Oxfordshire

(Physical landscapes - Oxfordshire Geology Trust - History and Landscapes - Community Literature)

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 Our price £8

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.

THE GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE COTSWOLDS

Andrew Goudie & Adrian Parker. £15.00.

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.

Oxfordshire Geology Trust

This not-for-profit organisation has a large programme of events encouraging the public, including children, to enjoy and conserve Oxfordshire’s earth heritage. Below is a range of their landscape trails (secrets in the landscape). To learn more about the Oxfordshire Geology Trust visit www.oxforshiregt.org 

01  FARINGDON TRAIL, secrets in the landscape (Oxfordshire Geology Trust) £2
12 page folding booklet 11X24cm, 14 colour plates, 6 maps and figures.
Starting in the town centre the walk circumnavigates the town including such sites as the Bell Hotel, All saints Church, Folly Hill, with views out over the Oxford Clay Vale, Folly Park, Coxwell Pit and the Highworth Road. Attention is drawn to the way the town is intimately connected with the limestone ridge upon which it is built.

02  KIRTLINGTON AND BLETCHINGDON TRAIL, secrets in the landscape    £2
12 page folding booklet 11X24cm, 9 colour plates, 13 maps and figures.
The trail starts in Kirtlington Quarry rich in limestone fossil shells and Ooids. The walk continues to the limestone-built Pigeon Lock with views of Pound Hill, isolated within an abandoned meander. In Bletchingdon, the houses, walls and roofing material all emphasis the presence of limestone beneath.

03  OXFORD CITY TRAIL, secrets in the landscape (Oxfordshire Geology Trust)   £2 
12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 16 plates, 5 maps and figures.
This introduction to the geology of the city of Oxford including Headington (Quarries and stone walls) and the city centre (Magdalen College, the High Street and St Michael’s Tower). Building materials include local limestone from Headington but stone was also brought in from quarries in the Cotswolds, including from Burford and Chipping Norton.

04  STONESFIELD TRAIL, secrets in the landscape (Oxford Geology Trust) £2
12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 17 plates, 7 maps and figures.
A two-hour circular walk through an area famous for its stone slates and for its early discovery of fossil dinosaurs. No dinosaur fossils guaranteed but there is the opportunity to examine fossil-rich limestone in walls and houses. There is evidence too for climatic change both in the rocks and their fossils and evidence of more recent change since the last ice age.

05  ADDERBURY TRAIL, secrets in the landscape (Oxford Geology Trust) £2
12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 16 plates, 5 maps and figures.
Adderbury stands on Marlstone, an ironstone which gives its building stones a rich red colour but a stone which is vulnerable to weathering, something which you will quickly notice as you tour the village. The village is surrounded by rich, attractive rolling farmland which again has a close relationship to the rocks beneath.

06  WHITE HORSE TRAIL, secrets in the Landscape (Oxford Geology Group) £2
12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 22 plates, 5 maps and figures.
From the Uffington White Horse carved into the 261 metre high White Horse Hill, explore the 2800 year old earthworks of Uffington Castle with its outlier of Dragon Hill. To the south of the crest of the escarpment runs the 85 mile long Ridgeway, probably the oldest ‘road’ in Britain. From here there are unparalleled views out across the clay Vale of the White Horse. The trail explores the chalk upland landscape as well as offering explanation for the presence of ‘sarsens’, flints and chalk as a building stone.

07 BURFORD TRAIL, secrets in the Landscape (Oxfordshire Geology Trust)  £2
12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 12 plates, 9 maps and figures.
The High Street descends steeply from the Jurassic Limestone ridge towards the bridge across the River Windrush. The honey-coloured limestone has provided the building stone for many of the buildings in the town. Taynton Stone was used to build the large church, sometimes called the ‘cathedral of the Cotswolds’. From five quarries around Burford, Taynton Stone was often sent down the Thames to places like Oxford and London where it was used in St Paul’s Cathedral. The trail also discusses the form of the River Windrush, its water mills and its dry valleys as well as drawing attention to the many layers of different rocks which make up the Cotswolds.

08 CHIPPING NORTON TRAIL, secrets in the landscape  (Oxfordshire Geology Trust) £2
12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 15 plates, 9 maps and figures.
Chipping Norton is built on a plateau of limestone, about 200 metres above sea level. A small but deep steep-sided valley cut into this limestone plateau makes this a good place to explain how the Cotswold landscape is dictated by its geology. In part this might also explain why perhaps the most famous geologist in the world (William Smith  1769 - 1839) was born here. In such an environment it is not surprising that the trail has sections on Cotswold building stones, Jurassic fossils, Oxfordshire Ironstone, geological sections, springs and even on William Smith himself.

