Oxfordshire Golden Ridge
Longworth and District History Society
Above is the area served by the Longworth and District History Society.
All the Publications of the Longworth & District History Society listed below are available through this Thematic Trails catalogue. They are also on display to view or to buy at any of the society “hall” meetings. The Society publications programme works in close association with Thematic Trails.
Village sense of place booklets
The following three booklets, edited by Peter Keene with Janet Keene and Jan Kelly were published by Thematic Trails for the Longworth and District History Society. The booklets may best be described as combined village companions, guided walks and reference books. The emphasis is upon the way that life in the village has been transformed during the last century, both as remembered by long-standing inhabitants and, as the speed of change increases, by those who have joined the village community more recently. These changes have been dramatic and today, call into question the term ‘village community’.
THE PARISH OF HINTON WALDRIST: A SENSE OF PLACE
ISBN978-0-948444-39-5 Thematic Trails, 2000 A5. 56
pages. 46 illustrations.
£2.95
LONGWORTH: A SENSE OF PLACE
ISBN978-0-948444-40-1 Thematic Trails, 2000
A5. 64 pages. 34 illustrations.
£2.95
KINGSTON BAGPUIZE WITH SOUTHMOOR: A SENSE OF PLACE ISBN978-0-948444-41-8 Thematic Trails 2001. A5. 72 pages. 44 illustrations. £2.95
LETTER TO PIPPA Sybil Beard
1998. 110 pages. 18 photos. £6.00
An evocation of life between the wars in Kingston Bagpuize which, at that time
was still an estate-owned village. Sybil grew up in the village forge. The
social and economic realities of estate life, as recalled by Sybil, is a
delightful read, both for its social commentary and its intricate detail of
village life at the vernacular level over half a lifetime ago.
The Longworth Rose
The Longworth Rose, a 12-page three times a year magazine, is published by the Longworth and District History Society. The society serves the villages of Longworth, Hinton Waldrist and Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor. The illustrated magazine includes historical records, memories of those who have lived in the area for some time and includes accounts of everyday life both in the past and today. The first 24 issues of the magazine (Volume One, 1998-2005) have been bound to make the 292-page book listed below.
THE LONGWORTH ROSE VOLUME ONE 1998-2005 Peter Keene (editor)- With a thick flexible paper cover with a plastic comb binding the volume
- £12.00
ISBN978-0-948444-45-6 292 pages (A4) including a comprehensive index.
- A bound library book version in a stiff buckram cover and embossed spine - £25.00 ISBN978-0-948444-45-6 292 pages (A4) including a comprehensive index.
Countryside Walks
OXFORDSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE - FIVE CIRCULAR COUNTRY WALKS
Thematic Trails 2003. A4 size. 60 pages, 43 photos, 18 maps, 19 illust.
£3.
A stout A4 water-resistant plastic folder contains:
- a large (510mm X 420m) two-sided colourful map showing five colour-coded recommended circular walks in the Kingston Bagpuize, Longworth and Hinton area. The map is folded to pocket-size.
- five 12-page A4 guidebooks (landscape companions) one for each of the suggested circular countryside walks shown on the main map.
These guides give comprehensive written and map instructions for following each colour-coded walk shown on the map. However, the main purpose of these ‘landscape companions’ is to provide an engaging illustrated commentary on the human and natural landscape through which these walks progress. The walks are set within the countryside known as the ‘Golden Ridge’, some 12 miles to the west of Oxford.
Here are our colour coded walks.
| GREEN WALK | Start: Longworth Square – Harrowdown Hill – Thames – Newbridge – Common Lane – Longworth (4 mile walk). |
| YELLOW WALK | Start: Kingston Bagpuize - Swannybrook – Sheephouse Fm – Little London – Longworth – Southmoor. (7 miles). |
| RED WALK | Start: Hinton Waldrist Church - Duxford – Tadpole Bridge – Buckland – Pusey – Charney Bassett – Cherbury Camp – Hinton. (21 miles) |
| PURPLE WALK | Start: Longworth Square – Hinton Waldrist – Duxford - Hall Ham – Harrowdown Hill – Longworth. (5.5 miles). |
| ORANGE WALK | Start: Southmoor - Fyfield – Rainbow Bridge – Thames – Newbridge – Draycott Moor – Southmoor. (5.5 miles). |
| Agents for Oxfordshire countryside and village walks
at: Kingston Bagpuize Post Office Faringdon Rd. Kingston Bagpuize, Oxon. OX13 5AA The Log Cabin Newsagents, Southmoor, Oxfordshire. OX13 5BB (Longworth Rose) Tourist Information Centre, The Square, Faringdon. Thematic Trails 7 Norwood Avenue, Kingston Bagpuize, Oxon OX13 5AD T:01865-820522. |
History Occasional Paper Series (HOPS)
These are either new publications specifically commissioned by the Longworth and District History Society or are facsimile editions of previously published valued local historical literature which had gone out-of-print. We have published six books in this series, so far.
