorian Middle Class Saturday 11 May at Rewley House Gardens and Art

Friday 7 – Sunday 9 June at Rewley House

Full details of all these weekend events can be found at

www.conted.ox.ac.uk, or phone 01865 270380. Online

booking for day-schools is now available via the

website.

(Cont. on p. 14)

Award-bearing Courses

Diploma in English Local History

A two-year part-time course which offers a survey of

the main themes and sources of English local history

and the techniques needed for interpreting historical

evidence. Module 1, which covers English Local

History up to c.1530, starts in October 2013.

For full details see www.conted.ox.ac.uk/dipelh

Postgradute courses

OUDCE also offers an MSc in English Local History

and a part-time DPhil in English Local History.

12

Exhibition of North Oxfordshire

Quaker Clocks

Saturday 8th June-Sunday 9th June 2013

at Adderbury Parish Institute

Adderbury History Association is hosting an

exhibition of approximately sixty, locally made,

Quaker clocks. The village of Adderbury, in the

eighteenth century, was at the heart of North

Oxfordshire Quaker clockmaking tradition of iron

posted hoop and spike clocks with a distinctive ring

and zig zag engraved dials; Adderbury was the

home of the most prolific maker of Quaker clocks

in the eighteenth century – Richard Gilkes.

The exhibition will have on display many examples

of hoop and spike clocks from each of the main

Quaker clockmaking villages of Sibford Gower,

Adderbury, Deddington, Milton-under-Wychwood

and the market towns of Charlbury and Shipston on

Stour. There will also be clocks made by the early

eighteenth century clockmaker Thomas Gilkes Sr.

of Sibford, John Farndon Sr of Deddington and later

members of the Gilkes family, as well as lesser

known makers such as Thomas Harris of

Deddington and Wm Green of Milton.

In conjunction with this exhibition, Adderbury’s

Quaker Meeting House (above) will be open on

both days – this beautiful, historic building was

built in 1675 and is one of the of only a handful of

Quaker Meeting houses left in England still in its

original state with some of its original furniture and

still in use; its atmosphere is magical!

Do put these dates in your diary – and come and

learn all about ‘posted hoop and spike clocks’. This

exhibition will be a unique occasion - to have so

many, treasured and historic, local Quaker Clocks

gathered together into one village hall is most

unlikely to ever happen again. The Exhibition is

open from 10.30am to 5pm on both days, admission

£5. Refreshments will be available and The

Adderbury Red Lion pub is only yards away!

Nick Allen, AHA

Oxfordshire Past

1st June 2013, Exeter Hall, Kidlington

The nineteenth Oxfordshire Past is to be held on

Saturday 1 June 2013 at Exeter Hall, Kidlington from

10.00 am to 4.15 pm. This prestigious event features

the latest developments in archaeology in the county,

local history talks, recent work undertaken on

Oxfordshire’ historic buildings, and a special feature

this year on the historic assessment of the walled

gardens of Oxfordshire. Other topics include recent

work on the Roman settlement at South Leigh, recent

research on Stonesfield slates mines, and Oxford's

nineteenth-century suburban churches.

The event is organised by Oxfordshire Architectural

and Historical Society, supported this year by

Kidlington & District Historical Society. Attendance is

open to anyone at a cost of £7 for the day. Tickets

may be booked online via the OxPast website at

oxfordshirepast.org, or by post to Shaun Morley, Tithe

Corner, 67 Hill Crescent, Finstock, Chipping Norton,

OX7 3BT, enclosing a cheque payable to OAHS. To

keep costs down, no acknowledgement is given of

receipt unless an e-mail address is provided; no

physical tickets are issued.

Walks around Civil-War Oxford

Starting on 3rd March 2013, Woodstock Walks are

sponsoring the Tales of Iron Wars Team in a series of

guided walks in Oxford entitled Oxford - Defence

and Conflict In and Around the City and University.

The Walks feature new, unpublished archaeological

and historical research and will help to fund the

Cherwell Crossings Battlefield Archaeology Project.

The Walks take place on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of

each month, start at 2pm from the Castle Mound

(below), and last approximately 2 hours. They include

a visit to New College and cost £10 per person (the

price includes the £3 entrance fee to the College).

Places on a Walk must be booked in advance by

phoning the Booking Line on 07766 306799.

Andrew Webster, Tales of Iron Wars Team

13

New Publications

Remembrance and Community: War Memorials and

Local History by Kate Tiller

Published by the British Association for Local History

The Great War of 1914-18 was followed by a wave of

remembrance, reflecting the determination of those left

behind to honour and remember the dead of Britain’s

first mass, modern war. This shared national impulse

was expressed most widely in local war memorials.

Most were permanent monuments, sometimes collec-

tive, sometimes to groups or individuals. Some were

practical projects and buildings looking to the future

secured by the sacrifice of the dead. While the creation

of fitting memorials was a near universal response, the

memorials themselves are far from uniform. Most

record the names of individual combatants (presented

in various ways), but they also reflect the

circumstances, attitudes, funds, tastes and sometimes

disagreements of families and comrades, of influential

local individuals and institutions, and of others in the

wider circles of connection, belonging and

remembrance who influenced the making of each of

the many thousands of local memorials. Often

memorials have also become monuments to the Second

World War and later conflicts, acting as a continuing

but changing focus of personal feelings, shared rituals

and shifting attitudes to war and loss. The anniversaries

of 1914-18 are now increasing awareness of the unique

importance of local war memorials as something to

preserve, record and understand as part of both our

local and national history.

