Meeting Reports & Summaries

Below you will find summary reports of recent Lectures, and selected photos of Outings, from the current and previous seasons.  The most recent is on the top.

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(Report on the talk  given on 14th Nov 2024)

Love and marriage in medieval Oxfordshire.

Rowena E Archer.

14 November 2024

Rowena Archer, a well-known lecturer and medievalist, entertained the audience to some fascinating insights into the issues of love and marriage in the fourteenth century with examples from Oxfordshire and occasionally elsewhere.

She suggested that the surviving evidence – from letters, nearly all of which come from and relate to the nobility, being the literate class –shows that although many marriages were arranged, they were not loveless.  And that was despite the fact that issues of wealth, expectations and rank were frequently uppermost in the minds of both parents and guardians when arranging a marriage for a child. Church rules, laid down in Gratian’s Decretum in the 12th century, dominated; the degree of consanguinity permitted, the reading of banns, the marriage ceremony itself and the court, consistory, to which issues post marriage could be brought if an annulment was needed. The contracts issued between the families, detailing the woman’s dowry and any further arrangements were evidence of the legally binding nature of the ceremony, in contrast to clandestine marriages which were frowned on, not least due to the lack of publicity.

Oxfordshire noble, or ennobled families in the 14th and 15th centuries, included the De Veres, the Fiennes and the Chaucers; fortunes varied, much of it dependent on which marriage alliances had been successfully forged. The outstanding example is that of Alice Chaucer whose first two husbands died shortly after marriage and twice left her a wealthy widow, giving her the scope for a third and prestigious marriage with connections to the royal family.  Love or concern between a couple is difficult to ascertain from the evidence, although expressions of love are not infrequent in letters; requests to be buried in proximity to a dead spouse suggest affection as do bequests by the husband to the wife of more than the statutory 1/3 of the value of his property.  The guesswork required to interpret all the remaining clues to love and marriage is tantalising, and no less for the middle and lower classes for whom practically no evidence of their views survives.

Helen Forde (November 2024)

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(Report on the talk  given on 10th Oct 2024)

Physical attractiveness and the Female Life-cycle in 17th Century England 

Dr Tim Reinke-Williams

Dr Tim Reinke-Williams provided us with a fascinating talk on the way in which upper and middling groups of women sought to present themselves in the seventeenth-century.

Dr Reinke-Williams began by pointing out that the seventeenth century was a particularly interesting time to study fashion and physical attractiveness. The opportunity for women, in particular, to cultivate individual fashion experiences became more viable due to two significant factors; changes in English legislation and an expanding global economy.  From the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century the country had been subjected to a series of Sumptuary Laws which were enacted to control people’s consumer behaviour. One of the purposes of the laws was to ensure that the class structure was maintained by regulating and re-enforcing social hierarchies through what people were allowed to wear. Furs and velvets, for example, were restricted to the aristocracy. From the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, this legislation lapsed, and without limits on the type of clothing people acquired, both men and women had the opportunity to cultivate their own individual fashionable styles. These new freedoms permeated through to all groups of people; the less well-off simply acquired their clothes second-hand through different routes such as pawn shops, friends and neighbours, employers and even alehouses. 

Secondly, an expanding global economy opened up a new range of consumer goods, increasing choice and including textiles and exotic goods from places such as Europe and Asia. The expansion of choice also included a growing range of cosmetic products, carefully promoted as ‘medical’ remedies – for example products to hide blemishes or improve skin tone - which were brought to the customer’s attention through handbills or single sheets, distributed in public places such as market squares and coffee houses. 

Unsurprisingly, these developments did not gain universal approval. The middle of the century saw godly protestant reformers targeting the new freedoms of expression by linking them with vices such as drunkenness and sexual immorality. One of the ways this message was relayed was through the publication of cheap, widely available broadside ballad sheets. We were shown a slide of an example in the form of ‘The Invincible Pride of Women’, a narrative verse with a moral warning against the frivolity of middle-class women, condemning those who ‘pillage his Purse’ in frittering away their husbands’ earnings on excessive consumption. However, it is disputed whether these messages of moral correction had the desired effect. For some consumers the distribution of this printed material provided the ideal opportunity for impressionable readers to update themselves on the latest fashionable trends.

On the same theme, we were shown a slide of an interesting painting (artist unknown) held by Compton Verney Art Gallery in Warwickshire entitled ‘Two women wearing cosmetic patches’ (c1655) showing beauty spots on the faces of two women with contrasting skin tones. Both women are seen wearing a conspicuous array of small patches, the message speaking to fears about a perceived increase in moral laxity and anxieties about women’s activities and their bodies.

Finally, we looked at women’s personal writings in the form of letters and diaries to demonstrate how women thought and wrote about their physical appearance across the lifecycle.  Attractiveness was important for the female from childhood onwards, not least in relation to competing in the marriage market.  However, although good looks gave women social capital, beauty alone was not enough; a good financial standing was equally important. Once married, keeping good looks was believed to help consolidate a relationship. Anxieties could arise, however, when women compared themselves to each other and, for some, to servants perceived to prettier than their mistresses. Although the peak years of beauty were believed to be from adolescence to around thirty years of age, women’s seventeenth-century writings also reveal that the older woman was yet considered to have a beautiful appearance in the later stages of the life-cycle. We ended on a positive note with an example of Margaret Cavendish writing on her mother, Elizabeth Lucas in 1655, whose beauty was ‘... beyond the ruin of time … even to her dying hour’.

This was a most interesting lecture providing insight into how women in the seventeenth century drew on new opportunities to use clothes and cosmetics to identify a sense of self, reflecting on how they wanted to present themselves to society at large.

Rosemary Leadbeater, October 2024

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(Report of lecture given 12th Sept 2024)

Port Meadow: the 'Boast of Oxford' for a Million Years

By Dr. Graham Harding

Port Meadow comprises 137 ha of flood-plain lying on gravel terraces to the north west of Oxford, bounded to the west by the Thames, and to the east by the raised gravel terraces of the Woodstock and Banbury roads. Through the ages it has seen many different uses from Neanderthal hunting ground, pasture, and recreation to the dumping of rubbish.

 

Neanderthal stone artefacts have been found on Port Meadow, also Neolithic sites, Bronze Age farmsteads and burial mounds, and Iron Age roundhouses. From Anglo-Saxon times and through the centuries the river has been important for fishing and navigation. By the late 11th century the burgesses of Oxford (known as the 'Portmen'; and later 'Freemen') claimed rights over trade, fishing and grazing which occasioned many disputes with local landowners, religious houses and the University.

Port Meadow has had a number of connections with the monarchy over the years. Rosamund, mistress of King Henry II, retired to nearby Godstow Abbey and died there in 1177. After dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, legal arguments broke out over the ownership, rights and duties of the Abbey. In 1625 plague drove Charles I out of London to Oxford; victims were housed on 'Port Mead'. When the King’s Oxford Parliament was set up in 1644 prior to the Civil War siege of Oxford, 5000 Royalist horses were pastured on Port Meadow. Later, it was the site of celebrations marking Victoria's Jubilee, and Edward VII's coronation.

Fêtes and pageants were frequent on Port Meadow throughout the years. There were stalls, greasy pole contests, pyrotechnic displays, shooting, fishing, skating (first reported in 1669) bull and bear baiting, cock fighting, wrestling, boxing and many sorts of races (rowing, punting, foot-races, and a long history of horse racing from 1630-1859). In 1760 Winchester played cricket against Eton on Port Meadow (and won), and the game was well established on the Meadow by the early 19th century.

However, not all was good-natured. The Oxford Freemen jealously guarded their fishing and grazing rights with regular infringements leading to pitched battles. Fish numbers dwindled. The regular flooding of the Thames in winter was believed to be integral to its continued fertility. Efforts by Richard Gresswell to 'improve' the Meadow and protect Jericho from flooding were torn down by the Freemen. But the Freemen lost their historic rôle with the Municipal Corporations act of 1835, and their numbers declined from 2000 pre-1850 to 400 by 1902. The final ignominy came when the Council started (1888) dumping rubbish on the Meadow.

Port Meadow was “saved” by WWI. Topsoil was imported and allotments established on the rubbish. Wolvercote Airfield was developed from 1911-1931 and the Royal Flying Corp used it for training in 1912. Captain Barnard’s Air Circus performed regularly, and the Prince of Wales flew in to visit the University in 1933.

Thus the conservative role of the Freemen vanished, although a symbolic ‘drive’ still occurs annually to count the stock and fine interlopers. But Port Meadow is now conserved in other ways, e.g. as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)].

Pamela Wilson, Sept 2024

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(Pictures taken at Banbury Fair in Spiceball Park, 15th June 2024) 

 

 

 

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(Report by Pamela Wilson of Outing of 23rd May 2024)

Visit to Rousham Park, House and Garden

     Thirty nine members of the Banbury Historical Society and friends had a most interesting visit to Rousham House and Garden on 23rd May 2024.
     Two informative guides led us on a tour through the house, much of which retains its original features. The original house, situated in rolling countryside between Banbury and Oxford, was built in 1635 by Sir Robert Dormer and is still in the ownership of the same family. William Kent (1685-1748), the well-known architect and designer of landscapes and interiors, added wings and a stable block to the house in the 18 C.  His renowned octagonal glass windows were removed in the late 19th century, but are now happily now restored. Many of the original staircases, furniture, pictures, bronzes and some 17th century panelling are still present and were duly admired.

Rousham Park House (and stables) from the bowling green

(For the photos we thank Tim Edmonds)

     Thereafter Deborah Hayter, landscape historian and a BHS member, led the group through the superb garden. This renowned estate is characteristic of the first phase of English landscape design and is largely unchanged from its inception. Kent created secret walkways and hidden paths where sudden vistas emerge, punctuated by visions of temples and statues, arcades, cascades and ponds (now bereft of carp owing to the predations of an otter from the nearby Cherwell!).

Rousham Park Gardens – Lower Cascade

(For the photos we thank Tim Edmonds)

    The visit ended with a walk round the herbaceous borders and parterre in the walled garden, and a distant glimpse of rare longhorn cattle in the park.

                                                                                                                               Pamela Wilson

 

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(Report by Deborah Hayter of Meeting of 18th April 2024)

Document and Story Session – 18th April 2024

Members had been invited to suggest an interesting document or documents that had a good story that they could tell.  We had some really varied ideas put forward, and all the documents had been put together onto one powerpoint presentation so that everyone could see them.

First was Simon Bull who had produced some papers relating to his grandfather who had fought in the First World War in the very early tanks.  Simon told us that his grandfather was taken prisoner and had lied to the Germans about his rank because ‘Other Ranks’ were made to work for the enemy.  That explained the forged entry in his pay book.  He was taken prisoner as part of the first ever tank-to-tank battle when the German advance of early 1918 was stopped at Villers Bretonneux near Amiens.

Then we had Lilian and Walter Stageman who showed some early tax receipts.  The story of the discovery of the receipts for payment of the Hearth Tax in the1670s was intriguing:  they had been hidden behind a beam in the ceiling of Lilian’s grandparents’ house and one day some plaster fell down and they were discovered.  Walter showed us a receipt for ‘Queen Anne’s Bounty’, which was money lent to churches for building works and so on from a fund set up by Queen Anne to help impoverished parishes; also a receipt for the payment of the Poor Rate in 1842 – at that stage each parish was still paying a poor rate for the maintenance of its own poor.

Helen Forde showed a document about one Richard Pack of Flore in Northamptonshire:  this was a convoluted tale about a chap who was obviously a bit of a scoundrel.

Philip Gregory gave us a copy of the will of Ethel May Dann, who was the daughter of his Grandfather William Gregory by his first marriage to Annie Elizabeth French who was born in the workhouse.  His grandfather lived at 155 Warwick Road opposite the workhouse.  Philip also showed the national registration document from when Ethel and her husband Arthur John Dann returned to England in 1916 from abroad and lodged at the Bluebird Hotel. Arthur died in 1917 and Ethel at some time became manageress of the Bluebird.  The will had some interesting oddities and a codicil, rescinding some of the legacies in the will, including some money to Philip ‘because he is well off’, (though he was only four at the time).

Verna Wass showed some documents from her father’s naval service during WWII, including his service record written on what seems to be waxed linen. It includes an entry signed by then Captain, later Admiral Sir Philip Vian. Her father was Chief Engine Room Artificer on the Cossack, and was on it when it was sunk, but managed to survive.

Susan Walker had put together a fascinating detective story with a number of excellent slides, all based around a mysterious red diary found in the Shipston Museum.  She followed the trail that the diary had started, along the life of the person who had written it, which had taken her in various interesting directions.

Finally Brian Goodey had six items which were definitely ephemera:  a beermat from the Essex Brewers; a flyer for the 1993 Fairport Convention Cropredy Festival;  a train ticket to the Crystal Palace in 1857;  a ticket for livestock travelling on the Great Western Railway; a ticket for coal, being sent from the Betteshanger Colliery  in Kent to the Sussex and Dorking Brick Company.  These were all interesting as revealing unexpected aspects of the past and Brian wove a great story around them.

Deborah Hayter

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(Report of Meeting of 14th March 2024)

The Importance of Burton Dassett Southend: combining history and archaeology. 

By Chris Dyer Professor emeritus of History at the Centre for Regional and Local History in Leicester. 

This was a most illuminating lecture on the medieval market village of Burton Dassett Southend, Warwickshire. Excavation of the site took place between May 1986 and September 1988, prior to construction of the M40 motorway, cutting across the west side of the settlement. Prof Dyer referred to this as the largest and most important excavation in Warwickshire; the most detailed examination of a medieval rural settlement in Warwickshire, if not the West Midlands.

