Oxfordshire

GEOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE Philip Powell. Dovecote Press. Wimbourne 2005
ISBN 978-1-904349-19-8 pp.  103 coloured plates, 27 maps, 5 tables. £12.95

The author states, “The object of this book is to explain something of how the rocks (of Oxfordshire) were formed and their arrangement.” This is achieved within a well-illustrated account of such interest and clarity that the receptive audience will range from the established geologist to those who have an intelligent, but non-specialist knowledge of the landscape of the county and how it was formed. The author is careful to conclude by bringing the story up to date by including Quaternary landscape changes, acknowledging that, “It should be kept in mind that Oxfordshire as we know it today has been shaped only in the last few thousand years.” A well rounded book which will find a place on the shelves of those who have a fascination in the subtle interplay between geology and landscape in this gentle county.

THE SEVEN SHIRES WAY Elaine Steane 2002.
ISBN 978-1-873877-51-7 Readon Publishing. 200 pages. 113 OS map extracts. 78 illustrations. RRP £12.95

This book is good value at the RRP of £12.95. At the Thematic Trails specially negotiated price of £8 it is undoubtedly our bargain of the year and is available at this price only by direct purchase from Thematic Trails, or Longworth and District History Society.

The book covers 21 independent walks, each existing in its own right and each of which can be achieved easily in one day. Instructions include suggested public transport for good access to each of the walks which are exclusively on public rights of way. Directions include many relevant excerpts from Ordnance Survey maps covering all the walks.

The walks are arranged in linear sequence so that, if you have a mind to do so, in 21 days or less you can circumnavigate the county of Oxfordshire, straying into seven shires on a walk which, in total, covers 234 miles. A useful list of overnight accommodation is included for those undertaking all or part of this longer option. 

The walks include a wide variety of scenery from the marlstone scarp slope of Edgehill, the ironstone villages of North Oxfordshire, the clay vale of Aylesbury, the beech woods of the Chiltern Hills, the riverbanks of the Thames, the open downland of Berkshire and the Cotswold villages in Gloucestershire. With clear illustrations this ‘walking companion’ included  commentary on archaeology, history, botany and some of the many literary connections.

HARWELL, the Enigma revealed Nick Hance. Enhance Publishing, Oxford 2006.
ISBN 978-0-9553055-0-4 337 pages (280mm X 210mm) Full colour and lavishly illustrated throughout with many unique photographs. £20
The Ministry of Supply took over RAF Harwell for Britain’s secret nuclear research project on 1^st January 1946. The 46-year career of Nick Hance, was spent within this nuclear complex. Who better then to reveal this “fascinating story of science and secrets, a story that will astonish and delight everyone”.

THE GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE COTSWOLDS

Andrew Goudie & Adrian Parker. £10.00.

ISBN 978-0-9529662-0-3 Cotteswold Nat. Field Club. 1996. A5.139 pages. 54 figures.
This introduction to the physical landscape of the Cotswolds includes chapters on the Jurassic geology, the Quaternary including glaciation and river terraces, the valley systems, mass movement phenomena and the form of the escarpment and its outliers.

RURAL LIFE IN THE VALE OF WHITE HORSE 1780-1914 Nigel Hammond
ISBN 978-0-9522467-0-1 Rectory Orchard Books 1993. 166 pages. 73 illust.  £7.95 This book deals with the social, economic, political, agricultural and industrial activity of the four towns: Abingdon, Faringdon, Wallingford and Wantage, and the numerous rural settlements scattered between them. Subjects include enclosure, farming techniques, the Berkshire Pig, weights and measures, markets and fairs, village fetes, the canals, the Great Western Railway, turnpikes, the Wantage Tramway and fox hunting.

GINGE TO LOCKINGE, HISTORICAL WALK John Brooks
ISBN 978-0-948444-10-4 Thematic Trails 1988. £2.95

THE ABINGDON WATERTURNPIKE MURDER, a True-life Tale of Crime & Punishment.
Mark Davies. ISBN 978-0-9535593-2-9.
Oxford Towpath Press 2003. 132 pages. £6.99.
“This is a true story. All the main characters in it actually lived in or near Abingdon at the end of the eighteenth century; most – ordinary working people of little note – would no doubt be greatly surprised to find themselves remembered over 200 years later. But that, I hope is part of the charm of this tale. Dramatic in its own right – what murder isn’t, after all? ...”  Mark Davies.