This guide suggests what to look for in studying local

war memorials, identifies sources and ideas for

researching their creation and ongoing roles in local

life, and explains how to find out more about those

whose names they commemorate.

56 pages, fully illustrated in colour, £6.95 (£5 for

BALH members) plus £1 postage. Available by post

from The Business Manager (BALH), PO Box 6549,

Somersal Herbert, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 5WH

____________________________________________

Traditional Buildings in the Oxford Region by James

Ayres and John Steane

Published by Oxbow Books

The pivotal position of the Oxford region in the

geological and therefore building history of England is

of fundamental importance to the study of traditional

construction. Oxford occupies a central position on the

ancient route between Northampton and Southampton

and on the east-west road between London and the

West Country, Wales and Ireland. For this reason,

unusually for vernacular architecture, the buildings of

the region were subject to a wide range of influences.

This book, the fruit of twenty years research, provides

an account of vernacular architecture in the Oxford

region from Anglo-Saxon times to the 19th century. It

begins with a discussion of methods and procedures

followed by a description of building materials, stone,

brick, slate and thatch. This serves as an introduction to

the heart of the book, eleven chapters dealing with

surveys of cruck buildings, manorial and moated sites,

town hours with particular emphasis on Abingdon, and

houses in the countryside from farmhouses to cottages.

There are then chapters on fire hazards, public houses

and public buildings. Distributed through the book are

special sections devoted to wall paintings, ferramenta,

apotropaic marks, carpentry details, secrets under the

floorboards, fireplaces, staircases and windows. The

book is richly and profusely illustration with over 500

illustrations, photographs, maps and, a particular

strength, a large number of drawings of architectural

details and sketch perspectives.

ISBN: 9781842174791; Price: £45.00; Hardback

Publication Date: August 2013

Enquiries to: Oxbow Books Ltd,

www.oxbowbooks.com. Distributed by Orca Book

Services, orders@orcabookservices.co.uk

____________________________________________

Thematic Trails - the Kingston Bagpuize educational

publishing charity which has published many booklets

for local authors and history groups in Oxfordshire -

has two new titles on its publications list

www.thematic-trails.org:

A Story of Longworth: A Stonemason and his Family

by Jan Kelly

This book, to be published shortly, tells of the lives of

the Mansell family of Longworth and many of their

relatives, at the same time painting a vivid picture of

life in an Oxfordshire village both in peace and war

over the last 100 years.

ISBN 978-0-948444-60-9, £4.50 160 pages (A5) in full

colour and with 145 illustrations, including maps.

From Dawn to Dusk: Reminiscences of a Wonderful

Life by Graham A Platt.

Graham Platt had an eventful life, culminating in 20

years as a much-respected headmaster and an inspiring

teacher in primary education in Kingston Bagpuize and

Southmoor in Oxfordshire before retiring in 1980. The

book is much more than a simple family history. It

contains a strong philosophical undercurrent and, for

the first time, Graham talks about the events which

shaped his life, including his wartime experiences and

his approach to education and life.

ISBN 978-0-948444-59-3, £4.50, 128 pages (A5), 40

Illustrations.

14

Oxford University Department for Continuing Education courses in Local History, Spring /Summer ’13 (Cont. from p. 11)

Weekly Classes

Place-names and the Anglo-Saxon Geologist

– Ann Cole, MA DPhil

Forget the modern approach to geology and see how

the Anglo-Saxons’ use of stone, clay, chalk etc is

reflected in place-names. Includes 2 field trips north of

Oxford.

10 meetings, Mondays 10.30am–12.30pm, starting 15

April 2013 at Ewert House

Before and After the Black Death: Life in the

Medieval Village c.1086-1500 – Heather Falvey, MSt PhD

Local aspects of medieval village life, including the

manor, religion, making a living, and recreation, but

also the impact on villagers of national events and

phenomena such as royal policy and the Black Death.

10 meetings, Tuesdays 2.00–4.00pm, starting 16 April

2013 at Ewert House

Lost Ways – Steven Hollowell, MA(Ed) MA PhD

An opportunity to discover how you research lost

public rights of way and then apply to have them

entered into the official records, combining applied

history and rights of way law.

10 meetings, Thursdays 10.30 am – 12.30 pm, starting

18 April 2013 at Ewert House

Henry II and the 12th Century World

– Elizabeth Gemmill, MA PhD

King Henry II (1154-1189) fascinated his

contemporaries and has intrigued historians,

writers and film makers in our own time. This course

will explore his reign in the context of the wider 12th

century world.

10 meetings, Thursdays 10.30am–12.30pm, starting 18

April 2013 at Ewert House

Five Oxford Villages – Trevor Rowley, MA MLitt FSA

An exploration of the villages around Oxford that have

been absorbed as Oxford has spread. We will look at

Iffley, Headington, Marston, Cowley and Wolvercote,

both historically and in the field.

10 meetings, Fridays 10.30 am – 12.30 pm, starting 19

April 2013 at Ewert House

Gardens of the Universities of Oxford – Michael Pirie,

Head Gardener, Green Templeton College

A summer evening course on the history and

development of Oxford’s college gardens, and the

Victorian mansion, Headington Hill Hall, now part of

Oxford Brookes University. The course consists

largely of field visits.