Southend was one of five medieval settlements in Burton Dassett parish.

Unlike the other four, Southend was the site of a market promoted by the manorial lord, with a market charter obtained in 1267. The settlement prospered, became known as Chipping Dassett and approached urban status, but declined throughout the 15thC and depopulated in1497. The only surviving building is the 13thC chapel of St James and adjacent post-medieval Priests House, both elements have been converted into a private house. The main road bisecting the settlement, dividing it into a north and south topography, was named “Newland” and significantly influencing its development and decline; it remains in use today. Excavation of the different properties revealed varying development paths within a process of general community decline against a background of increasing induvial prosperity.

Professor Dyer referred to Southend as an ambiguous place with both rural and urban characteristics including the chapel of St James and a fair on the saint’s day. There were several significant occupations by c1300 including a merchant, mercer, tailor, skinner and cooper but not enough of them for the settlement be a town. In the Northamptonshire Merchants List, c1300, Dassett is referred to as a “town” but at most it can be classed as a proto-town. The “town” plan includes plots of land along “Newland” road which resemble, but are not, burgage plots (characteristically a long and narrow plot of land with a narrow street frontage and outbuildings stretching to the rear of the house or shop in a borough or town). Southend was not a one phase planned settlement. There were earlier structures on the south side of “Newland” possibly dating from the early to mid-13th century with pottery dating to before 1267.

Houses were close together but not continuous and mostly of one storey unlike those to be found in a town. About 25 complete and partial house plans were recorded during excavation, including rebuilding and extensions. The ten excavated tenements, dating from the mid-13thC to late 15thC, included a smithy, alehouse and granary. Professor Dyer referred to all the house plans in Southend as different with a bewildering variety of types but all with a clear link to builder, tenant and landowner. Successive building phases revealed many surviving internal features including a doorjamb inscribed with the name of a tenant family ‘Gormand’ suggesting a degree of functional literacy.

The houses were of good quality construction, primarily using stone foundations with many stone walled up to eaves level. Some roofing materials would have been expensive such as ceramic tiles and stone slates brought from Nuneaton. There was also evidence for good quality carpentry. Adding to the growing evidence that peasant houses were not all poor quality, flimsy structures.

The outbuildings included barns, byre/stables, sheds, a granary, malting kiln and a dog kennel; many were relatively insubstantial or employed more timber than stone in their construction. A number of tools were found during excavation hinting at the daily life and economy of the settlement. Iron tools included an anvil, chisels, reamers, needles and awls. Textile working was presented by wool/flax comb fragments and tenterhooks for drying and stretching cloth after fulling.

The farming regime would have been dictated by the lord of the manor with small tenant farms, based on an open field system producing the ridge and furrow one sees today. The enormous amount of land under cultivation probably reached its maximum around 1300.Charred grains show that wheat, barley, peas and beans were grown suggesting the type of crops grown for consumption not for selling. Animal bone evidence suggests more beef than sheep as eaten by the villagers; eating older animals the younger ones being sent for sale at urban markets.

Evidence for trade included the purchase of building materials, animals and pottery. The latter included Wemsbury ware from Staffordshire with the bulk of pottery coming from Chilvers Coton in North Warwickshire. Also, sophisticated stone mortar dishes and four pilgrim badges including one dating to the mid-14th possibly representing St Peter and St Paul from Westminster.

After the mid-14th century, the tenements show a complex pattern of decline leading to depopulation in 1497 probably caused by enclosure of the open fields and clearance by the owners.

Professor Dyer’s lecture gave an alternative view of viewing an earlier peasant society, its buildings, daily life and economy. Southend was placed in its broader regional setting linking it, for example, to communication routes and trade with urban centres such as Stratford upon Avon, Warwick, Nuneaton, Coventry, and Northampton.

Publications referred to in the lecture:
Burton Dassett Southend, Warwickshire: A medieval market village by Nicholas Palmer and Jonathan Parkhouse. The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph 44, 2023, published Routledge Oxon. ISBN (paperback) 978-1-032-43001-0.

Warwickshire Grazier and London Skinner 1532-1555 by N.W. Alcock. Oxford university Press 1981. 

Peasants Making History: Living in an English Region 1200-1540 by C. Dyer. Oxford University Press 2022.

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(Report of Meeting of 8th February 2024)

"Long Wittenham Anglo-Saxon Hall and the Origins of Wessex"

Dr. Jane Harrison, Field Archeologist and Deputy Director of the 'Origins of Wessex' Project. 

Jane Harrison's fascinating lecture dealt with the development of early Anglo-Saxon society in England in the 5th - 7th centuries, primarily focussing on the Thames valley between Dorchester and Sutton Courtenay; the area at the centre of what became Wessex. 

A main theme of the talk was the linking of Small-hall Communities with the Great-hall Communities. The Great-hall complex at Dorchester showed many signs of elite occupation, such as noble-metal work and belt-and-buckle remains. The bishopric was founded there as early as 635 A.D. Similarly, the Great-hall Complex at Sutton Courtenay 6 miles upstream to the west, was rich in evidence of manufacture, trade and high-status cemeteries (e.g. at close-by Milton). Half way between Dorchester and Sutton Courtenay, Sonia Hawkes had identified the possible site of another complex, at Long Wittenham. This was subjected to careful investigation by Jane Harrison's team. 

Their procedure started with identification of crop-marks, and 'geophysical features' to locate the places to dig, followed by careful excavation of trenches to the depth of 1m.  The geophysics was difficult here as the sandy soil gave poor contrast, but rich sites were successfully located. Their major site turned out to be a 'small-hall' ( 11m long, c.f. 30m at Sutton Courtenay). Post-holes, and the lines and dimensions of wall-ditches, were located from the staining of the soil. Doors and hearths similarly. Little was found in the way of floor litter, either because the occupants swept it before leaving (!), or because 13 centuries of ploughing had turned up and removed potential finds from the top 30 cms of soil. Other characteristic building were 'round-houses' and   'sunken-feature building', now interpreted as storage sheds and places for spinning and weaving. The small size of the hall ruled out 'royal' occupation, and suggested the rise of powerful citizens of intermediate status. 

The interpretation of the finds was enormously aided by the extensive experience the team had acquired in other early Anglo-Saxon sites in other parts of Britain. Jane Harrison showed us similar finds made at Yeavering in north Northumberland, where a Great-hall complex was investigated, and a lesser hall complex at nearby Thirlings. Also linked. 

Another early small-hall site was described in a loop of the Thirston Burn near Felton, also in Northumberland.  Here we saw a fascinating detail, for in one of the sunken-feature buildings a large  array of loom-weights was found so aligned as to suggest that the vertical-loom together with the incomplete cloth and indeed the hut itself had been burned, so that the weights all fell together to lie undisturbed for 13 C. Another intriguing detail was finding a fatty mass in one of the weaving houses. It was suggested that the fat was used for water-proofing the cloth. 

Returning to the idea of linking, it was suggested that a local king could travel round from one Great-Hall to another moving when he had exhausted the hospitality of his hosts. The eventual kingdom of Wessex arose by the coalescence of many of these smaller communities around the 'royal' centre of Dorchester. 

Ian West, 10th Feb. 2024

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(Report of Meeting 11th January 2024)

 “The Personal History of Shoes”  :  Professor Matthew McCormack

   Prof McCormack is Professor of History at the University of Northampton. He has appeared on TV and radio and has published widely on British history, his most recent book being “Citizenship and Gender in Britain 1688-1928”. He is currently writing a book called “Shoes and the Georgian Man”.

  Matthew started his lecture by observing that shoes are very personal objects. They support the wearer’s weight but may also reflect their job, their style and project an image of the wearer. Thereafter his lecture encompassed 5 main themes :

  Historically at the beginning of the 18th century men and women’s shoes were quite similar, although men favoured stacked heels to promote height – equated with high status, horse riding etc  – while women’s shoes usually had waisted heels. Indoor shoes were often of silk with a brocade cover. Thereafter styles diverged until by Regency times black leather boots were popular for men while women wore more delicate styles in silk or wool.

  The second theme focused upon the intimate relationship between shoe and wearer. Traditional leather shoes moulded to the foot, becoming more flexible over time yet hard-wearing. New shoes were made by a cordwainer while a cobbler mended them ; second-hand shoes denoted low social status (and it was thought they could transmit disease!) although later in the 18th century when shoes became very expensive they became more acceptable.

  The third theme considered what shoes tell us about the wearer, that is the shape of the foot, the walking gait, what they were used for and even whether they had traces of body fluids such as sweat or blood which could be used for DNA analysis. A consignment of shoes aboard the sunken HMS Invincible at Chatham Dockyard provided many insights, including the extra-wide shoes fashioned for gout sufferers.

  Shoes may represent the wearer. An 18th and 19th century practice was to conceal a shoe near a threshold or door or up a chimney, to protect against evil spirits.

  Shoes may tell a story. The method of manufacture has changed little since the late 19th century, and Northampton shoemakers such as Trickers have a longstanding reputation for quality (and expense) ; they are the predominant companies in London’s Jermyn Street. Prof McCormack demonstrated his own shoes made by Trickers! Thus shoes may be viewed as primary sources, and  traditional methods are still used today by suppliers for historical re-enactment and the theatre. The first stage of manufacture involved ‘clicking’, i.e. cutting out the shoe shape from a leather sheet, a most prestigious occupation. The shoe came with 2 long straps and a buckle, bought separately : on first wear, a hole in the strap was made to attach the buckle. The same ‘last’ was used for both left and right and the shoes worn until they became comfortable after 2 weeks or so. In time modifications such as hobnails on the front and horse shoe nails on the back were made for soldiers’ shoes.

  Following on from the recent discovery of the oldest shoe known in Britain, a Bronze Age shoe found in the Thames estuary, this was altogether a fascinating lecture.

  Pamela Wilson, 13 Jan. 2023  

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(Report on the lecture by Debora Hayter of 14 December 2023

How enclosure shaped Oxfordshire’s landscape

Deborah Hayter 14 December 2023

     Deborah Hayter suggested that her lecture could be subtitled ‘How common rights became private property’.  To demonstrate how the landscape changed over the course of 300 years she cited the contrasting estimate of Gregory King in 1690 and the findings of the Royal commission on Land in the mid-1950s.  In the late 17th century King suggested that 25-30% of the land in England was Common (or 8-9 million acres), whereas in the mid-20th century only 4000 commons were recorded with an acreage of 1 - 1.3 million acres, many of which were situated in the upland Celtic fringes and the north west. 
     She posed the question as to whom the common land belonged? (Always to someone, or to a group of people.) And the nature of the common rights? (Personal to a household, and could include grazing or fishing, turbary (right to cut turf or peat for fuel) or the right to collect wood for fuel.)  But external circumstances in the Middle Ages, such as changes in the weather pattern (e.g. the difference between the relatively prosperous 13th century and the harsher climate of the following 100 years), the effects of widespread plague (e.g. the depopulation caused by the mid-14th century Black Death) and changes in international trade could separately or together result in movement towards the enclosure of land by private owners and the consequent loss of individual rights by a large fraction of the population.
     Enclosure was not always acrimonious. It could result from an agreement between land owners and a parish about enclosure and in the 16th and 17th centuries such documents, enrolled in Chancery, are testament to good working relationships.
     By the 18th century however, changes in agricultural practices, such as improved rotation of crops, and the additional land available for agriculture to feed a growing population as a result of improved drainage systems led to increasing enclosure and diminution of common rights.  Not all parishes were the same, but in many parishes the owners of 75% of the land had to agree any enclosure - even if this was a single large landowner. Nor did enclosure happen by the same legal process in all parishes. But as a result, the landscape changed with straight roads of uniform width being built, hedged fields being created in rectangular shapes no longer following old boundaries, new farmhouses being built away from the villages to house the tenant farmers, and forests -such as Wychwood - being largely destroyed.  A general 'Inclosure Consolidation Act' was passed in 1801 which really spelt the end of common rights, as more parliamentary enclosure took place throughout the first half of the 19th century.  In the East Midlands Oxfordshire was the epicentre of enclosing activity and, as elsewhere, the county suffered from the consequent poverty of agricultural labourers, no longer able to access old rights. The result was rural depopulation as workers headed to towns and cities for work, or even emigrated.   
     So, the landscape has changed radically from 500 years ago, as has also the occupations of those rural communities which had existed in the same way for previous centuries. The extinction of their common rights has had far reaching, and probably unforeseen consequences.

Helen Forde (December 2023)

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(Report on the lecture of 9th November 2023 by Dr. Alan Crosby)

‘Truth is stranger than fiction’:  the extraordinary life of
Marjorie Crosby Slomczynska (born Banbury 1884)

Other people’s family history can be a little tedious, but few people have such a colourful figure in their family tree with such an unexpectedly racy life to explore and relate.  Alan Crosby’s great-aunt Marjorie was born in 1885 into a respectable middle-class Banbury family, but obviously finding English life too humdrum went to Hamburg and found herself a Russian ‘protector’, whom she accompanied to St. Petersburg, where there was a large English community and English women were much admired.  She appeared to have lived a high life there, but is next found near Dublin in 1906 where she gave birth to her first child.  It seems that she had returned to Russia, and there was another child in 1910;   in 1912 she married a Polish sports journalist.  The advent of the first World War and the Russian revolution meant that Russia was in turmoil and very unsafe, and in 1918 she escaped to Warsaw, still then in the Russian Empire, where she met Josef Pilsudski, a Polish hero, the first chief of state  (1918 – 1922) of the newly independent Poland.  At this stage there is a photograph of Marjorie who was working as a secretary in the small British Legation in Warsaw.  In 1920 the Russians invaded Poland but were beaten off largely with the help of the Koscuchkov squadron, which mainly consisted of American mercenaries.  Marjorie fell in love with one of them, called Merian Cooper, and had another child by him, though eventually he returned to the USA without her.  At some stage Marjorie became an Irish citizen, helpful when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939.  In 1944 the Warsaw Rising took place and Warsaw was destroyed in return:  the whole city was evacuated and 650,000 people displaced.  It is thought that about 50,000 Poles died in transit to the camps they were sent to.  Marjorie survived and lived out the rest of her life in Poland.  Alan had managed to find and make contact with some of his Polish cousins and had visited his great-aunt’s grave.   Truly an extraordinary life and a well-researched and well-told story.