Essentially the story is woven from 25 documents held at the Oxfordshire Record Office in Oxford. A fascinating insight into 18th century life of the labouring poor with a murder thrown in.

DIARY OF WILLIAM TAYLER, footman 1837 by William Tayler (edited by Dorothy Wise)
ISBN 978-1-900893-02-2 Westminster City Archives 1998   £7.50
Paperback Height 25cm  96 pages. 40 illustrations.
A gentleman servant’s journal, being a fascinating account of a year in the life and times of a Westminster household (both master and servants). The local association is that William Tayler was born and brought up in Green Farm, Grafton, near Clanfield, Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire Community Literature Project

Thematic Trails, in close association with Longworth and District History Society, have initiated the ‘Oxfordshire Community Literature Project’, a programme which supports locally published literature within the county. Selected literature, deemed to encourage the interpretation and appreciation of valued local environments, is provided with a national shop window and marketing structure by inclusion within the Thematic Trails national catalogue and web site displays. This service is available both to individuals and local organisations and is provided by Thematic Trails free of charge. The following organisations already make use of this facility and their publications are listed below:

Longworth and District History Society

The Marcham Society

Standlake History Society

Iffley History Society

Roads Across the Upper Thames Valley

Gardening with Nature (Jenny Steel)

 

Longworth and District History Society

Village sense of place booklets

THE PARISH OF HINTON WALDRIST: A SENSE OF PLACE

ISBN 978-0-948444-39-5 Thematic Trails, 2000    £2.95

A5. 56 pages. 46 illustrations.

 

LONGWORTH: A SENSE OF PLACE

ISBN 978-0-948444-40-1 Thematic Trails, 2000    £2.95

A5. 64 pages. 34 illustrations.

KINGSTON BAGPUIZE WITH SOUTHMOOR: A SENSE OF PLACE
ISBN 978-0-948444-41-8 Thematic Trails 2001.    £2.95 
A5. 72 pages. 44 illustrations.

These 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’.

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 - £14.00

A bound library book version in a stiff buckram cover and embossed spine - £25.00
ISBN 978-0-948444-45-6 292 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. 

GREEN WALK  Start: Longworth Square  (4 mile walk).

YELLOW WALK Start: Kingston Bagpuize (7 miles).
RED WALK Start: Hinton Waldrist Church (21 miles)

PURPLE WALK Start: Longworth Square (5.5 miles).

ORANGE WALK Start: 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 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 five books in this series, so far, in 2007.

HINTON WALDRIST THROUGH THE CENTURIES  Jasmine S. Howse (1968 and 1969)  £11
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. ISBN 978-0-948444-52-4 211 pages (A5) 23 illustrations including the 1762 enclosure map. 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.

LONGWORTH THROUGH THE CENTURIES by Jasmine S Howse (1980-82).
ISBN 978-0948444-51-7  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 iinclude, Early period, Medieval period, Sixteenth century, Seventeenth century, Eighteenth century, Nineteenth century.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SOUTHMOOR METHODIST CHAPEL by Jan Kelly (2007)  £6.00

ISBN 978-0-948444-48-7 Published by Thematic Trails for Longworth and District History Society. 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.
ISBN 978-0-948444-50-0  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 2^nd edition is published by Thematic Trails for Longworth and District History Society.
ISBN 978-0948444-49-4  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 2^nd edition has a 4-page ‘postscript’ to record events which have taken the village into the 21^st century.

More details of the activities and publications of the Longworth and District History Society HERE

Publications of the Marcham Society

A TALE OF TWO BENCHES Claire Bolton
ISBN 978-0-9530220-1-4. 2000. A5. 21pages. £2.95 Reflections on Robert Gibbings and his link with Marcham.

AYRIS FAMILY RECEIPT BOOK of 1845 (published 1997). 23 pages.    £2.95
The Ayris family, sometime local blacksmiths, made a record of useful recipes. These included how to make ‘a Horse Mare or Gelding follow its owner or stand to be shod’; ‘For the Cankers’; for ginger, parsnip and rhubarb wine and gooseberry vinegar.

CORAL RAG: The Marcham Society Journal

Volume One Spring 2001

Volume Two  Spring 2002  56 pages (A5)  £3.50   Focus: Excavations: Marcham’s Roman Amphitheatre - Duffield Memorial - The Church that Marcham might have had - Plants - Moths and Butterflies - Hedgerows - Lost and Found (Stone loom weight) in Marcham.