10 meetings Wednesdays, 6.30–8.30pm, starting 24

April 2013 at Rewley House

The Making of Modern Reading: 1945 to the Present

Day – Margaret Simons, PhD

Reading in the 21st century is a very different town to

the one that emerged following the years of postwar

austerity, having shed much of its Victorian character.

Ambitious plans have created the town as it is today.

10 meetings, Thursdays 7.00pm–9.00pm, starting 25

April 2013 at London Road Campus, University of

Reading

What is Local History? – Elizabeth Gemmill, MA PhD

An introduction to the content, methods and sources of

English local history, with an emphasis on

documentary evidence available for the study of the

manor, the parish and the town.

6 meetings, Monday and Thursday evenings, starting 2

September 2013

For more information, please go to the website

www.conted.ox.ac.uk or contact the Weekly Class

office by e-mail at ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk or by

telephone on 01865 280892 /893 /894

_____________________________________

Online Courses

English Landscape Gardens: 1650 to the Present Day

This 10 week online course is the ideal introduction to

English garden history, providing an overview of five

centuries of development from Baroque formalism

through the naturalistic landscape style, right up to

contemporary cutting-edge planting style.

Next starting date: Wednesday 8 May 2013

Investigating the Victorians

In the 19th century, Britain led the world in the

dramatic process of industrialisation. The

consequences for British society were far reaching.

This 10 week online course shows how ordinary people

were affected by these developments.

Next starting date: Monday 29 April 2013

For more information on these and other online courses

in many subjects including Archaeology, History, Art

History and Literature see

www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

“… in 2004 I enrolled for the Advanced Diploma in Local History at OUDCE, followed by the two year part-time MSc in Local

History. This was immensely rewarding, and on retirement from a career in the police force, I started upon a DPhil in English Local

History. I was given great encouragement throughout by staff at OUDCE and by my tutor.” Shaun Morley, Local Historian

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

DIARY OF TALKS AND MEETINGS ________________________________________________________________________________________________

March 2013

20th Bloxham – Jan Warner “The Survival of the

Fittest: A Brief History of Child Rearing”.

Jubilee Park Hall, Brickle Lane, 7:30pm.

20th Clanfield and Bampton – Muriel Pilkington

“The Burford Mutiny”. Bampton Village Hall,

7:30pm.

20th Littlemore – Joanne Robinson “The Minchery

Dig”. Giles Road Community Centre, 7:30pm.

21st Abingdon – Janice Kinory “The Production,

Distribution and Use of Salt in the British Iron

Age”. Northcourt Centre, Northcourt Road,

7:45pm.

21st Eynsham - Pamela Richards “An Eynsham

Family”. St Leonard’s Church Hall, 7:30pm.

21st Sibfords – AGM and pottery demo by Penny

Varley. Village Hall, 8:00pm.

21st Longworth – David Ray “Colditz Castle:

Holiday Camp or Hell Hole?”. Southmoor &

Kingston Bagpuize Village Hall, 7:30pm.

21st Wychwoods – Muriel Pilkington “The Lost

Railways of Oxfordshire”. Milton Village Hall,

7:30pm.

22nd Benson – Simon Townley “Benson and

Neighbouring Ewelme”. Benson Parish Hall,

7:30pm (followed by buffet supper).

25th Cumnor – Muriel Pilkingson “The Mitfords in

the Cotswolds”. Old School, 7:30pm.

25th Launton – Launton Handbell Ringers. Grange

Farm Mews, Station Road, 7:45pm.

25th Oxfordshire Family History Society - John

Frearson “The Green Room Plaque”. Exeter

Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

26th Kidlington – Bob Foster “The Mary Rose”. St

John Ambulance Hall, 7:50pm.

27th Dorchester – Derek Turner “The Milestone

Society”. Dorchester Abbey Guest House,

7:30pm.

28th Aston – Andrew Long and Martin Bowley

“Chimney”. Fellowship Centre, Cote Road,

7:30pm.

April 2013

1st Oxfordshire Family History Society, Alan

Simpson “The Camera Never Lies … or Does

It? – A Light hearted Approach for April 1st”.

Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

2nd Hook Norton – Gregory Stores “The History of

Witchcraft and Attempts to Combat its

Influence”. Hook Norton Brewery Visitors’

Centre, 7:30pm.

3rd Otmoor – AGM followed by Dr. Paul Booth

“Recent work on the Roman Town at

Dorchester on Thames”. Islip Village Hall,

8:00pm.

5th Chinnor – Valerie Edwards “Chenies Manor”.

Reading Room, Chinnor High Street, 8:00pm.

8th Chipping Norton – Ray Sturdy “The Home

Guard”. Methodist Church, West Street,

7:30pm.

9th Henley – Shaun Morley “Emigration from

Oxfordshire in the 19th Century”. Old Kings

Arms Barn, 7:45pm.

9th Marcham – Bob Harris “The Early Life of

Lord Nuffield”. Marcham Church, 7:45pm.

9th Thame – Simon Wenham “The History of

Salters Steamers”. Church Barns, Church Road,

7:30pm.

10th Deddington – Steven Brindle “The Restoration

of Windsor Castle”. Windmill Centre, Hempton

Road, 7:30pm.

11th Didcot – Martin Way “A Glimmer in the

Dark”: The Art and Craftsmanship of Anglo-

Saxons”. Northbourne Centre, 7:30pm.

11th Wootton & Dry Sandford – AGM and

Members’ Evening. Wootton and Dry Sandford

Community Centre, 7:30pm.