Deborah Hayter (November 2023)

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(Report on the Lecture of 12 Oct 2023)

The Battle of Middleton Cheney, 1643 – by Gregg Archer

     Many members may have been surprised to see the title of this talk in this years lecture programme as this Civil War engagement has traditionally received little attention in the annals of the wars which ravaged these islands in the mid seventeenth century. So, it was a capacity audience that gathered at Banbury Museum to hear Gregg Archer, of the Mercia Region of the Battlefield Trust,  present a detailed account of his researches into what actually happened on the outskirts of Banbury on May 6th 1643.
     A summary of the causes of the wars set the context and introduced the key players.  In the aftermath of the Battle of Edgehill, of the taking and garrisoning of Banbury for the King, and his establishment of Oxford as his Capital, everything was set for Banbury and it’s hinterland, and the whole Midland region, to be centre stage in the unfolding conflict. The crisscrossing of the area by Parliamentary troops attempting to take back key garrisons such as Litchfield and Stafford, combined with the 'fake news' promulgated by both sides in attempts to trick their opponents into traps, led to something of a febrile atmosphere in the area in late 1642 and the early months of 1643. In this climate it is unsurprising that reports reaching Parliamentary forces in Northampton, that Banbury town had been put to fire by Royalists, provoked public outcry in late April 1643.
     To what extent they were motivated by revenge, or an opportunistic hope that in the ensuing chaos Banbury Castle would be easy pickings, is unclear. However the beginning of May saw Parliamentary troops from Northampton on the move to take Banbury by stealth, unaware that powerful Royalist cavalry forces were already massing there to protect a munition shipment, sent by the Queen from Newark to Oxford, via Banbury.

     After a rendez-vous at Culworth, the Parliamentarians set off to skirt Banbury to the south east crossing the Cherwell at Bodicote ford to mount a surprise attack, avoiding the well defended Banbury bridge. However the surprise was on them when, approaching the ford, they were greeted by a large force of Royalist cavalry, alerted by intelligence from Culworth, strung out along the ridge beyond.
     Discretion prevailed over valour and they retraced their steps, followed by the Royalist cavalry who sent a harrying party ahead to slow down the retreat to allow their main force to cross the ford in pursuit.
     On reaching the outskirts  of Middleton Cheney the forces of Parliament, mainly infantry, turned and faced their opponents, making use of a ridge of land to mount a defence. The opposing cavalry formed up to face them. Battle commenced with a Royalist cavalry charge on each flank at which point, in the words of Parliamentary reports “all our horse ran away”. This left the infantry exposed but, after firing one volley and before they could reload, a second cavalry charge fell upon them and, again in the words of Parliamentary reports, “every man shifted for himself”. The whole engagement lasted no more than half an hour.
     Scattered forces of Parliament made their way back to Northampton and the Royalist cavalry returned to Banbury with a significant load of captured muskets and prisoners.
The two sides gave conflicting accounts of the numbers killed and injured. However given the brevity of the encounter, and that no more than five hundred or so were engaged on each side, the 47 registered as buried in Middleton Cheney, and the 5 or 6 in Banbury seem to give a realistic indication.
     Gregg’s researches are meticulous and detailed, drawing on a wide range of primary sources. He has balanced the sometimes dubious reliability of contemporary accounts, cross checking details and balancing for possible bias. This was all presented in a clear and coherent narrative, well supported with visual material, which engaged the audience and I suspect provoked their interest to know more. (By coincidence there is a book available: The Battle of Middleton Cheney 6th May 1643 by Gregg Archer, published (2023) by The Northamptonshire Battlefields Society, ISBN 9798849687179 .)
     In terms of placing this engagement in the overall balance of the conflict as a whole, Gregg was clear that it had little impact on further events. While technically a battle, defined as an encounter where both sides form up before engaging, it formed no part in any coherent plan and was predominantly reactive and opportunistic in character.

Verna Wass, 14 Oct 2023

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(Report on the Lecture of Thursday 14th Sep 2023 )

The Life of a GP in Banbury in the 1960s – by Sir Roy Meadow

In the first lecture of our new autumn series Professor Sir Roy Meadow gave us an interesting and personal account of his life as a General Practitioner in Banbury in the early 1960s. As his first full-time appointment, it provided him with many still-vivid memories of his experiences as a junior partner in the West Bar practice. 

We learnt that Prof. Meadow’s training took seven years, as it does today; 3 in Oxford followed by 3 years clinical training at Guy’s hospital, plus one year’s pre-registration training. Even at a time of no tuition fees, only four per cent of school leavers in the 1960s went to university [compared to around approximately 37 per cent in 2022]. The gender balance was also very different at that time. To illustrate, the audience was shown two photographs of resident first year doctors, one from the 1960s and the second of the present day.  In the former, 25 out of 28 doctors were men, (all attired in three-piece suits), whereas today over half of medical students are women.

In the 1960s Banbury was fortunate in having a doctors’ practice well-known for its high reputation. At a time when most practices contained only one or two doctors, West Bar surgery was among a very small minority of practices employing five trained medics. This is surprising as work in general practice was not especially popular; the ‘specialist’ work of a hospital consultant was considered superior.    

West Bar surgery was built in 1871. The ground floor comprised an operating theatre, testing centre and fracture room plus areas for dispensing. The surgery also had a garden.  The second floor contained the doctors’ accommodation.  Ninety per cent of patients were treated under the NHS and ten per cent privately. This division was apparent as soon as the patient entered the building; private patients turned to the left and NHS to the right. Surgeries were held twice a day and the partners also ran clinics at outreach centres such as those at Middleton Cheney, Bloxham, Adderbury, in local schools and at the Alcan Aluminium Works in Banbury [built in 1930 on Southam Road, closing in 2008].  Atypically, the surgery was also linked with Horton Hospital (also built in 1871) where West Bar GP partners carried out duties in the radiology department among others.  Back at West Bar, junior doctors had additional duties, such as answering the door (which was manned 24 hours a day) when the reception staff were not there. Perhaps one of the most entertaining of a doctor’s jobs was to judge babies at local shows (alongside vegetables!).

In the 1960s most patients’ medical encounters were with their general practitioner. Only ten per cent were seen in hospital and these visits were mainly for tests or X-ray services.  A major part of a doctor’s work involved home visiting, if necessary over a wide area from Boddington in the north to North Aston to the south. Night calls were a feature of general practice although patients did try to avoid contacting a doctor in the middle of the night, making a 7.30 am call to the surgery particularly worrying, as patient may have ‘held out’ until the end of the night before telephoning. 

As most mothers had their children at home in the 1960s, home visits often involved delivering babies and the audience listened to a couple of brief vignettes of some of these (usually happy and rewarding) cases.  A striking feature of Professor Meadow’s home visits was the kindness and decency of people in their homes, many of which did not always have the luxuries of electricity and hot water that we enjoy today.

Professor Meadows concluded on a positive note; his time in Banbury is remembered with vividness and warmth, allowing us to reflect on general practice in Banbury over 60 years ago.

Rosemary Leadbeater. September 2023      

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(Report on the Outing of Thursday 29th June 2023)

A Walk through St.Thomas’ district of Oxford 29:VI:2023

With map and historical images in hand the fifteen BHS members followed Liz Woolley over the streets of St Thomas’ neighbourhood in Oxford. So close to Oxford’s heart, yet historically a place to avoid, and today a dense reconstructed district just off the axis between rail station and the Castle.

(The starting point...within the enclosure of Oxford Prison turned hotel.)

Several themes intertwined with the paths we took and the waterways we crossed. Early extra-mural milling, malting and brewing along unobtrusive streams, a continuity through to the late 20th century. A working class and lodging community, tight knit, between rail arrival and city fringe employment. Poor backland housing on Christ Church College land, redeemed with experimental Prince Albert inspired model housing that survived the slum clearances of the mid 20th century.

Today an enticing tangle of roads and passages, with many brick-and-gate-defended new opportunities, but sufficient of the past to catch the enquiring eye. To think that undergraduates Morris and Burne Jones risked the ‘town’ to reach St Thomas church for worship.

(The Swan Malthouse of c. 1830, part of a largely hidden Oxford.)

Liz Woolley was an excellent guide both background and personalities to retrieve the soul of a place which might otherwise seem to be an over-polished series of apartment investment opportunities.

 Brian Goodey, 1st July 2023

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(Report on the Outing of Tuesday 6th June 2023)

 

Outing to Bloxham Museum and St Mary’s Church

(Based on an account by one of our members, Cliff Baughen - thank you Cliff.)

On Tuesday 6th June Banbury Historical Society organised an ‘Outing’ to Bloxham Museum and St Mary’s church (which is practically next door).

We visited the Museum first. It is small with basically one room for the displays. On previous visits there had been a ‘Baughen Bible’ on display but it was not there on Tuesday. There was an article on William Herbert Baughan with photos of him and his wife. He was the first Railway Station Master of Bloxham Station.  One of the…children, Fanny Baughan (married John Hooper), had a daughter, Barbara (married name Brown), who was an authoress. Her books included one on the local railway line.  It is worth visiting….but please check opening times and dates as these are limited (run  by helpful volunteers). Parking is limited. (Photo courtesy of Cliff Baughen)

St Mary’s has been the site of a church from at least the Norman times. It is the only Grade 1 buildings in Bloxham. It is build of local stone by local hands, and has N & S aisles of unusual width. The spire is the tallest in Oxfordshire and rises to 198 feet. (For an excellent guide to the church see: https://www.stmarysbloxham.org.uk/historyofstmarys.htm)

We had 2 excellent guides (from the St Mary’s Bloxham Heritage Group) who showed us around the church and churchyard in two groups. The weather was rather on the chilly side but that did not stop people going on the tour of the outside. Our guide pointed out the various architectural features including the distinctive North Oxfordshire style of detailed (if ‘garrulous’) decoration. He also showed some gravestones of some ‘residents’. For example, there was the teacher from Bloxham School who died of a cricketing injury; he broke a bone which turned septic.

One very interesting point was the Pest House Drive, now grown over, but clearly marked (direct from Pest House to graveyard, to avoid contagion.)

Inside the church there is plenty to see. In earlier times there were wall paintings, later plastered over. Many of the paintings were lost during the removal of the plaster but at least one survived.

The paintings on the chancel were vandalised, presumably by Parliamentarians in the Civil War (1642 – 1652). The church has a number of notable glass windows. The ‘East’ window was designed by Victorians William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. The church has many stone carvings inside and outside; some headless. (Photo courtesy of Tim Edmonds.)

There is only 1 large decorative tomb (Sir John Thornycroft – 1745) in the church reflecting the relative absence of stately homes in the manor. Many tombs on the floor inside the church were covered up by Victorian tiling.

We had a very enjoyable evening and it was well worth making the journey from Reigate.

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Banbury Historical Society - Stratford Upon Avon Visit 2023

Recent analysis of 15th-century wall paintings in Stratford’s historic guildhall has led to a reinterpretation of their probable date and the purpose behind their creation. The BHS enjoyed an illuminating tour of the guildhall by Lindsey Armstrong, General Manager of Shakespeare’s Schoolroom and Guildhall, which included a special viewing of the recently found and restored wall paintings. The tour concluded with a fascinating step back into 16th education in the schoolroom where the young William Shakespeare was taught.

 Stratford Guildhall and Chapel

In the late 13th century, the Guild of the Holy Cross received permission to build a chapel and hospital in Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1403 the Guild amalgamated with those of Our Lady and St John Baptist. Adjoining the chapel is the timber framed 1417/1420 Grammar School, originally the Guildhall, associated with John Shakespeare and his son William, and 1427 almshouses.

Over time the guildhall was adorned with elaborate wall-paintings depicting scenes of the Day of Judgement, the deeds of saints and the life of Adam. However, from 1553 with the suppression of religious guilds, the guildhall housed the Stratford Borough Council and the popish images ordered to be removed. Luckily, their “destruction” was limited to a covering of whitewash until some were rediscovered in the 19th century. In 2016 during conservation work undertaken when the guildhall was to open to the public for the first time, traces of the once colourful wall paintings were uncovered.

In the priest's chapel, on the ground floor of the guildhall, a triptych painted directly onto plaster over the alter, showed God the Father cradling a crucified Christ, with figures of the Virgin Mary and St john the Evangelist on either side. The major discovery, painted onto one of the wall timbers was a well-preserved image of John the Baptist. Research suggests the alter paintings might be as early as the 1420s.

The former guild refectory, then Master’s Chamber, on the first floor was also decorated with once colourful wall paintings, which for centuries had been covered by book cases. When removed, the traces of 13 alternating red and white striped paintings were found, each topped with a shield in a contrasting colour. Once thought to be heraldic shields research now shows them to be 13 portrait busts of Christ and the Apostles, originally (probably) a mural of the Last Supper set within the guild refectory. Also in the room was the painting of a Marian rose, a symbol used in the very early 15th century dedicated to the Virgin Mary, one of the principal dedicatory saints of the guildhall.

