(Above) Iffley Lock, Oxford.
All members of local history societies and groups that are members of OLHA are themselves members of OLHA automatically, and this e-bulletin is for everyone. Hence, if you are on the committee of a local history group or society, please make sure that this e-bulletin is forwarded to all your members by sending them this url. Thank you.
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Not a member of OLHA yet? Join now! It costs less than £1 a month!
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A new exhibition Children and Military Lives - Stories of Adventure, Family, and Exile opens at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock on Thursday 2 June and runs until 24 November. With a focus on Oxfordshire people, the exhibition explores the experiences of children of serving military personnel, and of children who have been directly affected by conflict, both in the past and the present.
Further details here.
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Tickets for the British Association for Local History (BALH)’s annual Local History Day on Saturday 11 June have been reduced and there are special offers for local and family history societies. It is a combined in-person and on-line event featuring Oxford historian Janina Ramirez.
Further information and booking here.
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During the Second World War, Coleshill House near Faringdon was the training headquarters for the Auxiliary Units, the secret British Resistance which would have swung into action in the event of a German invasion. The house was destroyed by fire in the 1950s but the Auxiliers’ operational base, the model farm and the watermill can be visited from 10am to 4pm on Sundays 12 June, 10 July, 14 August, 11 September and 9 October 2022.
The 11 September event will be a special heritage day when all the components of the estate will be open and augmented with a programme of short talks, activity workshops and re-enactments.
The Coleshill estate is open for country walks all year, as is the tea room.
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The remarkable mosaic floor at North Leigh Roman Villa will be open to visitors on six days over the summer, starting on Sunday 12 June, 11am - 5pm.
Further information here. |
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Thame History Fair will take place at Thame Town Hall (above) on Sunday 19 June, 10am - 4pm. The event will be a celebration of Thame’s past, featuring displays, stalls, talks, guided tours and children’s activities. There will be an evening concert by the Oxford Waits, Frolics of Oxfordshire.
Further information here and here.
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Oxford’s annual Alice’s Day on Saturday 2 July commemorates the boat trip in 1862 when the story of ‘Alice’ was first told by the Christ Church don ‘Lewis Carroll’. Most events are for children, but the Lewis Carroll Society’s free talks are aimed at adults, and will be held in St Frideswide’s Church, Osney (which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year). Topics include Lewis Carroll, Alice and the monarchy (with Oxford historian and author Mark Davies); and St Frideswide, Oxford’s patron saint (with author Jackie Holderness).
Mark Davies will also lead two guided riverside walks on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 July; the latter will tie in with events at Binsey Church, home of ‘The Treacle Well’.
Further information and booking here.
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The Shelswell History Festival, a celebration of rural life past and present, will be on Saturday 16 July, 10am – 6pm, at Elms Farm, Newton Purcell, near Bicester. The theme is Trade and Transport and attractions include the re-enactor groups Hwitmearum (Anglo-Saxon, above) and Legio Secunda Augusta (Roman) reflecting the history of the local area with demonstrations of trades and crafts; Morris dancers; a pipe band; history groups; vintage, veteran and classic cars and vehicles; craft stalls; and children's activities. Free admission; refreshments available.
Further details here.
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And a reminder of events already advertised in previous bulletins...
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(Above) Finstock’s brass band at the village’s Club Day, c. 1900.
As part of the Finstock Village Music Festival on Saturday 4 June the Finstock Local History Society will be displaying documents, photographs and maps from its archive in the village hall from 12 noon to 5pm.
These will include a newly-acquired copy of Cornbury and the Forest of Wychwood by Vernon J Watney, published in 1910, and key documents from Tony Cooper’s recent research on the Great Prizefight at Whiteoak Green, 1846.
Copies of the society’s most recent publication Two Wychwood Villages: Finstock Upon the Hill, and Fawler Down Derry will also be on sale.
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Employees at Morrell’s Lion Brewery in St Thomas’s, Oxford, 1916.
A free exhibition about the history of the parishes of St Thomas’s and St Ebbe’s in Oxford continues its tour of the city and is on display 24 hours a day in the windows of the Oxford Castle Education Centre until 5 June.
The centre is in the Castle Yard; enter from New Road or Tidmarsh Lane.
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The Oxford Bottle Show will be on Sunday 12 June at Exeter Hall in Kidlington, with over sixty stalls selling historic bottles, jars and other items, many relating to Oxfordshire breweries, chemists and provisions merchants.
Further information here.
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The first Berkshire Heritage On-line Fair will take place on Saturday 6 August, hosted by the Berkshire Local History Association and the Berkshire Family History Society. The fair will cover Berkshire both before and after the 1974 boundary changes, so will be of interest to some areas which are now in Oxfordshire.
Further details here.
If you represent a local history society in former Berkshire, and would like a ‘stand’ at the fair, please register your interest by contacting Ann Smith by 30 May.
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Sue Smith has a long-term interest in history told from below. Her specialism is in understanding and researching those who, for reasons of conscience, cannot accept the established order, and how society and government have responded. That specialism, and family history, have led her to focus on conscientious objectors in the World Wars, and on the struggle for Indian independence in the 1930s. She recently obtained a Masters from Oxford University; her dissertation examined conscientious objectors and military tribunals in Oxfordshire during WWI.