12th Charlbury – Martin Maw “The History of the

Oxford University Press Archives”. Memorial

Hall, Browns Lane, 8:00pm.

14th Bartons – AGM and Anthony Poulton-Smith

“Oxfordshire Place Names”. Middle Barton

Sports & Social Club, 2:00pm.

15th Bicester – Martin Way “Vikings”. Clifton

Centre, Ashdene Road, 7:30pm.

15th Chalgrove – Shaun Morley “Social

Investigation of Great Milton 1892”. John

Hampden Hall, 7:30pm.

15th Goring & Streatley – Valerie Alasia “The

History of Henley Workhouse”. Goring Village

Hall, 8:00pm.

15th Kennington – Bert Pridgeon “King Alfred”.

Methodist Church, Upper Road, 7:45pm.

16

April 2013 (cont.)

16th Benson – Colin Oakes “Workhouses and the

Poor Law Union”. St Helen’s Church, 7:30pm.

Please contact janetbottomley@yahoo.com,

01491 838445, to book a place.

16th Clanfield and Bampton - Liz Woolley “The

Common Lodging House in Victorian

England”. Carter Institute, Clanfield, 7:30pm.

16th Cowley – Paul Smith “Recent Archæological

Investigations in Oxfordshire”. United

Reformed Church, Oxford Road, 8:00pm.

16th Cuddington – Chris Bowler “The Restoration

of Historic Buildings in Our Area – a Practical

Guide”. Playing Fields Clubhouse, Bernard

Close, 7:30pm.

16th Enstone – Gerald Skinner “How to Loose the

Cold War – a Personal Diplomatic History”.

Contact society for venue, 7:30pm.

16th Iffley – Jeri Bapasola, Annual Vivien Greene

Memorial Lecture: “Sarah Duchess of

Marlborough and the Building of Blenheim

Palace”. Church Hall, Church Way, 7:30pm.

17th Bloxham – David Gibbard “The Life and

Works of Thomas Chippendale”. Jubilee Park

Hall, Brickle Lane, 7:30pm.

18th Abingdon – Anni Byard “The Work of the

Portable Antiquities Scheme”. Northcourt

Centre, Northcourt Road, 7:45pm.

18th Eynsham – AGM and Tim Porter (topic to be

confirmed). St Leonard’s Church Hall, 7:30pm.

18th Longworth -Michael Riordan “St John’s and

The Queen’s Colleges, Oxford”. Southmoor &

Kingston Bagpuize Village Hall, 7:30pm.

18th Wychwoods – Talk and exhibition by the

Society’s Probate Group. Shipton Village Hall,

7:30pm.

19th Chadlington – “Members’ Family History:

Heroes, Villains and Skeletons – and How to

Find Them”. Memorial Hall, 8:00pm.

19th Finstock – John Forster (Archivist to His Grace

the Duke of Marlborough) “Blenheim: from the

Inside”. Village Hall, 8:00pm.

20th Henley River & Rowing Museum – Simon

Townley “People in a Chiltern Landscape: the

Victoria County History’s Ewelme Hundred

Project”. 11:30am–c.12:30pm (coffee from

11:00am).

21st Steeple Aston – John Leighfield “Maps of

Oxfordshire, Fourteenth to Twenty First

Century”. Village Hall, 4:00pm.

21st Stratton Audley – Fringford walk with Martin

Greenwood (tbc).

22nd Oxfordshire Family History Society, Howard

Benbrook “London Ancestors”. Exeter Hall,

Oxford Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

24th Dorchester – Alan Simpson “Genealogy – How

Much You Can Do From Home”. Dorchester

Abbey Guest House, 7:30pm.

25th Aston – AGM followed by Tim Marshal

“Quaker Clockmakers”. Fellowship Centre,

Cote Road, 7:30pm.

26th Benson – Paul Whittle “Steam to Mandalay”.

Benson Parish Hall, 7:30pm (followed by buffet

supper).

29th Cumnor – AGM and Laurence Waters “The

Wantage Tramway”. Old School, 7:30pm.

29th Launton – Liz Woolley “Oxfordshire Children

in WW2”. Grange Farm Mews, Station Road,

7:45pm.

30th Kidlington – Graham Sutherland “A Taste of

Ale”. St John Ambulance Hall, 7:50pm.

May 2013

3rd Chinnor – Phil Crockett “The History of Paper

Making”. Reading Room, Chinnor High Street,

8:00pm.

7th Henley – Barbara Allison “The Bell & the

Catherine Wheel: Discovering Henley’s 17th

Century Inns”. Old Kings Arms Barn, 7:45pm.

7th Hook Norton – AGM. Hook Norton Brewery

Visitors’ Centre, 7:30pm.

8th Deddington – Liz Woolley “Leisure and

Entertainment in Victorian and Edwardian

Oxford”. Windmill Centre, Hempton Road,

7:30pm.

9th Didcot – Ray Goff “Bletchley Park in the

1940s”. Northbourne Centre, 7:30pm (followed

by a trip to visit Bletchley Park in June).

13th Chipping Norton – Shaun Morley “Emigration

from Oxfordshire in the 19th Century”.

Methodist Church, West Street, 7:30pm.

13th Goring & Streatley – Liz Woolley “The

Coming of the Railway to Oxford”. Goring

Village Hall, 8:00pm.

13th Radley – Michael Cornwell “Maiwand: the

Last Stand of the 66th Berkshire Regiment in

Afghanistan 1880”. Primary School Hall,

7:30pm.