Volume Three  Spring 2003  52 pages (A5)  £3.50  Focus: Excavations: Manor Farm, Marcham - Snails - Victorian clay pipes - Conker collecting 1917 - The Snowdrop - 17C women in Marcham.

Volume Four  Spring 2004  56 pages (A5)  £3.50 includes an update on the excavations on Trendles Field, Manor Farm; articles on slugs, the Church Institute a century ago, Marcham in 1901 and Commercial Bakers in Marcham in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

 Volume Five  2005  48 pages (A5)  £3.50  includes articles to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II; Marcham at war, Prisoners of War, Bombs in the Marcham area and War Memorials. Also churchyard plants, Gravestone Inscriptions and Skeletons at the Amphitheatre.

Volume Six 2006 44 pages (A5)  £4 includes updates on the Marcham-Frilford Archaeological sites; grapes at Frilford Heath; the school in the 1930s and 1940s; Life on the Wall; the Gore-Brownes of Oakley Park.

Volume Seven 2007  48 pages, 50 illustrations in b/w and colour (A5) £4 Includes: Field Walking in Big Leas Field, Manor Farm; Ammonites in Marcham; Marcham Floods.

Stanford-in-the-Vale

The Stanford Historian Edited by Phil Morris. ISSN 1476-8232 £1 per issue.

Vol 1 (1) Spring 2002 (A5) 36 pp (Street names 1 - Growing up between the wars).

Vol 1 (2)  Autumn 2002 (A5) 32 pp (Street names 2 - St Denys Church 1 - Richard III).

Vol 2 (1) Spring  2003 (A5) 32 pp (Britain’s historic black population - St Denys Church 2)

Vol 2 (2)  Autumn  2003 (A5) 32 pp (Childhood memories - What was the Local Militia?).

Vol 3 (1) Spring  2004 (A5)  32 pp (Street names 3 - Childhood Memories 2 - Gleanings)

Vol 3 (2) Autumn  2004 (A5)  40 pp (Possible ‘First Fleet’ connections - Memories 3)

No 7 Autumn  2005 (A5)  40 pp (Oral History Project, So, what then is history?)

No 8 Spring 2006 (A5) 36 pp (Oral History Project; Violet and Jasmine Howse Photographic Archive Project; Wayside, the history of a Victorian Stanford house)

No 9 Autumn 2006 (A5) 32 pp (The Furthest Promised Land - Cottages on the Green)

No 10 Spring 2007 (A5) 44pp   (‘Poor Law’ examinations of 1747 – Diary of the Trans-Atlantic crossings of John West – 15th century Vine Cottage)

No 11 Autumn 2007 (A5) 24pp (Tithe records – Diary of John West, part 2 – Family trees; Whiting and King).

No 12 Spring 2008 (A5) 28pp (Slavery - villains or slaves - Diary of John West, part 3 - Architecture St Denys Church)

Turnpikes - Tolls - Ancient routes (Alan Rosevear)

ROADS ACROSS THE UPPER THAMES VALLEY
These booklets reflect Alan Rosevear’s long-term research interests in the Turnpikes, milestones, toll houses, coach, railway and waggon routes across the Upper Thames Valley. The text is supported by maps, tables, drawings and figures drawn from a wide variety of historical sources. A very worth-while historical resource in its own right.
RUTV 1	Ancient Roads Across the Vale of White Horse. (A4) 18 pages 1993 2000	£2.00
RUTV 2	Ogilby's Road to Hungerford. (A4) 8 pages. 1993, 1994.	90p
RUTV 3	Turnpike Network in the Upper Thames Valley. (A4) 36 pages. 1994-9.	£3.80
RUTV 4	Besselsleigh Turnpike, + Harwell to Streatley Turnpike. (A4) 29 pages. 1993-9.	£2.80
RUTV 5	The Wallingford, Wantage and Faringdon Turnpike.  (A4) 22 pages	£3.80
RUTV 6	Fyfield to St John’s Bridge & Kingston Bagpuize to Newbridge Turnpike.(A4) 24 pp.	£3.80
RUTV 7	Turnpike Roads through Abingdon +Henley to Dorchester Turnpike. (A4) 39pp, 2000	£4.60
RUTV 8	Turnpike Roads around Oxford. (A4) 56 pages. 1994-95-2000.	£5.80
RUTV 9	The King’s Highway - Recorded journeys through the Thames Valley. (A4) 33 pp. 2000.	£3.50
RUTV 10	Milestones and Toll-houses on old Turnpike Roads. (A4) 24 pages. 1993-1996.	£3.00
RUTV 11	Coach and Waggon Services Across the Upper Thames Valley. (A4) 31 pp. 1993-9.	£5.00
RUTV 12	Response of the Turnpikes to the coming of the Railway. (A4) 15 pages. 1993-4-6	£1.60
RUTV 13	Early Road Maps of the Upper Thames Valley. (A4) 35 pages. 1993. 1994, 1996.	£3.60
RUTV 14	Turnpike Roads to Banbury (via Bicester, Brackley & Buckingham). (A4) 95 pp.2002.	£8.50