Find out about Sue’s talks, and how to contact her, here.
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If you have any items for the next OLHA e-bulletin, please send brief text and low resolution images to Liz Woolley by 25 June.
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We are delighted to welcome Dr Priya Atwal to the OLHA committee. Priya is the University of Oxford’s Community History Fellow, whose role is to forge useful links between the university’s researchers and Oxfordshire local historians. Her own research interests are in the cultural politics of empire, particularly in Britain and South Asia in the 19th and early 20th centuries. She recently led The Indian Army and the First World War: an Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire perspective, a collaborative project between the university’s History Faculty, the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, and local community groups.
Find out more about Priya and her work here. You can contact her here.
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Vanessa Moir is the new editor of OLHA’s journal. Vanessa works in publishing and has been a member of the OLHA committee since 2021. She would like to form an editorial board for the journal and will be recruiting volunteers: more details to follow in future e-bulletins. In the meantime, she very much welcomes suggestions for journal articles.
If you have an idea for an article for the OLHA journal and would like to discuss it, please contact Vanessa.
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The latest edition of the OLHA journal, Oxfordshire Local History, has been published. View the contents page here.
All OLHA members should have received their copy by now. If you haven’t had yours, please contact the membership secretary Liz Woolley.
If you are not an OLHA member you can buy a copy of the journal for £2.00 plus p&p; contact Liz Woolley.
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Are you a ‘people person’, enthusiastic about the history of Oxford and its citizens? Do you have four hours a month to spare?
The Museum of Oxford is looking for volunteers, and at a drop-in session on Tuesday 7 June you can find out more about this interesting role. Chat to existing volunteers about what it’s like to work at the museum, find out about the benefits of joining the team, and test your knowledge of the city’s history with a devilishly difficult quiz - prizes available!
Further information and booking for the drop-in session here.
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Did you know Olive Gibbs, Oxford politician and peace campaigner? If so, award-winning film maker Helen Sheppard would like to hear from you for her new documentary film Olive Gibbs: A Remarkable Woman.
Did you meet or work with Olive, in local government, education, or campaigning? Did you live in Jericho when it was saved by Olive from mass clearance, or watch as Oxford’s infamous Cutteslowe Walls were demolished?
If so, please contact Helen on mail@helensheppard.co.uk or 07889 541950 to chat about your memories.
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Until the county boundary re-organisation of 1974, several places which are now in Oxfordshire were in Berkshire. Some records pertaining to them are therefore held at the Berkshire Record Office (BRO) in Reading (above).
Read the latest news from BRO - including revised opening times, a new exhibition, and new blog pages - here.
If you are planning a trip to Reading, why not also visit the excellent Museum of English Rural Life.
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Wantage Hall, University of Reading
The latest blog post from the Bodleian Libraries is an interesting discussion of the origins of Reading University, and how these relate to Oxford University ‘extension’, its early 19th-century mission to make higher education more affordable and accessible to a greater number of people.
Read the blog post here.
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Banburyshire historian Martin Greenwood is doing what a lot of us should probably do - having a clear-out - and he is giving away for free a large number of good-quality second-hand books. They cover a wide range of local and national history topics, as listed here.
Please contact Martin if you are interested in acquiring any.
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As reported in previous e-bulletins, the British Association for Local History (BALH) has teamed up with Pharos Tutors to offer short topic-based on-line courses on a variety of local and family history subjects.
Forthcoming courses (from June) include Deeds and Disputes; and Victorian Crime and Punishment - Courts, Police and Prisons and Employment Records. Most courses last 4 or 5 weeks and are reasonably at around £60.
Further information and booking here.
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Recently-published The British Schools Chipping Norton 1863-1909 by Barbara Allison is based on a school log book held in Chipping Norton Museum. It includes a history of how the school was run, biographies of pupils and teachers, details of the school day, and teaching methods. The building, in New Street, remained in educational use until the mid-1960s and is still recognisable today with its name on the parapet and over the two entrance doors.
Copies of the book cost of £8 + £2 p&p; please make cheques payable to Chipping Norton Museum and send to Jan Cliffe, Fountain Cottage, The Green, Over Norton OX7 5PT.
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Newly-published Oxford University: Stories from the Archives by Alice Blackford Millea, Assistant Keeper of the University Archives at the Bodleian Library, is a collection of stories about the University of Oxford as told through its own records. This richly-illustrated book is divided into 52 chapters, each showcasing an item from the archives, spanning 800 years. Topics include the university’s relations with governments and monarchs; the impact that it has had on Oxford and its people; its erstwhile police force; teaching methods; student behaviour; and illicit steeplechasing.
Further information here and ordering here.
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Many Oxfordshire history societies are getting back to meeting in person, whilst others are still holding talks on-line. Either way, there are interesting history and local history talks on offer across the county almost every weekday. To see a detailed daily listing, go to OLHA’s website.
Here is a selection for June: |
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