14th Marcham – Martin Woodgett “The Cutty

Sark”. Marcham Church, 7:45pm.

14th Thame – David Gilbert “Who was King

Arthur: Romance, Legend, or Fact?”. Church

Barns, Church Road, 7:30pm.

17

May 2013 (cont.)

15th Bloxham – Elizabeth Hamilton “The

Warwickshire Scandal”. Jubilee Park Hall,

Brickle Lane, 7:30pm.

15th Littlemore – Liz Shatford “Sandford”. Giles

Road Community Centre, 7:30pm.

16th Abingdon – Helena Hamerow “The Origins of

Wessex Project: The Upper Thames Valley in

the Early Anglo-Saxon Period”. Northcourt

Centre, Northcourt Road, 7:45pm.

16th Longworth – Visit and guided walk in

Coleshill grounds led by Bill King, 6:15pm.

17th Chadlington – Gordon Ottewell“Memories of

Village Schools”. Memorial Hall, 8:00pm.

20th Bicester – Bob Hessian “Stoke Lyne”. Clifton

Centre, Ashdene Road, 7:30pm.

20th Chalgrove – Judy Dewey “Wallingford Castle

and its Links with Chalgrove”. John Hampden

Hall, 7:30pm.

20th Kennington – Richard O Smith “Oxford

Eccentricity: How Madly and Badly the City

and University have Behaved over the Last 900

Years”. Methodist Church, Upper Road,

7:45pm.

20th Oxfordshire Family History Society, Tony

Hadland “The Duke and the Miner’s

Daughter: the Fascinating Truth Behind a

Forest of Dean Family Myth”. Exeter Hall,

Oxford Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

21st Cowley – Charles Tyzack “The Decline and

Fall of the Wychwood Forest”. United

Reformed Church, Oxford Road, 8:00pm.

21st Cuddington – Air Vice-Marshal David Crwys-

Williams “The Story of the Falkland Islands

and the Conflict of 1982”. Playing Fields

Clubhouse, Bernard Close, 7:30pm.

21st Enstone – Helen Rappaport “The Murder of

the Romanovs”. Contact society for venue,

7:30pm.

21st Iffley – AGM and Richard O Smith “Britain’s

Most Eccentric Sports”. Church Hall, Church

Way, 7:30pm.

22nd Clanfield and Bampton – Mark Davies “The

Joneses of Jesus”. Bampton Village Hall,

7:30pm.

22nd Dorchester – Dr Edward Metcalfe “The

History of Didcot Power Station and its

Future”. Dorchester Abbey Guest House,

7:30pm.

24th Finstock – Keith Chandler “Traditional Music

and Musicians in 19th Century Wychwood”.

Village Hall, 8:00pm.

25th Finstock – Village Music Day, including music

from Fiddles and the Pipe and Tabor, as well as

workshops, songs, Morris dancing, storytelling

and ceilidh. We also plan to recreate the

Finstock Bowery which was last built in the

village around 150 years ago.

28th Kidlington – Judy Dewey “Great Medieval

Households”. St John Ambulance Hall, 7:50pm.

30th Launton – David Buxton “The History of St

Edburgh’s Church, Bicester”. Grange Farm

Mews, Station Road, 7:45pm.

31st Benson – Martin Lloyd “Passports, Assassins,

Traitors and Spies”. Benson Parish Hall,

7:30pm (followed by buffet supper).

June 2013

4th Henley – Liz Woolley “Children & War:

Experiences of the Second World War in

Oxfordshire”. Old Kings Arms Barn, 7:45pm.

7th Chinnor – Julia Bailey “Thame in the Bronze

Age – Artifacts by Detectors”. Reading Room,

Chinnor High Street, 8:00pm.

10th Radley – Richard Dudding “Radley in the 17th

Century: Yeoman, Gentry and Land”. Primary

School Hall, 7:30pm.

15th Blewbury – Walk along the mills route from

Hagbourne to Blewbury with leader Dave

Carless. Booking essential (Audrey Long,

01235 850427). Start 2:00pm.

15th Henley River & Rowing Museum – Jeremy

Laming “Ten years of the Henley Swim”.

11:30am – c.12:30pm (coffee from 11:00am).

17th Bicester – Pete Chivers “Shopping in the Past

in Bicester”. Clifton Centre, Ashdene Road,

7:30pm.

17th Kennington – James Bond “Monastic Estates

and Land Exploitation in the Middle Ages in

the Thames Valley”. Methodist Church, Upper

Road, 7:45pm.

18th Enstone – Annual historic garden picnic with

Enstone Horticultural Society. Terraced

gardens of Enstone Tithe Barn, time tbc.

19th Cuddington – Visit to Chenies Manor.

2:00pm.

19th Littlemore – Open social evening with display

and refreshments. Giles Road Community

Centre, 7:30pm.

20th Abingdon – Open Evening: Talks and Displays

by Members. Northcourt Centre, Northcourt

Road, 7:45pm.

20th Wychwoods – Speaker from the National Trust

“Chastleton House”. Shipton Village Hall,

7:30pm.

18

June 2013 (cont.)

21st Finstock – Clemence Schultze “Green Leaves

versus Golden Pavements: The Life and Work

of Barbara Pym”. Village Hall, 8:00pm.

22nd Longworth – Guided walk around Burford

with David Clark. Public car park, 10:00am.

24th Launton – John Clarke “Market Towns and

their Hinterland, Part 2”. Grange Farm Mews,

Station Road, 7:45pm.