BUTTERFLY GARDENING Jenny Steel
ISBN 978-0-9541116-2-5 Webbs Barn Designs 2007. A5. 32 pages, 20 colour illustrations, 7 plant lists.   £4.95
How to encourage butterflies to visit and breed in your garden; Garden butterflies & their life cycle; Nectar plants; larval food plants; the winter garden.

GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE Jenny Steel.
Webbs Barn Designs 2001. A5. 28 pages.    £3.00
How to make your garden wildlife friendly.

WILDFLOWERS FOR GARDENS Jenny Steel
Webbs Barn Designs 2001. A5. 28 pages.    £3.00
A descriptive list of over 140 wildflowers to attract wildlife to your garden.

COTTAGE GARDENS Jenny Steel
Webbs Barns Designs 2001. A5. 28 pages.    £3.00
A descriptive list of useful plants to attract wildlife, including butterflies, to your garden.

MEADOWS AND CORNFIELDS Jenny Steel
ISBN 978-0-9541116-0-1 Webbs Barn Designs 2001.    £3.50
A5. 25 pages. 20 colour illustrations.
How to create and maintain a meadow or cornfield to attract wildlife to your garden.

WILDLIFE PONDS Jenny Steel
ISBN 978-0-9541116-1-8 Webb Barns Designs 2002.    £3.50
A5. 32 pages. 17 colour photos.
How to create a natural looking pond to attract wildlife to your garden.

A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A WILDLIFE GARDEN Jenny Steel.
Webbs Barn Designs 2003 A5.  40 pages 29 illustrations. £3.00
From the personal experience of developing a two-acre plot over a period of ten years, Jenny of Kingston Bagpuize gives a flavour of a year in the life of what has become a very remarkable wildlife garden.

NATIVE TREES, SHRUBS AND CLIMBERS Jenny Steel
Webbs Barn Designs 2003 A5. 28 pages, 5 illustrations. £3.00
Jenny lists native trees, shrubs and climbers that are suitable for garden cultivation, giving information on their height, the soil conditions which they prefer, whether they have flowers or berries and most importantly, what wildlife they attract.

Iffley

IFFLEY CHURCH AND MEDIEVAL LIFE (Ruth Nineham 1997) 17 pages. 6 drawings. 3 photos. Medieval life from clues that can be seen  in Iffley Church. £2

 

LIFE AROUND THE TIME OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM (Dennis Nineham 2000). 18 pages. 3 illustrations. Secular grind, Viking threats and hoped-for supernatural intervention - a hard life but not without happiness. £2

 

WHO BUILT IFFLEY CHURCH, WHAT CAN WE KNOW ABOUT HIM / HER?  (Ruth Nineham 2001) 24 pages. 14 photographs. 1 drawing. A bibliographic search of charters, pipe rolls and records in stone. £2

 

ELIZABETHAN IFFLEY: A FIRST GLIMPSE (Elizabeth Wells 2001) 45 pages. 12 tables. 8 graphs. 3 drawings. Evidence from the Elizabethan Iffley’s Parish Register. The road to marriage, baptism and burial. £4

 

THE 19th CENTURY THREAT TO IFFLEY LOCK (John Perrott 2001) 31 pages. 3 photos. 3 drawings. 3 maps.  Oxford flooding in the 1850s and some proposed solutions to alleviate the problem. £3

 

AGRICULTURAL LIFE IN IFFLEY, FROM NORMAN TIMES TO THE VICTORIAN AGE (Susan C. Bird  2003) 33 pages. 8 illust. What can be deduced from the range of historical documents available to local historians? £3

All the above books/booklets are available from Thematic Trails.