 Full details of the reinterpretation of the guildhall paintings can be found in the March 2022 edition of Current Archaeology. The Guildhall and Schoolroom is open to the public; for details, visit www.shakespearesschoolroom.org.

GW July 2023

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(Report on the lecture of Thursday 9th Mar 2023)

‘Rememorative or minding signs or tokens’; images in parish churches before the Reformation

Elinor Townsend, 9 March 2023

This lively and well-illustrated talk demonstrated above all how richly decorated medieval parish churches were and reminded the audience of the purpose of many of the colourful images, in stone, wood, glass, textiles and paint.  Each was intended to encourage prayer for the souls of the departed and consequently to reduce their stay in purgatory.  Evidence for the earlier abundance of images is still obvious with empty niches, fragments of glass, re-ordered rood screens and damaged monuments, but also surviving personal tombs, recovered wall paintings and repaired vestments.

Elinor Townsend cited five different categories of images which were destroyed or damaged in the 16th century – particularly paintings which were intended to be very visible to the laity, confined to the body of the church and unable to see the priests in the chancel, other than when the host was raised at Easter.  These included pictures of Christ or saints on rood screens and Doom wall paintings above the chancel.  Many were painted over at the Reformation only to emerge later. 

 Secondly, images which contravened the ten commandments were damaged, many of which were stone or alabaster altar pieces.  These were not only behind the main altar but might be found in multiple locations within churches; side chapels frequently had altars or tables, places which increased the opportunities for redemptive prayer.  Local examples include the Somerton altar piece, now returned to the church though much restored. Similarly other individual wooden, stone or painted statues were damaged or removed – these had been installed in places where prayers could be said, or might have decorated surfaces in the church, contributing to the busy – and probably noisy – atmosphere.  

A third category of image included those that provided a narrative, usually of the life of Christ or the saints; wall paintings were frequently whitewashed over to avoid penalties from the inspectors of churches after the Reformation but in some cases have re-emerged due to subsequent repairs or investigations, those at South Newington being nationally noteworthy.  Fourthly, decorative images such as the wall paintings at Bloxham, and masonry, both inside and outside the fabric which frequently depicted figures or mythical beasts; good examples of such work by a north Oxfordshire school of masons can be found in the churches at Hanwell and Bloxham where linked arms are carved at the top of columns.  The few remaining church vestments from before the Reformation demonstrate the importance of the images embroidered on the back of the clothing of the clergy, visible to the laity but very vulnerable due to the fragility of textiles. Only a few survive despite the calculation that every parish must have owned six to eight copes but the fragments of the well-known cope at Steeple Aston indicate the quality of needlework which could be found even outside the capital. 

The final category, commemorative images also suffered damage over the centuries but less than the relics perceived as holy; recumbent figures frequently included a request for prayers in the inscriptions but were intended for ostentation as well as commemoration.  Highly coloured, they would have added to the general decoration of the church, very different from the sombre interiors found today.  

In conclusion it was noted that not all damage was due to deliberate acts; decay, neglect and accidental damage have all resulted in the loss of monuments as well as the Puritanical zeal in the post Reformation era, the lack of interest in medieval material in the 18th century and the Victorian passion to beautify churches in their own style. In the 21st century churches and their contents are threatened by the cost of maintaining them and reduced congregations; supporting them through historic churches trusts ensures their survival for further centuries.

Helen Forde  (March 2023)

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 (Report on the lecture of Thursday 9th Feb 2023)

Revising Pevsner’s Oxfordshire, by Simon Bradley

     Like the editors of cricket’s annual 'Wisden', Dr Bradley’s name will doubtless never displace that of the originator of 'Pevsner's Architectural Guides' the national county-by-county survey of significant architecture.

     Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-83), son of a Russian Jewish fur trader, was a rising art historian when, in pre-war Germany, his origins forced him to move to England. He brought with him a rigor, a persistence, and a new perspective on English art. With curiously right-wing views, he was nevertheless appointed to Birkbeck College, London and was embraced by the expanding Penguin publishing house. He edited the still attractive (and now highly collectible) 'King Penguin' series.

     The name 'Pevsner' will forever be remembered by architectural professionals and the informed public for the 'Buildings of England' series of bulky gazetteer manuals which began, with those of 'Cornwall'  and 'Nottinghamshire', in 1951. But county boundaries change, buildings have come and gone, and research is continually bringing to light more information. The Guides for some counties are into their fourth editions.

     Dr Bradley of St John’s College, Oxford is in the process of revising part of the 1974 ‘Oxfordshire' guide, which has been divided into two volumes. In a well illustrated and engaging account, he discussed 'Oxford and South-East Oxfordshire', a territory dominated by Oxford city but including substantial additions from Berkshire since 1974,

     Pevsner’s original 'Guides' were based on initial research notes by assistants, followed by extensive and probing tours of every parish, and subsequent correspondence with national specialists and local experts. Although research media, access and attitudes have changed over seventy years, today’s revision process seems very similar.

     The purpose of the new edition is to "correct, update, expand and enhance" each parish’s entries. Bradley illustrated this by showing the original and revised texts for Blomfield’s 1910 suburban All Souls church in New Headington, Oxford. (Pevsner’s compliment on the impressive interior was retained; impressive new glass added.)

     This spirit-lifting space, from the Reign of George V, was in contrast to St Katherine’s church, Chiselhampton, a village equidistant between Oxford and Wallingford. This ‘boutique’ church, with box pews and west-gallery, redundant since 1977 and now promoted as a ‘champing’ (i.e. church-camping) venue, was re-built in 1762-3 by Charles Peers, a new-money Lord of the Manor. Its Georgian simplicity still posed many questions as to date and sequence. Interestingly a 20th century successor to Peers was Sir Charles Reeve Peers (1868-1952) an architect who, in 1910, became England’s second Inspector of Ancient Monuments and from 1913-33 was Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments.

     Following several further observations on individual sites, access and attitudes, the speaker was open for questions and comments. Pevsner’s contacts with W.G. Hoskins, whether sites could be over-researched, changing architectural preference, and the basis of qualitative value judgements were all raised. Could it be said of Pevsner that he did more than record the artefacts; he established an aesthetic?

Brian Goodey, Feb 2023

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(Report on lecture of Thursday 12th Jan. 2023) 

HS2 Excavation at "Blackgrounds", Chipping Warden: Report on lecture by James West.

  The HS2 project has hastened the identification of many archaeological sites along its route from London to Birmingham. One of these close to Banbury, at "Blackgrounds" farm (so named because of the dark soil overlying the settlement layers), has excited great interest because of its long period of occupation – over 1000 years from c.700BC to 400AD. Such a site, involving successive generations of apparently cooperative settlement – a so-called ‘conglomerate’ site – is rare in Northants, indeed only three are known.

  James West, the Site Director of this excavation at Blackgrounds  told us that, during the entire 14-month excavation period, 60 – 80 archaeologists were employed onsite by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA). Seven areas of archaeological potential were identified, in the north, central and eastern sectors, which were then subjected to geophysics and trial trenching.

  Artefacts in the north sector were found to be predominantly Iron Age in origin, although investigation here was impeded by deep-seated 'ridge-and-furrow'. Many C-shaped enclosures were found, as well as hundreds of pits used for storage and deposition of unwanted material, and post holes denoting fence lines, domestic structures and 4-posters used for grain storage. A large Iron Age droveway was discovered, 2-3m wide, used as a transport link right through the site in a NW direction. The northern network of pits, enclosures, etc., was thought to be involved in animal husbandry and butchery, with remains of smelting and metalworking at its lower margins. The largest roundhouse on the site, containing a smaller private internal area (probably the dwelling of the ‘big chief’), was found here. However, most of the 30 or so Iron Age roundhouses were in the eastern sector; these appeared about 700 BC and showed evidence of successive re-fashioning over the centuries.

  The central and southern sectors showed predominantly 3rd-4th century Roman activity although it probably commenced earlier, in the 1st-2nd centuries. Only 15% of the Roman settlement area was excavated as it was very extensive. After AD43, when the Romans arrived in Britain, there was no abrupt change at Blackgrounds in style of pottery or housing, etc., confirming the cooperative nature of the transition. Previously, in 1830, a separate Roman villa-complex had been identified to the west of the Blackgrounds site ; it was not explored during this project but a 6-10m wide Roman road was found travelling E-W and probably connecting with this villa. Various pathways led off this road into the settlement, and the Iron Age droveway was also metalled at that time. The water level of the nearby River Cherwell was known to be higher in Roman times so it is possible that boats could approach in this way. A stone latrine and cistern were found next to the road. Roman-style domestic buildings often incorporated an Iron Age clay floor, overlaid with a footprint of smaller herringboned stones, then a surrounding wall of clay-bonded larger stones to chest height with a timber superstructure.

  Part of the Roman sector was demarcated for industrial use with multifunctional stone and clay-lined kilns for smelting, bread making and pottery, and beautifully preserved wells. 3 tons of animal bone were found and 1.3 tons of pottery, as well as 800 coins and 1200 iron nails. Many loom weights, querns, scale weights, scale bars, styluses, glass vessels, a leather-punch and even a shackle were uncovered. The coins ranged from crude Iron Age examples to specimens in copper or silver from all across Europe, including many British copies. Jewellery finds included an Iron Age jet bead, snake’s head bracelet and Saxon brooch pin (found on the surface), as well as beauty products such as combs and tweezers. Some very rare shale pottery was found, and decorated Samian ware – high-status pottery from Gaul.

   Some 20-30 cremations were found, as well as 17 adult and 15 infant burials. No unifying feature could be discerned – some upside down, some partial, some headless. Most were in the pre-Roman Iron Age or post-Roman Saxon areas.

  From the wealth of the finds, the longevity of the settlement and the highly productive activities evidenced, we can deduce that Blackgrounds was a most significant trading centre in Roman times. It was abandoned in 410 AD. The village of Chipping Warden is known to be of Saxon origin and was established nearby at a separate site.

  Pamela Wilson  (Jan. 2023)

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(Report on lecture of Thursday 8th Dec. 2022)

‘The night-time haven of the wandering tribes’: the common lodging-house in Victorian England, by Liz Woolley 

Liz Woolley presented a comprehensive account of the workings of the common lodging-house, focussing especially on Oxford and Banbury. We were guided through details on how common lodging houses arose, the sites and buildings they occupied, what life was like for the occupants and keepers, why and how local communities attempted to control their use and reasons for their decline. 

Common lodging-houses were in existence from the early eighteenth century onwards. By the nineteenth century they were a well-established form of working-class accommodation, with an ever-rising demand associated with factors such as urbanisation, Irish immigration and an increasing separation of work and leisure activities. Locally, some common lodging houses remained in existence for up to 100 years, thereby becoming a familiar feature of the Oxfordshire landscape.   

Lodging-houses were likely to be evident in every market town, almost always situated in a part of town served by the railway or canal system. The city of Oxford acted as a hub of a network of common lodging-houses in Oxfordshire. We learnt that, in 1907, in St Thomas’ Street in the city almost every building had at one time or another been a lodging house, often having been converted from its original use as a chapel or privately occupied terraced cottages. Some public houses also doubled as lodging-houses, one observer noting in the nineteenth century ‘St Thomas’ was the least reputable district in the centre of Oxford in every sense of the word’.

In Banbury two common lodging-houses operated in the town for much of the nineteenth century in, perhaps unsurprisingly, Lodging House Yard on the southern side of the town. At least one of these houses continued in use until the 1930s. Some people today have memories of the smell of herrings cooking on these premises.  

We heard there was a difference between ‘respectable’ and ‘common’ lodging houses.  In Oxford the rise in respectable houses increased rapidly from 1868 onwards when university students were permitted to live out of the colleges. Common lodging houses were at the lower end of lodging provision with accommodation comprising beds at 2 – 6 pence per night or alternatively ‘sit-up’ space, ‘resting-head’ space or a mattress. Conditions tended to be crowded, dirty, squalid and raucous with men, women and children eating and sleeping together. 

Occupants were typically poor, and often itinerant, either looking for work in railway or building construction or selling flowers, matches and watercress, but also comprising travelling musicians, rat-catchers, narrow-boat workers and ‘scavengers’, many driven from Ireland by the potato famine. In Oxford, in the 1870s, common lodging-houses accommodated a particularly high number of women, probably drawn to jobs in domestic service due to the rapid expansion of north Oxford and the university.

Lodging-house keepers were often women, either single or wives of working men, although a notable number were chimney-sweeps, whilst also trading in soot.

Middle class observers and reformers regarded the common lodging house as a serious social problem, representing the antithesis of the Victorian ideal of the home and family. Most shockingly viewed were the communal sleeping arrangements, which were believed to lead to vice, moral degradation and the spread of disease. With these thoughts in mind, reformers sought to regulate. In 1848 legislation was passed allowing Local Authorities to demand such houses to be maintained to a degree of cleanliness.  With a perceived causal link between poor housing and dissolute behaviour, purpose-built ‘model’ lodging houses were erected, implementing segregation of the sexes, temperance behaviour and austere regimentation. More generally, all common lodging-houses declined from the 1860s onwards, due to a range of factors such as slum clearance, the establishment of shops and fewer peddlers and hawkers.             

The lecture concluded by looking at some of the more positive aspects of the subject. Widespread public and political concern led in part to reform in working-class houses generally and to improvement in public sanitation. Lodging-houses played an important economic, practical and social role associated with the supply of labour and were significant factors in migration patterns, retailing, entertainment and housing provision for poor. Liz Woolley drew on a range of sources including census material, photographs and etchings depicting cameos of the lives of some of those involved in the trade. The study, therefore, provided a rich vein of research for both local and family historians.   