24th Oxfordshire Family History Society, Wendy

Archer “The Pulker One-Name Study”. Exeter

Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

25th Kidlington – AGM followed by Members’

Social. St John Ambulance Hall, 7:30pm

July 2013

4th Longworth – Guided walk around Minster

Lovell with Graham Kew. Wash Meadow car

park, 2:00pm.

9th Stratton Audley – Oxford walk (tbc).

9th Thame – Richard O Smith “Oxford

Eccentricities” . Church Barns, Church Road,

7:30pm.

15th Bicester – John Woolley “Great Train

Robbery”. Clifton Centre, Ashdene Road,

7:30pm.

22nd Oxfordshire Family History Society, Geoff

Bremble “Imagining Who They Were!”. Exeter

Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

29th Launton – Hugh Granger “Famous Spies”.

Grange Farm Mews, Station Road, 7:45pm.

September 2013

3rd Cuddington – Visit to Marlborough.

9th Radley – AGM and Clare Sargent “Radley in

100 Objects”. Primary School Hall, 7:30pm.

10th Enstone – Roger Luckhurst “The Mummy’s

Curse, the True History of a Dark Fantasy”.

Contact society for venue, 7:30pm.

10th Stratton Audley – “The History of Stratton

Audley in Ten Objects”. Church, 7:30pm.

10th Thame – Shaun Morley “Custom and Ritual in

19th Century Oxfordshire”. Church Barns,

Church Road, 7:30pm.

16th Bicester – Michael Wright “Kirtlington

Morris”. Clifton Centre, Ashdene Road,

7:30pm.

16th Goring & Streatley – Rachel Sanderson “The

Chiltern Commons”. Goring Village Hall,

8:00pm.

16th Kennington – Thea Young (Sulgrave Manor)

“Cousins in War: The Priest, the Farmer and

the Soldier”. Methodist Church, Upper Road,

7:45pm.

17th Cuddington – Liz Woolley “Children’s

Experiences of World War II in Oxfordshire”.

Playing Fields Clubhouse, Bernard Close,

7:30pm.

17th Marcham – Graham Scholey “Otters: Ecology

and Conservation”. Marcham Church, 7:45pm.

19th Longworth – Tour of Ditchley Park house and

gardens. 2:15pm.

19th Wychwoods – Professor Porter, Southampton

University “The Dig at South Lawn, 2009-

2011”. Milton Village Hall, 7:30pm.

23rd Oxfordshire Family History Society, Anthony

Adolph “Joining the Dots and Bringing it all

Together – Connecting up Normal

Genealogical Research, Origins of Surnames,

and DNA”. Exeter Hall, Oxford Road,

Kidlington, 8:00pm.

25th Dorchester – Ian Ritchie “The History of the

Ridgeway and its Geology, Flora and Fauna”.

Dorchester Abbey Guest House, 7:30pm.

27th Benson – Liz Woolley “Child Labour in 19th

Century Oxfordshire”. Benson Parish Hall,

7:30pm (followed by buffet supper).

30th Launton – Dr Rowena Archer “Medieval

Women”. Grange Farm Mews, Station Road,

7:45pm.

October 2013

1st Henley – John Creighton “Silchester: Three

Centuries of Mapping the Ancient City”. Old

Kings Arms Barn, 7:45pm.

8th Marcham – AGM + Judy White “The Story of

Northcourt”. Marcham Church, 7:45pm.

8th Thame – Anthony Buxton “Domestic Life in

Thame in 17th Century”. Church Barns,

Church Road, 7:30pm.

17th Longworth – David Vaisey “The Work of the

History Society Wills Project”. Southmoor &

Kingston Bagpuize Village Hall, 7:30pm.

21st Bicester – Tim Porter “Saints & Shrines”.

Clifton Centre, Ashdene Road, 7:30pm.

21st Kennington – Graham Sutherland “Women at

Work”. Methodist Church, Upper Road,

7:45pm.

23rd Dorchester – Prof. Doreen Stoneham “Cities

Frozen in Time – Pompei and Chernobyl”.

Dorchester Abbey Guest House, 7:30pm.

25th Benson – Richard O Smith “Oxford

Eccentricity”. Benson Parish Hall, 7:30pm

(followed by buffet supper).

28th Launton – Peter Chivers “Health Matters,

Early Doctors and Hospitals in Bicester”.

Grange Farm Mews, Station Road, 7:45pm.

19

October 2013 (cont.)

28th Oxfordshire Family History Society, Liz

Woolley “Children and War: Experiences of

the Second World War in Oxfordshire”. Exeter

Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

29th Cuddington – Leslie Howard “Failed to

Return – the Story of Amy Johnson”. Playing

Fields Clubhouse, Bernard Close, 7:30pm.

November 2013

5th Henley – Hella Eckardt “Foreigners in Roman

Cities”. Old Kings Arms Barn, 7:45pm.

12th Marcham – Open Evening. Marcham Church,

7:45pm.

12th Thame – Derek Turner “The History and

Conservation of Milestones”. Church Barns,

Church Road, 7:30pm.

18th Bicester – Bob Hessian “The Garth”. Clifton

Centre, Ashdene Road, 7:30pm.

18th Kennington – Liz Woolley “Late Victorian

and Edwardian Industrial Buildings in

Oxford”. Methodist Church, Upper Road,

7:45pm.

19th Cuddington – Ann Severn “Charles Dickens’

Children”. Playing Fields Clubhouse, Bernard

Close, 7:30pm.