History and Landscapes

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.  RRP £7.95 Thematic Trail Price: £3. 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, listed in alphabetical order, already make use of this facility and their publications are as follows:

Abingdon Ock Street Heritage Group
Abingdon Walks
Denchworth Local History Group
Iffley History Society
Longworth and District History Society;  see Oxfordshire Golden Ridge or visit their web site: www.l-h-s.org.uk
The Marcham Society
Standford-in-the-Vale History Society
Turnpikes - Tolls  - Ancient Routes (Alan Rosevear)
Uffington - Tom Brown's School Museum Publication
Gardening with Nature (National series by Jenny Steel)

Abingdon Ock Heritage Group

OCK STREET REMEMBERED; an Abingdon Community
Editors: Jackie Hudson, Elizabeth Drury. Design: Ken Organ. 2008. £7.00
A4.  45 pages.  Over 100 black and white photos. Other illustrations include a fascinating, detailed O.S. map of Ock Street in 1912. At one level this book is a nostalgic look at the history of the street, much of it as remembered by the residents themselves. They look back to the sense of community which existed in this microcosm of Abingdon life. That is a pleasant enough exercise in itself but the text does not shy away from reflections on the poverty and fear of disease that haunted the population of streets such as this until comparatively recent times. This is a nicely balanced book and an admirable example of community literature.

Abingdon Walks

A series of walks in the Abingdon area provide a pleasant way to explore the ancient town and the surrounding countryside. Each walk, with illustrations and simply walking instructions, can be instantly printed out and should be used with a local map. The introductory instructions point out that, these are not intended to be a step by step guide to the walks that leads you by the hand every step of the way, but rather to enhance your walk by highlighting local history, views and curios. Some of these items may indeed tempt you to stray off your route so keep a map at hand!

Inner town walk - Sutton Courtney walk – Outer town walk – Samuel Pepys walk – Marcham walk – Boar’s Hill walk – Dorchester to Abingdon walk (Thames path) – Abingdon to Oxford walk (Thames oath) – MG trail.  

To download Abingdon walks visit: www.abingdonwalks.co.uk

Denchworth
 

HISTORICAL WALK AROUND DENCHWORTH Denchworth Local History Group 2006     50p
12 pages 14 illustrations A3 sheet folded and concertinaed to make pocket-sized (10cm X 21cm) pamphlet. Clear instructions for an exploration of the village with reference to 23 points of interest. A useful introduction to this Vale of White Horse village.

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST JAMES THE GREAT, DENCHWORTH Denchworth Local History Group 2001      £1.00
14 pages (A5) 20 pen and ink drawings. An introduction and guide to the history, architecture and monuments of this quiet rural church.

For more information about the Denchworth Local History Group contact Susan Brandon Tel: 01235 868451  Email: sue@brandonm.freeserve.co.uk

 

Longworth and District History Society
See full page: Oxfordshire Golden Ridge (Kingston Bagpuize, Southmoor, Longworth, Hinton Waldrist)  or visit the history web site: www.l-h-s.org.uk

NEW MARCHAM REMEMBERED a village in pictures  ISBN 978-0-9530220-2-1  (2009)
size 22cm X 28cm. 106 pages. 265 illustrations. £10
This is a record in pictures, together with a commentary, of the village of Marcham, three miles to east of Abingdon in the Vale of the White Horse. The photographic record plots the changes in Marcham from an agricultural backwater a hundred years ago, to the greatly expanded settlement of today where it is no longer a place of work for most of its inhabitants. The book also serves as a village history of the past 100 years and is a celebration of village life and community, both the old and new.

Volume One Spring 2001 44 pages (A5). £3.00 Focus: Wild Celery - Marcham’s water birds - Marcham’s misfortunes - David Jones, Vicar 1699 to 1724.

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.

Uffington: Tom Brown's School Museum Publication

THE WHITE HORSE AND THE VILLAGE OF UFFINGTON  Jane Cooper and Sharon Smith.
Tom Brown’s School Museum Publication 2004 £5.00
A5, 60 pages, 41 illustrations and maps.
This book is an attractive story of the growth and history of the village of Uffington in the Vale of the White Horse. The 3000 year-old White Horse on the edge of the Berkshire Downs dramatically dominates the view to the immediate south-west of the village. The probable long-term relationship of the village and the White Horse provides a fascinating theme which threads its way through the book from an iron age settlement, excavated to the immediate north of the village, to present-day studies.
For further information on the village and its museum visit:
www.museum.uffington.net

WHITE HORSE TRAIL, secrets in the Landscape (Oxford Geology Group) £2
12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 22 plates, 5 maps and figures.
From the Uffington White Horse carved into the 261 metre high White Horse Hill, explore the 2800 year old earthworks of Uffington Castle with its outlier of Dragon Hill. To the south of the crest of the escarpment runs the 85 mile long Ridgeway, probably the oldest ‘road’ in Britain. From here there are unparalleled views out across the clay Vale of the White Horse. The trail explores the chalk upland landscape as well as offering explanation for the presence of ‘sarsens’, flints and chalk as a building stone.

Gardening with Nature (Jenny Steel)

Jenny Steel, formerly ran the Wildlife Gardening Centre in Kingston Bagpuize.

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.

 

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.

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.