          Rosemary Leadbeater, Jan. 2023.

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(Report on lecture of Thursday November 10th 2022)

Mapping Medieval Oxford, by Julian Munby, FSA.

     Our speaker, Julian Munby, is an archaeologist and fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, who has recently retired as Head of Buildings Archaeology at Oxford Archaeology. 

     The talk gave us a stream of fascinating glimpses of the past; a peek into the well crammed mind of a man who has spent a lifetime gathering his hoard of these treasures; a true antiquarian of the sort that would have fascinated John Aubrey.  Imagine a physical collection of all the old maps we glimpsed, from Canterbury c. 1200, Paris c. 1400, Ralph Agas's  1578 map of Oxford, Anthony à Wood's, Loggan's, De Gomme's Civil war map, Faden's  of 1789. Add Turner's architectural paintings, and the "hundreds" of sketches and watercolours by the German fiddle-master J-B Malchair. Add the Notebooks, and the 36 volumes of transcripts of college title deeds compiled and left to us by H.E. Salter, including 6 vols. on Osney Abbey and 3 vols. of Oxford Council Acts. How could one make a selection for a 50 minute talk?

     Julian Munby first compared Oxford with other cities of comparable age and status, by which we see that Oxford is well mapped, well drawn, and well dug. 

     He then sketched (in maps) the historical time-line from: 3 neolithic barrows found in the old Radcliffe Hospital site, a circular Bronze-age 'henge' under Keble and the Museum, an impression of Alfred's fortified Saxon 'burh' of Oxford c. 800 AD, pre-conquest (1050 AD), and Norman Oxford in 1150 AD (pre-university), 1279 AD (when Merton was the only college), medieval Oxford c. 1400 when there were c. 117 small halls each containing some 10-15 students. We saw, on a map, the medieval market, the Grey (Franciscan) and Black (Dominican) Friars, maps of the Castle when Christ Church College bought it from the town, and of the Civil War fortifications c. 1644.

     Many little snippets of information were offered along the way: that Paris university was collegiate till Napoleon, that Elizabeth I introduced the rule that all students be members of one or other college, that only 10 medieval stone houses survive amongst the 1551 Listed buildings in Oxford, that Worcester college incorporated (and retains part of ) an earlier Gloucester college. 

     In summary, we might well be tempted to buy one or other (or both) of two publications that Julian Munby mentioned at the end of his talk:

'An Historical Map of Oxford (second edition)', available from Amazon.,  and the lavish and comprehensive 'British Historic Towns Atlas Volume VII: Oxford, Alan Crossley (ed.)'

Ian West, Nov. 2022

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(Report on lecture of Thursday October 13th 2022)

Professor Glen O’Hara :  In all our footsteps:  Rights of Way in History and Experience

Professor O’Hara is Professor of Modern History at Oxford Brookes University, and he is currently heading a big project, with £1m funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).  The University of Hull is doing some of the work, but at Oxford Brookes researchers are looking at access to Rights of Way in England and Wales since 1949.  

A path consists of the rights of citizens to walk along it, and these depend on historical evidence. There was an objective post-war to map all rights of way, and to record them on a definitive map so that they could not be lost thereafter.  But this didn’t work properly and in the 1930s and 1940s there were arguments, even what you could call battles, for access, between walkers and the formally organized Ramblers on the one hand and landowners and farmers on the other.  This led to the Kinder Scout trespass, and to the Labour government creating green belts, as those on the left wing wanted the countryside opened up and protected.   In 1949 the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was important, and thereafter Parish councils were expected to complete their maps of footpaths in three to five years – but of course it took much longer than that.  

Glen O’Hara showed us several different forms of the paper evidence that proves the existence of paths, which were mainly maps;  however oral histories were important as well.  The main problems stemmed from the dominance on Parish councils of local landowners who were in no hurry to recognize the rights of walkers across their land.  There were also fears that by increasing access and therefore traffic the remaining wildernesses in the country would be spoilt.

By 1965 many counties had still not managed to create their definitive maps, but there was a step forward when the Blair government brought in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (the CROW Act), which enshrined the citizen’s right of access to open and common land.   The deadline for registering rights of way  - 1st January 2026 – was introduced in the CROW Act of 2000, but in February this year the deadline was scrapped as it was taking far too long to process the applications that had already been put in.

This was a fascinating lecture, giving us an insight into the processes of research around what is a thoroughly political topic.

Deborah Hayter

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(Report on lecture of Thursday 8th Sep. 2022)

Vikings in the Thames Valley

     David Griffiths, professor of archeology at Oxford University, gave us an overview of the archeological and historical evidence of the presence of Vikings in the Thames Valley, from the estuary upstream to Oxfordshire.  We heard about raids, battles, massacres, winter camps, burials, hoards and eventually urban settlements.  From the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, we know that the Vikings were at Reading in AD. 871, where they were repeatedly attacked by the West Saxons with much slaughter on both sides. Also that the Danes then retreated (in 872) to an overwintering encampment at London. Though the Reading campsite is not known for certain, numerous signs of battles have been found, e.g. on the Thames at Sonning, a few miles downstream from Reading. Overwintering camps elsewhere have shown that the Vikings favoured Island sites in rivers.  From the Chronicle also, we learn that the Danes repeatedly ‘made peace’ with the locals, sometimes for money. There was likely no great language difference between the Danes and Saxons, but the former were pagan and the latter Christian. 

Ian West, Feb 2023

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(Report on our Outing on 18th Jun 2022)

                Visit of BHS to Stowe Landscape Gardens

  Seventeen intrepid BHS members braved a wet afternoon to visit Stowe Landscape Gardens near Buckingham. The Gardens, which surround Stowe House, now a school, have been owned and run by the National Trust since 1989; the school was established in 1922 and is run separately by a private trust. Lord Cobham established the essential features of the Gardens by the mid 18th century, with later contributions from John Vanbrugh, William Kent and Lancelot (“Capability”) Brown. The result is a fabulous landscape of grass vistas framed by trees, shrubs and expanses of water where sightlines draw the eye and paths lead to temples and monuments.

  Our two guides were Stephen Wass, Archaeologist with PolyOlbion Archaeology, and David Wilson, Garden Guide, both BHS members. We processed past the magnificent south front of the main mansion into Kent’s Elysian Fields and to the so-called British Worthies, a line of busts in niches, comprising political figures, scientists and thinkers – Shakespeare, Newton, Walter Raleigh and so on, all considered ‘worthy’ by the Whig politicians of the day. They look respectfully across to the Temple of Ancient Virtue where we inspected its statues of Greek heroes.

  By contrast the adjacent Temple of Modern Virtue was built deliberately as a ruin to reflect the political morals of the day (plus ça change!). A sunken walkway was subsequently constructed and the loose soil used to cover up the Temple. Stephen Wass was tasked with uncovering and delineating the original construction but attempts at excavation have been thwarted by tree conservation, bats, Covid and now badgers! He hopes to start excavating in the autumn.

  Following this we went via the Doric Arch and saw modern replicas of the 9 muses originally placed around it to celebrate the visit of Princess Amelia, George III’s daughter. Stephen was asked to find the positions of the original bases, situated in a tighter arc than at present. Further on, he has also been working on the Queen’s Theatre and the location of its central canal and tiered seating, after removal of the golf course which will now be returned to original planting.

  Thereafter we returned to the café and a welcome cup of tea. We thank David Wilson and Stephen Wass for a most informative and enjoyable afternoon.

                                                                                                                Pamela Wilson (June 2022)

 

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(Report on our visit to RAF Upper Heyford on 7th May 2022)

RAF Upper Heyford.

In glorious sunshine, members of the Society were treated to an airbase-tour at RAF Upper Heyford. The tour began with a short history film followed by a comprehensive inspection of the Heritage Centre, where our two well-informed hosts provided us with a wealth of information on the uses of the site. From its inauguration in 1918, Upper Heyford was the base for the Canadian Air Force, with the posting in of pilots, observers and ground crews. Its rôle changed in the late 1930s when the base was used to train newly formed squadrons, or squadrons re-equipping with new aircraft types for night-time operations. The airfield was also used by many units of the Royal Air Force, mainly as a training facility. During the Cold War the base was chosen to house the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command.

In the Heritage Centre our hosts enlightened us with some of the stories behind the wide range of memorabilia, uniforms and signage on display. The site’s use as a training centre, meant, sadly, that some lives were lost on the base. Glenys Harris, for example, was 17 when she enlisted in the Women’s Royal Auxiliary Air Force and posted to Operational Training Unit RAF Upper Heyford. Two years later, at the age of 19, after twenty minutes into a test flight, her de Havilland Mosquito crashed killing all occupants.

Unsurprisingly, our guides were plied with plenty of questions from our members. We were surprised to learn that, during WWII, the flair-paths were turned off when one of the Luftwaffe ‘intruder’ sorties was imminent, despite the area around the airfield being full of aircraft taking off or waiting to land. And that only 20 per cent of the Air Transport Artillery (ATA) were women.

The tour culminated with a visit to the ‘Victor Alert’ area where, in the 1980s, nine aircraft were housed fully fuelled and armed on 15 minute-alert. Members watched in awe as the two 85-ton doors of Hard Aircraft Shelter No 9 were opened to reveal the space where an F111 aircraft had been mobilised. We were told that engines were fired up inside the shelter before the aircraft was towed backwards onto the runway. (Imagine the intensity of the noise!)

Finally, our guides were thanked and applauded for providing such an interesting afternoon, photographs were taken and we left with a new insight into the workings of RAF Upper Heyford.

Rosemary Leadbeater, May 2022

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(Report on the Lecture given on 7th April 2022)

The English Railway Station: An Express Journey

(Some reflections on a richly illustrated talk by Dr. Steven Parissien, Director of Weekly Classes, Continuing Education, University of Oxford)

This cavalcade of station images, spanning nearly two centuries, opened with the Euston Arch. It was characteristic of the early stations that they offered architects the freedom to create a functioning public space and a symbol of railway enterprise. Many, especially the larger ‘cathedrals of their age’, demonstrated the evolution of architecture into engineering.

They were eclectic in style, but after their rapid rise in the 1840s and 1850s, the functional needs of locomotives, goods and passengers demanded rebuilding (as at Bristol in 1871 and at York in 1877). Initial ‘house’ styles were often relegated to colour, ironwork, and decorative additions. As a symbolic landmark of the developed railway age, Sir George Gilbert Scott’s hotel and clock tower at St. Pancras is hard to beat.

After World War I, there was much ‘making-do’ with the railway system and its stations. Although consolidation required a few new stations (e.g. Nuneaton), most were removed, modified or left to themselves, according to local conditions and traffic. Rail enthusiasts are familiar with images of streamlined locomotives of the thirties, speeding past small 19th century stations, many of which seem modelled on outdated domestic villas, together with a smattering of “Modern Movement” mainline stations (Hastings, Surbiton and Leamington were noted.) The speaker emphasised the importance of suburban expansion in the rapidly growing capital. (London’s Underground stations deserve a talk in themselves.)

In World War II the railways, so essential to survival, were run into the ground. As the country recovered it was the resolution of the cumbersome nationalisation that dominated attention. A few good examples of post-war station design emerged (Coventry, Harlow, Manchester Oxford Road (in laminated wood!). To these the speaker added Banbury.)

But by the late 1950s an unholy alliance was emerging; Ernest Marples (a Minister of Transport with a financial interest in roads), and Dr Beeching (chairman of British Rail, a physicist, engineer, and businessman). Beeching’s advice to Marples with regard to the railways resulted in the closure of some 4,000 miles. Marples’ decision to demolish the Euston Arch in favour of a banal façade and inadequate public space was unsuccessfully contested, although the line’s Birmingham terminus bizarrely survives.

In a concluding section, the speaker illustrated how rail interests, combining with local preservation interests and private owners, have respected the form and extended the lifespan of many historic stations. After Beeching dormancy, some stations were revitalised by re-opening but the standard glass box on a windswept platform is all too common.

Amongst the ‘Cathedrals' of the 21st century one might include the rebuilding of London’s St. Pancras with its extensive retail offering, refurbished hotel, Eurostar terminal, national and local services. Better still, the Concourse at Kings Cross next door. (The commercial Birmingham New street received short shrift.)

This was a lively hour of 'views from the train window', with a fellow passenger who combines knowledge with style, and detail with political aside.

See: Steven Parissien (2014) "The English railway Station" English Heritage
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/english-railway-station/
https://heritagecalling.com/2014/12/04/10-great-english-railway-stations/

Brian Goodey, April 2022

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(Report on the Lecture given on 10th March 2022)

Beyond Port and Prejudice:  a new look at Georgian Oxford. 

(Dr. Robin Darwall-Smith, Archivist of Jesus and University Colleges Oxford)

Robin gave a complex and thought-provoking tour de force of Oxford University during the Georgian period (1714 to 1830-1837). Generally considered the least interesting period in the University’s history characterised as a time of intellectual sloth and general decline, when dons and undergraduates preferred port to study. A perspective-based upon the views of, for example, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), who attended Magdalene College Oxford as a gentleman-commoner, writing that his 14 months there were the "most idle and unprofitable"; Thomas Hughes 1822-1896) similarly wrote in the 1840s that Oxford was ‘an awfully idle place’. However, recent research by Robin and others reappraises this perspective (see for example, History of Universities, Series XXXV/1: The Unloved Century: Georgian Oxford Reassessed).