21st Longworth – Richard O Smith “Eccentric

Oxford”. Southmoor & Kingston Bagpuize

Village Hall, 7:30pm.

25th Launton – AGM. Grange Farm Mews, Station

Road, 7:45pm.

25th Oxfordshire Family History Society, John

Hanson “My Ancestor Left a Will – Well he

Should Have Done!”. Exeter Hall, Oxford

Road, Kidlington, 8:00pm.

27th Dorchester – Deirdre Wolaston “The

Augustinians”. Dorchester Abbey Guest House,

7:30pm.

December 2013

3rd Thame – AGM, subject to be announced –

possibly “Organ Grinders”. Church Barns,

Church Road, 7:30pm.

6th Benson – David Ball “Magic: An Evening of

Surprises”. Benson Parish Hall, 7:30pm

(followed by buffet supper).

6th Longworth – Christmas feast and

entertainment with Ruth Hastings and

Harmony InSpires. Southmoor & Kingston

Bagpuize Village Hall, 6:45pm, ticketed event.

10th Marcham – Christmas Social. Marcham

Church, 7:45pm.

16th Bicester – Pete Chivers “Bicester Hunt”.

Clifton Centre, Ashdene Road, 7:30pm.

16th Kennington - Graham Kirby “Book Browse: a

Display of Books Useful in Researching Local

History”. Methodist Church, Upper Road,

7:45pm.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

For further information about any of the events listed in the diary above, please contact the relevant local society:

Abingdon Area Archaeological & Historical Society, Ms

Rachel Everett, speakers@aaahs.org.uk,

www.aaahs.org.uk

Adderbury History Association, Mrs Jill Adams,

jillmadams@hotmail.com, 01869 340607,

www.adderbury.org/our-village/a-history/adderbury-

history-asociation

Ashbury Local History Society, Mrs Marion Turner,

mlt@mltgnt.com, 01793 710302,

www.ashbury.org.uk/livehist.php

Asthall Parish Survey Group, Mr Ken Betteridge,

kenbetteridge@phonecoop.coop, 01993 878615

Aston History Group, Mr Martin Bowley,

aston.historygroup@hotmail.co.uk, 01993 850440,

www.wospweb.com/site/Aston-History-Group/index.htm

Banbury Historical Society, Mr Simon Townsend, Banbury

Museum, simon.townsend@cherwell-dc.gov.uk, 01295

753781, www.cherwell.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2786

Bartons History Group, Mrs Christine Edbury,

christine.edbury@yahoo.co.uk, 01869 347013,

www.bartonshistorygroup.org.uk

Bensington Society, Ms Sue English,

sue_english1@hotmail.com, 01491 837907,

www.spanglefish.com/thebensingtonsociety

Bicester Local History Society, Mrs Sally James,

sallyjames46@hotmail.com, 01869 243804,

www.blhs.org.uk

Blewbury Local History Group, Mrs Diana Brock,

www.blewburyhistory.org.uk

Bloxham Village History Club, Mr Ian Myson, 01295

720951, ian_myson@hotmail.com, www.bluebellweb.

co.uk/club/Bloxham_History/htdocs/Welcome.php

Chadlington Local History Group, Mr Terry Garratt,

tdgarratt@aol.com, 01608 676526.

Chalgrove Local History Group, Mrs Gill Lester,

gilllester@waitrose.com, 01865 890451, www.chalgrove-

parish.org.uk/HistoryGroup/CPCHistoryGroup.html

Charlbury Society, Mr Simon Walker, simon.iets@

btinternet.com, 01608 811414,

www.charlbury.info/community/22

Chinnor Historical & Archaeological Society, Mr Ken

Mason, 4beech@googlemail.com, 01844 216538.

Chipping Norton History Society, Mrs Paula Mitchell,

01608 683628, www.chippingnortontown.info/

communitysocial/clubssocietieslisting/LocalHistory

Society/tabid/1050/Default.aspx

20

Centre for Banburyshire Studies, Ms Angela Kingdom,

Banbury Library, angela.kingdom@oxfordshire.gov.uk,

01295 262282

Clanfield & Bampton Historical Society, Mr Alan Smith,

smithequi@aol.com, 01367 810245

Cowley Local History Society, Mr Trevor Williams,

trevor.williams@tesco.net, 01865 773014,

www.cowleyhistory.org.uk

Cumnor & District History Society, Mrs Pat Hanson,

pat.hanson@ymail.com, 01865 863549

Cuddington History Society, Mr Peter Wenham, 01844

291932

Deddington & District History Society, Mrs Moira Byast,

thebyasts@btinternet.com, 01869 338637,

www.deddington.org.uk/clubs/ddhs

Denchworth Local History Group, Mrs Susan Brandon,

sue@brandonm.freeserve.co.uk, 01235 868451

Didcot & District Archaeological & Historical Society, Mrs

Joyce Hall, 01235 812516, www.ddahs.org.uk

Dorchester Historical Society, Miss Gail Thomas,

gail.thomas8@btopenworld.com, 01865 341977

Enstone Local History Society, Mrs Carol Geare,

carolawt@gmail.com, 01608 677246

Eynsham History Group, Dr Brian Atkins,

fbatkins@virginmedia.com, 01865 881677,

www.eynsham.org/histgroup.html

Finstock Local History Society, Mr Tony Cooper,

http://finstocklocalhistory.blogspot.com

Friends of the Vale & Downland Museum Centre, Mrs

Linda Thompson, Vale & Downland Museum,

info@friendsofthevdm.org.uk, www.