GROWING UP IN LONGWORTH Ray Dunsdon
ISBN978-0-948444-54-8 Thematic Trails (2010). 123
pages (A4),£6.00
60 black and white illustrations.
Ray Dunsdon, now in his late seventies, has spent several years marshalling his
recollections of childhood and adolescence in what was, at that time, a small,
almost self-sufficient, Berkshire village. The resulting book, initially written
with just his family in mind, recalls, with candour and humour, the harsh life
of the times, including the idiosyncrasies of its inhabitants as seen through
the eyes of a teenager. A sharply focussed record of village life over half a
century ago.
PRINCE’S ROSES: A HUNDRED YEARS OF LONGWORTH ROSES
Jan Ke
lly (2009)ISBN978-0-948444-53-1. Published by
Thematic Trails for Longworth and District History Society. £6
96 pages (A5), 90 illustrations, many in colour. Jan Kelly has been meticulously
researching the remarkable growth, and eventual decline, of the rose industry in
Longworth. Within a hundred years, principally the result of the entrepreneurial
drive of two families - the Princes and the Drews, the Longworth rose industry
grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th century, gaining an international
reputation and winning numerous awards at shows throughout the United Kingdom.
Jan Kelly’s research has been enhanced by her close contact with present members
of the Prince and Drew families. Ostensibly a history of the Prince family and
its associations with Longworth, this book is also an emotive commentary on
village life of the period. Jan Kelly spices her writing with well-selected
quotes and an impressive range of pertinent illustrations. This book should
appeal to both the present inhabitants of the village of Longworth and those
with an interest in the history of the English Rose.
HINTON WALDRIST THROUGH THE CENTURIES - Jasmine S.
Howse (1968 and 1969) -
ISBN978-0-948444-52-4 211 pages (A5) 23 illustrations
including the 1762 enclosure map.£11.
The facsimile edition combines the original two parts of the book which were
written in 1968 and 1969 respectively. Part One contains four chapters detailing
the history of the village from pre-Domesday to the seventeenth century. Part
Two covers the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The book is the result of
meticulous research using, wherever possible, surviving historical documents and
maps. Statistics and quotes are frequently used to support the account.The book
has been out-of-print for some years. The new 2007 facsimile edition is
published by Thematic Trails in association with Longworth and District History
Society.
LONGWORTH THROUGH THE CENTURIES by Jasmine S Howse
(1980-82).
ISBN978-0948444-51-7 163 pages, plus appendix. 33
illustrations.
£9.00
This 2007 facsimile edition is published by Thematic Trails for Longworth and
District History Society. It is a comprehensively researched book and chapter
headings include, Early period, Medieval period, Sixteenth century, Seventeenth
century, Eighteenth century, Nineteenth century.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOUTHMOOR METHODIST CHAPEL
by Jan Kelly (2007)
ISBN978-0-948444-48-7 Published by Thematic Trails for Longworth and
District History Society. £6.00
76 pages (A4 size). 75 illustrations including 9 maps of local historic
interest. The story of the chapel at the crossroads in Southmoor, Oxfordshire,
becomes a social history of a village, which has grown in population five-fold
since the chapel was built in 1842. The chapel has played a significant role in
the development of the village but social changes, as have happened elsewhere,
has seen this role in gradual decline. Jan Kelly has chosen an appropriate time
to gather together from dispersed documentary evidence and the memories of older
members of the congregation, an intriguing record of the way the chapel has
contributed to the evolution of this village community.
VILLAGE MILLENNIUM, a short history of Kingston Bagpuize
and Southmoor by W R Carmichael (1971).
The 2007 facsimile edition is published by Thematic Trails for Longworth and
District History Society.
ISBN978-0-948444-50-0 36 pages (A5). 9 illustrations. - £3.00
This little booklet makes easy reading. In one evening session you can acquire a
sound introduction to the long and interesting history of this settlement and
make an important step to feeling part of the village community.
THE CULTIVATORS by Murray Maclean (1970).
The 2007 revised and extended 2nd edition is published by Thematic Trails for
Longworth and District History Society.
ISBN978-0948444-49-4 20 pages (A5) 13 illustrations.
£1.50
A brief but succinct history of the development of agriculture in Kingston
Bagpuize and Southmoor in the county of Berkshire, now Oxfordshire. The history
spans 1000 years and the booklet was originally written as a supplement to the
book Village Millennium by W R Carmichael (see above). This 2nd edition has a
4-page ‘postscript’ to record events which have taken the village into the 21st
century.
More details of the activities and publications of the Longworth and District History Society www.l-h-s.org.uk