Georgian Oxford was a conservative place, but there was certainly intellectual activity available for undergraduates willing to learn and dons willing to teach (a feature as true today as it was then). This conservatism probably resulted from Georgian Oxford's deep involvement in the  theological and political upheavals of the 17thC. Oxford’s Tory and Jacobite political sympathies played some part in its political decline during the 18thC. Oxford had been a Royalist stronghold during the English Civil War (1642-1646); had shown sympathy for the loosely organised Tory political faction of the Restoration, which became excluded from government under the Georges until the 1780s. Left alone by liberal Whig governments, Oxford's survival and development was due to its financial independence (until after the 1914-1919 war).

Oxford welcomed some of the great minds of the period along with developments in its building infrastructure. The Savilian chairs of astronomy and geometry were founded in 1619; Edmund Hailey (1656-1742), studied at Queen’s College Oxford from1673, becoming Professor of Geometry (1703). Joseph Haydn (1732 -1809) was awarded an honorary doctorate of music (1791). The Ashmolean Museum of natural history (1678-83) opened as a base for experimental science. 1711-1715 the Clarendon Building was constructed for Oxford University Press. The Radcliffe Observatory (1773-1934) was founded as the University’s astronomical observatory and Queens College saw a major rebuilding programme (1707-1760).

There was no real academic career structure for College Fellows and, with theology dominant, Oxford was viewed as a seminary for the Church of England, though there were a small number of Methodists. John Wesley preached in Oxford,1783, but was not invited to one of the colleges. Fellows looked to a career within the Church and lucrative parish livings, although there was little formal training for those taking Holy Orders. Available evidence suggests that half of students entered the Church. Some professors offered lectures, but students had to pay to attend; undergraduates therefore attended ‘free’ lectures provide by tutors. Lectures, such those in the sciences, were attended for the subject interest not as part of a formal curriculum, or a career path. Some university academics enjoyed international reputations for their learning, notably in theology. For many, academic life was a round of tutorial classes, lectures and discussions; with no requirement for research or publication, unlike many of their Continental colleagues. (European universities, not as financially independent as Oxford or Cambridge, were affected by the French Revolution (1789-1799) and Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) and took a different approach from those of Great Britain. Theology was less dominant and there was more interest in law and mathematics. Academics published lists of their forthcoming lectures and were encouraged to publish their research. However, they were probably less in touch with the intellectual life of their various countries.)

Oxford was a collegiate university, power rested with individual colleges. There was little sense of a curriculum, formal student reading and study was dominated by the individual tutor and undertaken strictly within a college. For many Georgian students’ revelry was a priority and study strictly optional. However, there is evidence that not all students were lazy, some were prepared to work, taking study seriously within a broad and flexible choice of ‘informal’ lectures; but also having fun. Prior to 1850, formal college teaching was limited to Greek and Latin texts, ancient history, logic, and philosophy. The formal teaching of, for example, law, medicine, modern languages, or even the dominant subject of theology was limited, though some teaching was provided in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and divinity. Georgian Oxford therefore offered a broad, flexible, liberal education to interested students, which their syllabus-bound Victorian-period successors lacked.

As the 19thC progressed, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were challenged for their narrow formal curriculum and lenient exam systems. The number of graduations at Oxford had fallen during the 18thC. Schools for the sciences were founded in the 1840s, with law and modern history in 1849/50. The Victorian emphasis on 'study for degrees' saw a decline and narrowing of the Georgian liberal education.  A Royal Commission, appointed, 1850, ‘to inquire into the two ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge’, led to the introduction and examination of new studies such as the Natural and Moral Sciences.

Differing from the limited, ‘intellectual sloth’, view given by Victorian writers, the picture of Georgian Oxford provided by Robin, placed firmly within the context of its time, was of a much more complex and stable place for intellectual study.

Graham Winton, March 2022

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(Report on the Lecture given on 10th February, 2022)

Feeding Anglo-Saxon England; archaeological science and early medieval farming

(Dr Mark McKerracher, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford)

The open field system of farming which characterised much of the agricultural landscape in England between the 8th and 13th centuries has been debated over a century of research, but without any consensus about its origins or development. And yet it is clear that the expanding population must have been fed by a corresponding if not greater expansion in cereal production with the visible surplus ending up in ever larger barns and grain stores.  

The Feeding Anglo-Saxon England project (https://feedsax.arch.ox.ac.uk/), based at the Universities of Oxford and Leicester, is applying quantitative and bioarchaeological methods to track ploughing technology, crop rotation and arable expansion in an attempt to discover more about the development of agriculture during this period. Dr McKerracher and his colleagues have been analysing pollen, preserved seeds, bones and weed deposits to clarify what crops were grown where, how the choice of types of cereal developed over the centuries, the impact on animals of the use of heavier ploughs and the changes this imposed on the ever-increasing population. The team is building up a very detailed picture of how farming developed and its impact on the population, using techniques such as: (a) analysis of stable isotope ratios found in charred crop residues, (b) ecological analysis of arable weed seeds, to reconstruct methods of cereal cultivation in different parts of England, (c) radiocarbon dating of seeds, bone and remains of wooden implements such as ploughs, and (d) taking pollen cores to generate models of land-use.

Dr McKerracher cited examples such as the discovery of the varying fortunes of the weevil, the numbers of which rose and fell in proportion to the expansion or reduction of the population and their need for food, or the architecture and comparative size of granaries over the centuries which indicated the amount of grain stored.  As heavier ploughing developed, the use of a mouldboard grew more common so the analysis of pathologies in the limb bones of cows and oxen shows more distortion and hence the need for larger ploughing teams; a condition not found in remains from the 6th – 9th centuries when ploughing was much lighter. Widespread analysis of pollen and charred plant remains in the upper Thames valley, one of the areas they have studied, revealed an increasing diversity of grain crops from the 11th century onwards, according to the type of soil.

This is a fascinating study which will clearly have a major impact on understanding the early middle ages;  to quote from the FeedSax website ‘the expansion of cereal cultivation was the bedrock of demographic and economic growth’.

Helen Forde, 14th Feb. 2022

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(Reports on the Lecture given on 13th January, 2022)

Oxfordshire Towns in the Victoria County History,
by Dr. Simon Townley

Report A. 
On a cold January evening, members of the Society enjoyed a lively and illuminating lecture given by Dr Simon Townley, County Editor for the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire.  Some members opted to listen remotely while others attended in person in the Education Room at the museum.

The Victoria County History is a national project published in print form, but now freely available online.  It began in 1899 to mark the Queen’s jubilee and its aim is to produce a fully researched history of every parish, village and town in England. Simon’s lecture marked the 50th anniversary of the publication (in 1972) of the VCH’s history of Banbury Hundred.  

Simon provided a detailed view of some evidence of pre-conquest urban growth in towns such as Wallingford (then Berkshire, now Oxfordshire), Bampton and Abingdon and then moved on to a fascinating insight into the development of other Oxfordshire towns such as Henley and Witney. Some towns can be identified as medieval market towns whilst others developed post-medieval functions associated with crafts, trades and industry. Market towns were often laid out as planned medieval settlements by manorial lords on their own properties and characterised by huge, often wedge-shaped market places.

He also explained that the fortunes of Oxfordshire towns were constantly changing. Some enjoyed economic development whilst others remained quite rural in nature, perhaps facing competition from nearby market towns, or without the infra-structure such as water systems essential for industries such as cloth making.

Written sources include town records, manorial court records, parish records and probate inventories. which can contain rich information on the wealth and social aspirations of individuals who made up the urban community of a town. Perhaps surprisingly, trade tokens, whereby private coinage became fashionable briefly in the seventeenth century, can tell us about e.g. the workings of coach operators in places such as Henley.  One particularly fascinating aspect of the lecture was the historians’ work of piecing together fragments of evidence to help form the history of a town. For example, we know from coroners’ records that a market existed in Standlake in the fourteenth century when a man, from Stanton Harcourt selling geese, met with a fatal accident in 1389. Similarly, the discovery of the remains of a collapsed bridge in Henley embedded on the river bed and in the cellar of a local pub provides evidence of an early bridge in the town in the middle ages.

Simon brought us right up to date with progress on current work. Volume 20 on the South Chilterns is only days from publication and the town of Chipping Norton and its surrounding rural parishes is currently being researched. The lecture provided a wealth of fascinating facts and illustrations and concluded with the tempting challenge that perhaps it was time to re-visit the history of Banbury by asking new questions. A huge amount has happened to Banbury in the last 50 years and we now have a wealth of more documentation coming to light, so lots more investigation is waiting to be done.

Rosemary Leadbeater, 14th Jan 2022

Report B.  
For the last 26 years Dr Simon Townley has been Oxfordshire Editor of the Victoria County History (available on line at British History Online). He explained that his talk would pursue themes, illustrated using recent work in Burford, Henley and Chipping Norton.

He suggested that medieval market towns were often established prior to the Conquest and that the presence of early religious houses and Minsters was a significant catalyst. Oxford and Wallingford were cited, but smaller candidates such as Bampton also had plan details suggesting pre-conquest origin. Dr Townley emphasised the importance of plan analysis, documentary, and place-name evidence in identifying ‘sub-urban’ expansion, as in Henley and Chipping Norton (the latter acquiring, in 1218, the 'Chipping' prefix which means 'market').

With market growth came denser land use of the elongated 'burgage' plots behind the frontage, and encroachment on once-generous market spaces. But growth could sometimes be reversed. Standlake was cited here; a market chartered in 1230, functioned in the 13th and 14th cents., but the cloth trade faded by 1500.

What, then, were the factors making a town? The market function was crucial, together with a planned layout, non-agrarian occupations, shared institutions and increasing distinctness between town and the surrounding countryside. In Witney the catalyst for success was cloth manufacture, in Burford and Chipping Norton it was the raw-wool trade. Henley was particularly interesting as the highest point on the Thames where commercial traffic was profitable (prior to the engineering work of the 16th cent.). Grain and firewood were the main supplies to the capital.

For the post-medieval period there has, of course, been better documentation available to chart the growth of commerce, industry and charity. Significantly, wealthy ‘Tradespeople’ rapidly become ‘Gentry’. In terms of urban morphology, the speaker briefly noted the arrival of industry in 'back lots' and their gradual expansion into high street frontages. Another frequent later development was the market house and town hall, often combined, indicating both the power of  local government (above) and its control over market sales, and health (below).

In conclusion, Townley summarised the physical appearance of his three towns. Burford, with a significant proportion of surviving late medieval buildings suggesting an early economic peak. Chipping Norton presents an 18th cent. image with medieval to the rear. Henley with 18th cent facades, but also coaching, and cultural tourism to Bath.

This engaging and comprehensive account emphasised the way built form reflects the legal, economic and social forces that shape what may still be called a ‘market town’.

Brian Goodey, 14th Jan 2022 

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(Report on the Lecture given on 9th December, 2021)

Historic buildings of Chipping Norton and Hook Norton: results from recent survey work.

Lecture on Thursday December 9th  by Paul Clark, PGC Arch. Hist.

Paul Clark gave us a beautifully illustrated lecture on the subject of Historic Buildings of Chipping Norton and Hook Norton, the results of recent survey work.   Paul chairs the Oxfordshire Buildings Record, which has done many surveys of early buildings all over Oxfordshire, but he reported here on the major project that took place in Chipping Norton, with explorations of the putative castle site, mapping of burgage plots, definition of the early infilling of the market place, and dendrochronological dating of timbers found in roofs and cellars.  At the same time as all of this, local historians had been researching the documentary evidence, all of which resulted in a splendid book (The Making of Chipping Norton by Adrienne Rosen & Janice Cliffe (2017) Phillimore; if only Banbury had such a book!)    What the dendro dating shows is that many of the stone houses which looked 17th – 19th century on the outside contain timbers dating from the 15th century. 

Thirty three houses had been surveyed in Hook Norton and here some comparisons had been made with Wood-Jones’ book (Domestic Architecture of the Banbury Region), using some of his diagrams showing the different ways of constructing roofs.  In Hooky it looked as if some timbers in the roofs had been re-cycled from earlier houses, but there was no evidence found for the re-use of any timbers such as might have been used to construct the rest of a timber-framed house.  Paul Clark therefore concluded that Wood-Jones’ assumption that the rebuilding in stone here in the 17th century had replaced earlier timber-framed houses was mistaken:  it looked as if the new 17th century stone houses were replacements or rebuildings of earlier stone cottages.  Wood-Jones had dated the houses he looked at in the region by using date stones:  but it is now thought that these dates do not necessarily signify the original construction of a house, but might refer to a marriage, or to an addition of some kind.  This was altogether a fascinating lecture, full of interest for anyone keen on old houses.

Deborah Hayter, December 2021

 

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(Report on the Lecture given on 11th November, 2021)

  ARCHAEOLOGY,  ARTEFACTS AND A CAREER IN RUINS

        By Anni Byard, 11th Nov. 2021

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) established by the British Museum relies upon 39 Finds Liaison Officers (FLOs) for England and Wales. Anni Byard was the FLO for Oxfordshire and W. Berks for 11 years. She is currently undertaking a Ph.D at Leicester University and the Ashmolean Museum, focusing upon Iron Age and early Roman coin hoards, while working part-time as a commercial archaeologist.

The vast majority of portable finds are obtained from metal detectorists. Most artefacts are found in bits or are very worn as they often come from ploughsoil, and may be corroded by fertilisers and pesticides. In Oxfordshire alone, since the scheme started, 42,000 finds have been unearthed, ranging in age from 480,000 years BP to 1700 AD; these include about 17,000 coins, more than half of which are Roman, 2900 brooches and buckles, and 400 rings. The PAS administers the legal obligations of the 1996 Treasure Act. Gold coins were not produced in Britain until 100BC; prior to that tin alloy was used. Local Iron Age coins were often quite abstract in design.