friendsofthevdm.org.uk

Friends of Tom Brown’s School Museum, Ms Jane Cooper,

www.museum.uffington.net/help.php

Goring & Streatley Local History Society, Mrs Janet Hurst,

gslhs@w-mark.demon.co.uk; jhurst@w-

mark.demon.co.uk, 01491 871022

Great Haseley Archives (The Haseley Archives), Miss Kay

Sentence, ksentance@gmail.com

Hanney History Group, Mrs Ann Fewins,

ann@clivefewins.co.uk, 01235 868378

Henley on Thames Archaeological & Historical Group,

Mr Martin Cresswell, secretary@henley-on-

thamesarchaeologicalandhistoricalgroup.org.uk, 01491

572640, www.henley-on-

thamesarchaeologicalandhistoricalgroup.org.uk

Hook Norton Local History Group, Mr David McGill,

scotlandend@btinternet.com, 01608 737103, www.hook-

norton.org.uk/village-groups/local-history-group.html

Iffley History Society, Mr Paul Butler, mpetipa@ntlworld.

com, 01865 777048, www.iffleyhistory.org.uk

Kennington History Society, Mr George Ross,

georgerossken@aol.com, 01865 739208, www.

kennington.org/organisations/histsoc/khs.htm

Kidlington & District Historical Society, Mrs Melanie

Wakefield, melanie_wakefield@hotmail.com, 01865

460926, www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/kidhist/

Launton Historical Society, Mrs Pat Tucker,

ptucker123@btinternet.com, 01869 253281,

www.launton.org/launton_historical_society.html

Littlemore Local History Society, Miss Mary Steele,

marysteele21@tiscali.co.uk, 01865 712969

Long Wittenham Local History Group, Mrs Janet Haylett,

familyhaylett@yahoo.com, 01865 407382

Longworth & District History Society, Mrs Janet Keene,

info@l-h-s.org.uk; keene@l-h-s.org.uk, 01865 820522,

www.l-h-s.org.uk

Lower Windrush Historical Society (formerly Standlake &

District Historical Society), Mr BH Roberts,

troberts@uwclub.net, 01865 300799,

www.standlakepc.org.uk/historysoc.htm

Marcham Society, Mrs Judith Fontaine,

peter.fontaine172@btinternet.com, 01865 391275,

www.marchamsociety.org.uk

Minster Lovell Historical Society, Mr Geoff Hoar,

geoffandjanet@talktalk.net, 01993 775086

North Leigh History Group, Mrs Diana Power,

power618@btinternet.com, 01993 882301,

www.wospweb.com/site/North-Leigh-Online/History-

Group.htm

Oxfordshire Family History Society, Ms Julie Kennedy,

secretary@ofhs.org.uk, 01993 812258, www.ofhs.org.uk

Otmoor Archaeological & Historical Society, Mr R Dunn,

01865 372264, www.otmoor.co.uk

Radley History Club, Ms Jenny Lee,

jenny.lee210@talktalk.net, 01235 799374,

www.radleyhistoryclub.org.uk

Sibfords Society, Mrs Diana Hughes, ddavhug@aol.com,

01295 780506, www.thesibfords.org.uk/org/sibfords-

society

Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust (SOFO), Ms Ursula Corcoran,

01993 813832, www.sofo.org.uk

Stanford in the Vale & District Local History Society, Mr

Philip Morris, 01367 710285,

www.stanford-in-the-vale.co.uk/lhs.shtml

Steeple Aston Village Archive Trust, Mr Martin Lipson,

martin.lipson@btinternet.com, 01869 347046,

www.steepleastonarchive.org.uk

Standlake & District Historical Society - see Lower

Windrush Historical Society

Stratton Audley Historical Society, Ms Dorothy Howarth,

01869 277694

Sutton Courtenay Local History Society, Ms Mary

Thompson, mary.thompson2@virgin.net, 01235 848527,

http://w2.suttoncourtenay.co.uk/?p=1029

Thame Historical Society, Mr Colin Sear,

csear58229@aol.com, 01844 212336

Wallingford Historical & Archaeological Society,

www.wallingfordmuseum.org.uk/twhas_home.htm

Weston on the Green Society, Mrs Liz Machin,

enmachin@btinternet.com, 01869 350794,

www.wotg.org.uk/Weston_on_the_Green_Society.htm

Whitchurch & Goring Heath History Society, Mrs Sue

Matthews, suematt@waitrose.com, 0118 984 4489,

www.whitchurchonthames.com/groups/history.html

Witney & District Historical & Archaeological Society, Ms

Eleonore Bruyere-Cordin, 01993 862779

Wolvercote Local History Society, Ms Barbara Dennis,

ablscholar@yahoo.com, 01865 554616.

Wootton, Dry Sandford & District History Society, Mr

Malcolm Kindell, jenniferkindell334@btinternet.com,

01865 326527, www.wads-village.co.uk/history

Wroxton Local History Group, Mrs Erica Imison,

erica.imison@btinternet.com, 01295 738183.

Wychwoods Local History Society, Mrs Pauline Holdsworth,

01993 822350, www.wychwoodshistory.org

Yarnton with Begbroke History Society, Mrs Susan Ganter,

susanganter@btinternet.com, 01865 372445,

www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/yarntonwithbegbrokehist

orysociety/page1.phtml