Anni described her four favourite finds. First was the Merton Axe Hoard, a sheep-feed bucket containing 13 Bronze Age axes, the biggest axe hoard in Oxfordshire. Second was the bronze head of Marcus Aurelius, found locally at Steane and eventually brought to Banbury Museum after many years on a mantelpiece; it is now on display in the Ashmolean. Her third favourite was the 7th century Rollright burial of an adult female, found in 2015 and accompanied by 36 assorted artefacts of silver, amber and rock crystal. Finally she mentioned a bronze equestrian seal matrix of Fulk Fitzwarin (1160-1258, who lived to be an amazing 98 years old!); perhaps a real-life ‘Robin Hood’, as he spent many years an out-law, chased around the country by King John.

We enjoyed a fascinating evening which provoked many interested questions from the audience.

Pamela Wilson, 16th November

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(Report on the Lecture given on 14th October 2021)

"Oliver’s Army: the creation, utilisation and legacy of the New Model Army" – Col. Nick Lipscombe MSc, FRHistS

Our speaker on 14th October 2021 was Colonel Nick Lipscombe MSc, FRHistS, a military historian teaching in Oxford’s Department of Continuing Education and author of many books.

He took us through a crucial period in the history of the British army — from 1643 to 1661. At the beginning of this period the parliamentarians were fielding 3 armies (those of Manchester, Essex, and Waller); at the end there emerged a single, large, standing, and well funded army, sporting the red-coats that were the signature of the British army for the next 200 years.

Crucial steps towards the New Model were:  the creation of two large armies (under Waller and Manchester), demoralising recriminations between leaders, and Cromwell’s realisation that Manchester’s aim was to survive and negotiate, while his was to win and dominate. Parliament intervened, imposed a substantial levy, raised troops, debated and eventually passed the ‘Self-denying Ordinance’ (April 1645) which banned MPs from military posts (a ban from which Cromwell was pragmatically exempted), and which forced the resignation of the aristocratic leaders. Young Tom Fairfax had spent the winter of 1644 drilling the New Model army and in spring 1645 he replaced Essex as commander-in-chief.  At the battle of Naseby (14th June 1645), the King was beaten by a disciplined and determined army twice the size of his.

But that was not the end of our lecture. Colonel Lipscombe went on to describe how the army grew unpopular, as expensive, religiously enthusiastic, and dangerously undemocratic; for it twice challenged parliament. On 6 December 1648, Col. Pride and some soldiers stood outside the Commons and blocked the entry of 231 MPs whom they thought unlikely to support their aim of punishing the King. Similarly, on 20 April 1653, Cromwell persuaded the army to march into the Commons to end the dallying. Shortly afterwards, Cromwell was nominated Protector of the now united kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

We ended the evening with Monk’s march south from Scotland, and the invitation to Charles II to return to England and the throne.

Ian West (5th November 2021)

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Photos taken during the BHS outing to Adderbury, 20th July 2021

(See 'Gallery' for more photos of Banbury and BHS activities.")

 

Bishop Wykeham's Altar in 'perpendicular' style by Richard Winchcombe (mason)

 

Frieze detail of the amazing 'North-Oxfordshire School' of church decoration.

 

Adderbury Church Tithe barn

 (See also: http://www.greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/adderbury.html )

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Photos of the BHS Annual General Meeting in Middleton Cheney
village church, on 8th July 2021

(Our thanks to Michael Snelling for the photos)

East Window: of 1865 by the Morris Firm : ‘a key image in Morris history’

 

Detail of East Window

 

Members of BHS enjoying a guided tour of the church interior

 

The West Window, showing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in "The Fiery Furnace", Burne-Jones (1870); a memorial to William Horton and his daughter Mary Ann Horton.

  

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Photos of the BHS visit to Rollright Stones, on 10th June 2021

(Our thanks to Michael Snelling for photos)

"The Kings Men - stone circle"

 

"The King Stone"

 "The Whispering Knights"

  

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Review of lecture on Thursday 11th February 2021, by Dr. Toby Purser

“Conquered England: the Norman Conquest and the end of the Anglo-Saxon state”.

            Dr. Toby Purser kindly brought forward his lecture, planned for 11th March 2021, to replace the lecture on Barbarians, which we may be able to present on 8th April. (Keep an eye on the website Lecture schedule as we cope with COVID as best we can.)

            Toby Purser lectures at the University of Northampton and has written a number of books on history, the latest of which (due out this year) covers the topic of this lecture. So, if you were taken by surprise and missed the lecture, you will be able to buy the book.

            Our lecturer began by sketching the main events by which Aethelstan and Edgar created a united ‘England’ in the tenth century, out of the rival Anglo-Saxon states of Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria, two of which contained sizeable Danish communities. This emerging unity was threatened by the untimely death of Edgar, the brief reign of his erratic older son Edward II, and by the long but undistinguished reign of his younger son Aethelred. This prompted a successful Danish invasion by Sven and his son Cnut in 1013, not seriously contested, given that considerable parts of England had been under Danelaw for 2 centuries.  Aethelred’s 2nd wife, queen Emma, daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy, fled with her “unworthy” husband and his 2 sons to Normandy, though she eventually returned to marry Cnut.  Sven was accepted as the first non-Saxon king throughout England, “by conquest”, but died the following spring (1014). After 2 turbulent years, his son Cnut succeeded Sven (in 1016). England lived at peace for 19 years under the laws of Edgar, but with a Danish king.

            Cnut’s death in 1035 (and those of his 2 useless sons) allowed the return of Aethelred’s and Emma’s son Edward (the confessor) to his father’s kingdom. Half-Norman, and having spent 22 years in Normandy, he was nevertheless invited to become king (crowned 1043). However, he had no children. There are several indications that Edward may have intended his Norman cousin William to succeed him. But the Saxon faction in court, led by the Godwins (father and son), contested the succession.  The death of Edward, followed by family trouble and broken promises led to a fatal clash between Harold Godwin (whose sister had married the King, and who had got himself "crowned in secret"), and his brother Tostig at Stamford Bridge (25th September 1066). The stage was set for William’s unopposed landing at Pevensey on 27th September.

            By 15th October 1066, William felt his case good and his position secure. He was a direct descendent of Richard I of Normandy whose daughter (Emma) had married the English king; his fratricidal opponent Harold, was a mere Earl, and dead (14th Oct). William’s progress towards London, was relaxed, with scant opposition and some support. He was crowned in London on Christmas day, 1066, and in York the following year. The laws, language, and coinage of England remained Anglo-Saxon “as under Edward, my kinsman.” 

            However, there was dissension among the Anglo-Saxon Earls. Led by Edwin and Morca, they gathered in the north and were joined there by Danish forces.  At this, William seems to have abandoned his gentle approach and wrecked a brutal, genocidal, revenge as he “harried” the land from the Humber to the Tweed (1069-70). The land was laid waste, settlements destroyed and there was widespread famine.

            York was demoted in favour of Canterbury. The English language gave way to Latin and French in literature and the courts, to re-emerge 3 centuries later. Thirty seven thousand Anglo-Saxon landlords were replaced by 1000 Normans. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, 48% of the land was in the possession of the King and 5 magnates.

            It was a conquest like no other in Europe.

Ian West, Feb 2021

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Review of lecture on Thursday 14 January 2021, by Dr Wendy Morrison, Beacons of the Past: investigating a prehistoric Chilterns landscape.

Dr Wendy Morrison is manager of a project called Beacons of the Past which is surveying the twenty or so prehistoric hillforts within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, an area that, roughly speaking, extends from Hitchin to the River Thames near Wallingford and Pangbourne. The project has three main aims – to enlarge our understanding of hillforts, principally through a sophisticated LiDAR study, to act as a ‘beacon of learning’, working in schools and in the community so spread knowledge of hillforts and of our archaeological heritage generally, and to foster the protection of the monuments. Dr Morrison posed some of the problems relating to hill forts. Their very name is due to Victorian archaeologists with military backgrounds who interpreted them as fortresses, but not all of them were primarily defensive structures. Excavations have shown that some were inhabited, but some were not. They were certainly built over a long period of time and their purposes doubtless varied. The highlight of the lecture was the opportunity to see some of the LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging images obtained for the survey by flying a light aircraft over the whole area. The whole survey has been made available online to the public who have been invited to identify archaeological sites of all periods, whether of the Bronze Age or the Second World War. Some 4200 responses have been received, some from as far away as Australia.  There has also been public participation in some of the modest-scaled excavations carried out as part of the survey. It is cheering that the kind of adult education, open to all, that flourished in the mid-twentieth century, and to which the Banbury Historical Society owes its origins, continues in the digital age. Several members of the audience asked whether such a sophisticated LiDAR survey might be possible in Banburyshire.

BT Jan 2021

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(4th Teams lecture, 10 December 2020)

Review of Lecture on Thursday 10th December 2020 by Stephen Wass on Excavations at Hanwell Castle

Stephen Wass gave a very lively and fascinating lecture about the excavations going on in the extensive 17th-century water gardens at Hanwell Castle.  His title was "Voyages to the House of Diversion:  Garden Urns and the Destruction of the 17th-century gardens at Hanwell Castle".  He started with a wide-ranging survey of the intellectual life of the late seventeenth century and the period’s growing interest in the Sciences, or as it was known at that time, ‘Natural Philosophy’.  The great historian of Oxfordshire, Dr. Robert Plot, had written of the ‘real New Atlantis’ at Hanwell, a reference back to Francis Bacon’s Utopian vision of scientific discoveries.  Stephen Wass had discovered many connections between Wadham College, where the warden was pursuing various scientific enquiries, and other scholars living in a community of diverse talents in Hanwell.

There are mentions of a  ‘House of Diversions’ at Hanwell, but no detailed descriptions and no pictorial records, though the excavation was guided partly by an contemporary depiction of the marvels of the big garden at Enstone, with its fountains and architecture.   Stephen Wass led us through the excavation process showing how difficult it was to judge where the main works might have been:  eventually they found what they surmised to be a ‘water parterre’, very geometric in form, with an octagonal island surrounded by an octagonal moat and that surrounded by a square.  Possibly this had been the ‘house of diversion’.  But what became clear is that the buildings and so on had not fallen gradually into disuse but had been demolished quite deliberately.  This became obvious when the excavation of the moat round the island revealed that many decorative garden urns, or pots, which would have been standing on the balustrade around the island, had been deliberately smashed by being pushed off the wall into the moat.  Stephen Wass had brought along a few of the pots which had been restored and these were displayed to the audience.  There are very few seventeenth-century garden pots in existence so these are an exciting find and there is future research to be done to find out where they were made.  Some of the other archaeological finds provided evidence for the use of the building as a ‘banqueting house’, as there were remains of plates, wine-glasses and lots of tobacco pipes. 

Stephen Wass had tried to find out why there was such wilful destruction, and his suggestion was that the death in 1675 of Sir Anthony Cope,  who was the creator of the garden, leaving no heir except his brother with whom he had fallen out, had led this brother to an orgy of asset-stripping and deliberate despoliation.  

The excavations had been helped by many volunteers, many of whom were archaeologists unable to work during the pandemic, and Stephen Wass also thanked Dr. Rowena E. Archer for her enthusiasm and encouragement.  She is the owner of the part of Hanwell Castle whose share of the gardens happens to encompass all the waterworks.

Deborah Hayter 

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(3rd Teams lecture, 12 November 2020)

 Oxfordshire’s own Pooh-Bah: Thomas Walker, Man of Everyone’s Business by Chris Day, FSA

In November members were entertained by a fascinating talk on Thomas Walker, introduced by the speaker as a grandee of Woodstock who rose to prominence on merit and through ‘hard work and the skilful cultivation of influential people’. Due to Covid restrictions the lecture was delivered remotely; however, this did not deter a series of questions popping up in the chat box which the speaker addressed with ease.

Thomas Walker was an ‘under the radar’ sort of man, preferring to act as an agent for others, rather than embrace parliamentary ambition. Born to a Norfolk gentleman and in his wife in 1724, and subsequently well-connected through marriage, Thomas devoted over fifty years of his life to playing a large part in the workings of the university, corporation of Oxford and the lives of great county families. After securing the role of university solicitor at 26 years old, Thomas was successful in concurrently holding other posts such as Auditor to the Duke of Marlborough, man of business to the Earl of Abingdon, Receiver General of taxes for the County of Oxfordshire and Town Clerk of Oxford, as well as servicing several other public bodies in positions of clerk, treasurer or administrator. He was also actively involved in the improvement of the Oxford canal in Banbury and the infrastructure of Oxford city.

What is quite remarkable about this man is that he was not in the habit of surrendering one post on the acquirement of another, without apparent resentment from individual bodies with ostensibly opposing interests. For example, in the 1760s Thomas negotiated the transfer of property between the Earl of Abingdon and Duke of Marlborough, acting for both the vendor and purchaser with neither the Earl nor Duke raising objections. This probably gives us an insight into the high regard in which he was held. Despite being implicated in a scandalous attempt by the Duke of Marlborough in 1766 to buy Oxford’s two parliamentary seats, coined amusingly by the speaker as ‘Walkergate’, Thomas continued in promoting the interests of the Blenheim estate. Thomas was proficient at whatever tasks he was presented. Together with his sympathetic personality and diplomatic skills he perhaps deserves more recognition than he receives.

In conducting his research on the life of Thomas Walker, speaker Chris Day had clearly warmed to a man who helps to provides us with a more detailed understanding of social networks of Georgian society, making for an enlightening and absorbing evening.

Rosemary Leadbeater

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(2nd Teams lecture, 8 October 2020)

Kingerlee; the family and the building firm since 1868

Liz Wooley,

Kingerlee, a family firm, grew from a modest beginning in Banbury where Thomas Henry Kingerlee was born in 1843 to parents who had taken over a plumbing, painting and glazing business.  Thomas Henry was educated at the Academy in Horse Fair and by 1868 had taken over his father’s business. Fifteen years later he and his wife, Helen moved with their three children to Oxford having bought into an existing building firm, to which he added a joinery.  Oxford was expanding substantially at the time and the need for additional housing in some of the, then, suburbs, was considerable.  Thomas Kingerlee joined a large number of builders working there, creating terraces and semi-detached houses off the Iffley and Botley Roads but also hotels (e.g. The Wilberforce Temperance Hotel in Queen Street), churches (e.g. the Congregational Church in Summertown and later St Luke’s Church in Cowley) business premises (e.g. Frank Cooper’s Marmalade factory), and later, college buildings.  By 1900 he was the largest house builder and landlord in Oxford as well as being extremely influential on the City Council, where he was against the adoption of the 1890 Housing of the Working Classes Act in Oxford, retarding the development of council housing in the city in favour of private enterprise.

Thomas Henry became Mayor twice, once in 1898/99 and then again in 1911/12; his coat of arms, in the Mayor’s Parlour in the Town Hall, makes reference to his Banbury beginnings with a sun resplendent in the right-hand quarter. By the latter date he had become a JP and Alderman and had received an honorary degree from the university, but four years later he retired to Bath where he died in 1928. His two sons, Henry and Charles, and one of his grandsons, Stanley, were managing the firm by then, moving on to larger scale projects such as the Pressed Steel works in Cowley, the Oxford Ice Rink in the Botley Road, and the Orthopaedic Hospital as well as forming an almost resident team at Blenheim Palace.  

The firm remained in family hands after WW II and re-started house building, in particular apartment blocks, as well as alterations to well known Oxford buildings such as Elliston and Cavell’s shop, the Dragon School and St Luke’s Nursing Home.   Their expertise increased and more recently the firm has won a number of awards for construction and joinery.  They have undertaken prestigious projects for several of the Oxford colleges – amongst them St Hilda’s, Pembroke College and St Anne’s College.  Although now based in Kidlington they remain one of Oxford’s larger construction companies, all stemming from small beginnings in Banbury.

Helen Forde (October 2020)

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(1st Teams lecture, 10/9/2020)

People, Time, Place : Historic Environment of HS2   

Dr Helen J. Wass, (Head of Heritage for HS2)

     High Speed 2 (HS2) is the UK's largest new railway project in the modern era. Helen Wass, Head of Heritage for HS2, came to speak to a select audience of socially-distanced BHS members (and more online) about the unprecedented archaeological work taking place along the line of the route before bridges, tunnels, tracks and stations can be built. Over 1000 archaeologists are involved in Phase I of the project which joins London to Birmingham and which seeks to establish a collaboration of community groups, academics and the wider profession in order to share expertise and knowledge of the existing heritage environment.
   Although some discoveries have been made locally (ancient settlements at Boddington, battlefields at Edgcote, a 1000-year burial ground at Stoke Mandeville and so on), Dr Wass chose to focus upon excavations at each end of Phase I, namely the new Birmingham and Euston stations. During the 1830s Birmingham benefited greatly from the boom in railway expansion and its Curzon Street Station hosted termini for connections to Manchester, Liverpool and London. (At that time the journey to London by steam train took 5 hours). A new station is to be built at this site : excavations have revealed a host of discoveries, the most significant of which is believed to be the world's oldest railway roundhouse. This semicircular structure used turntables to rotate locomotives and send them back down the line ; it was designed by Robert Stephenson (George's son) and opened in 1837. Despite being covered by reinforced concrete since the 1970s the roundhouse structures have survived in a remarkably intact state. The nearby Park Street burial ground, open 1810-1873, is providing fascinating material for comparison with burials of the same period in London.
  The HS2 London terminus station is to be built over St James's Gardens, a former cemetery next to Euston Station. In use from 1788-1853, it contained some 61,000 burials. About a quarter were removed for the expansion of Euston Station in the late 19th century but the rest are being examined by a large team of specialists under an enormous tent to allow for dignity and care.
   Identification of most bodies has proved difficult because of decomposition and corrosion of nametags, and because some graves contained one body placed upon another. Famous burials were known to include the royal pugilist Bill Richmond, the "Black Terror", and the aristocratic François-André Philidor, reputedly the best chess player in London in the mid-18th century. However the remains of Captain Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) were identified fortuitously a few days before Australia Day by his well-preserved breastplate. Captain Flinders navigated around Australia and has a memorial statue at Euston Station. Fittingly he was the grandfather of Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, known as the "father of archaeology".

 Pamela Wilson. (October, 2020)

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Meeting Report

What is Common Land? Background, history, and why work is going on to re-register it.

Dr Frances Kerner (Open Spaces Society), 12 March 2020

 The Open Spaces Society (OSS) has been working from 1865 to ensure that commons, greens and paths are defended against loss or encroachment and are free for everyone to use.  They assist local communities to safeguard known green spaces but they also campaign and work to register, or re-register parcels of land which, for one reason or another, were rejected for registration in 1965, the date when initial legislation was passed to ensure that common land was not lost. It is estimated that currently there are 8,000 commons in England and Wales, though the total at the beginning of the nineteenth century was considerably higher; neglect, illegal obstruction and development have all contributed to the decline in numbers.

Dr Kerner, the OSS commons re-registration officer, is researching the lost commons in a number of counties known as the ‘pioneer counties’ since they are currently under review – Cornwall, Devon, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.  In these areas it is imperative to register before 31 December 2020 land either previously rejected for inclusion in the register or for some reason wrongly registered; after that date it will no longer be possible to include additions on the Commons registration maps. 

She started by defining ‘waste land’, i.e. land used in common belonging to a manor, usually on the fringes of the manorial demesne and originally principally for grazing but increasingly for recreation.  The most important issue is to prevent encroachment, as that prevents access.  She then explained the process for applying for re-registration under the Commons Act 2006, which involves her in detailed research on the history of the relevant manor and of the land in question from printed and archival sources followed by a visit to the area to check the physical details.  Making the case is a time-consuming and extensive piece of work; once completed it is submitted to the Commons Registration office of the relevant county council for checking and a decision on whether the case has been made. 

Common land is important and although many of the parcels of land being investigated are small, collectively they add up to a considerable amount of open land for the enjoyment of all. The work of the OSS ensures that those spaces will be safeguarded for future generations too.

Helen Forde,    March 2020

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Meeting Report

“I shall expect you sister”:  the lives and letters of frontier households in the Imperial Roman Army.

Claire Millington, 13th February 2020

Claire Millington is completing a Ph. D. at Kings College, London, on the subject of the families of the soldiers serving on the frontiers of the Roman Empire. She began with the Vindolanda tablets, a rare survival of letters written in ink on wood, which were submerged in wet mud for 2000 years:  the lack of oxygen means that the process of decay is halted, or at least slowed down.  Miraculously many of these are still readable and give us a glimpse of life on the frontier, where there were whole families with lots of women and children.   Letters like these, and other documents, have been found in large numbers in Carlisle and London as well as Vindolanda.  We were given glimpses of letters mentioning underpants and other items of clothing;  invitations to a birthday party; a legal document detailing the sale of a slave girl in London.  These documents make clear that many of the soldiers were not ‘Romans’ but auxiliaries from many other parts of the empire, and the higher social status of the commanders comes across:  they were members of Rome’s ‘equestrian order’.  Claire gave us an unexpectedly domestic picture of life on the frontier, where women and children are seldom pictured in imaginative reconstructions of Roman forts, and told us the birthday invitation, now held in the British Museum, was possibly the earliest handwriting by a woman in Latin anywhere.

Deborah Hayter

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Meeting Report

Peter the Great:  architect of a superpower.

Christopher Danziger MA, – 9 Jan 2020

    The evening of 9th Jan 2020 was wet, but an excellent audience turned out to hear Chris Danziger's most entertaining and informative lecture on the legendary 'Peter the Great of Russia'.

    We may have gone to the lecture knowing little more than this household name and epithet. Perhaps we had wondered if he was great of stature or empire, and vaguely remembered the rumour that he had strangled his son Alexis. We might have placed him (correctly) after Cromwell and before Napoleon. But we came away with a very clear image of an extraordinary man who had a profound and lasting impact on his country and indeed on Europe. The rich stream of information was almost overwhelming (wives, mistresses, battles), but was excellently pitched for our audience. Dates were not the focus; it was the anecdotes that we loved to hear: images of the young Tsar living incognito in a log cabin in Holland, sawing wood in a Deptford shipyard, willing to test a scaffold by ‘volunteering’ one of his retinue, drinking a health to his often-victorious enemy Charles 12 of Sweden (thanking him for lessons in warfare), and plunging into the sea to rescue a drowning soldier. (He was indeed extremely tall, at 6 foot 8 inches.)

    The take-away message, thus fascinatingly illustrated, was annunciated with great clarity. Peter Alexeyevich Romanov was a man of extraordinary curiosity, originality, and vision. He had great power of personality and energy, but little vanity. Peter was crowned in 1682 at the age of 10, but was co-ruler until 1696. At that time Russia, sandwiched between Europe and Asia but largely ignored by both, was effectively a land-locked country (access to the Baltic being blocked by Sweden, and to the Black Sea by the Ottomans). By the time Peter died, in 1725 at the age of 52, he had turned the country fundamentally and permanently towards the West and 'The Enlightenment'. Peter had founded a navy, introduced schools, school-leaving certificates, fire-stations; and he had founded and built St. Petersburg as Russia’s new (Westward-looking and maritime) capital on the Baltic. Russia held the Baltic coast from Riga to Viborg, and within another 20 years would stretch eastwards to the Pacific. Thus he laid the foundations of modern Russia. 

Ian West, 10th Jan 2020

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Meeting Report

Lost Prophets : The Unfinished Dream of the 19th Century

Ewan Fernie – 12 December 2019

Neither a daylong rain, nor the coincidence of a late-called election deterred an attentive audience from enjoying a concise insight into neglected 19th century thinkers. Ewan Fernie, Chair of Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Institute of the University Birmingham began by explaining his additional role of Director of the Birmingham ‘Everything for Everybody’ project that aims at stimulating popular interest in the history and legacy of social and cultural thought in the city.

We were then treated to a public lecture of quality in tune with the oratorical gifts with which most of his subjects promoted radical views in the first half of the 19th century. Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) was the main character, his publications and thought engaging progressive minds. Fernie brought this remote Scot alive for a modern audience – more the wry figure in Maddox Brow’s ‘Work’ (in Birmingham Art Gallery) than the remote bearded head on a commemorative jug which lurked at the back of our china cabinet.

Carlyle was seen as a major influence on the colourful George Dawson (1821-76) whose burgeoning Birmingham congregation built him a base in the Church of the Saviour in Birmingham. From here he developed the ‘Civic Gospel’ that influenced Joseph Chamberlain in his programmes for urban renewal and public housing.

Radical thinking, public oratory as the most significant medium, and national visibility ensured that their ideas on equality and the opportunities of improved urban life were high on the public agenda. The speaker tracked Carlyle’s ideas and influences into the 20th century with Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) and Annie Besant (1847-1933) whose concerns might still be recognised on the undercards of the day’s election.

Political philosophy, early 19th century … but Banbury Historical Society? Oh yes. In a rich spate of comments Barrie Trinder noted Dawson’s several local speeches, and there was the Cadbury’s influence on the generation of Grimsbury. Birmingham’s 19th century impact here was impressive, with Banbury often innovating despite itself.

Brian Goodey (17 Dec 2019)

 

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Thursday 10th October 2019

The Battle of Edgecote 1469
October 10, 2019
Graham Evans of the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society, author and researcher outlined the events surrounding the Battle of Edgecote in 1469 and the sources for information about the battle. Despite having been rather marginalized by previous authors there are, in fact, quite a number of contemporary, or near contemporary sources of information including, intriguingly, Welsh poetry; the latter has the reputation of being very accurate in detail, more so than some of the other commentators whose assessment of the numbers involved, for instance, was wildly variable.
The location of the battle has been disputed over the years but the recent identification, south east of Edgecote village at Danes Moor seems to relate most closely to the various descriptions given and fits in with the known movements of the King. The dispute was not part of the series of battles or skirmishes known as the War of the Roses but was between the supporters of the Earl of Warwick (‘the kingmaker’), led by a mysterious individual, or group of individuals wishing to maintain anonymity known as Robin of Redesdale, and the Royalist forces headed by William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Warwick was challenging the king having, as he saw it, lost influence over him in favour of the Queen’s family, though maps identifying the amount of land held by either party and lists of posts held make it very clear that Warwick was in a much stronger position.
The battle occurred on 24 July 1469, a correction of the common supposition that it took place on the 26th; the Earl of Pembroke, who had come from south Wales, was hampered by the defection of his archers, led by Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon. In consequence, when reinforcements arrived for Warwick’s supporters and skirted round the back of Pembroke’s depleted forces, the Welsh were routed and subsequently slaughtered; Pembroke and his brother were captured by the rebels and beheaded in Northampton.
The lecture was amply illustrated by maps and charts and offered an excellent example of how painstaking historical research can re-write events.
Helen Forde

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Thursday 10th April 2019

Reminiscences: Banbury in World War II

Led by Karey Morley

Karey Morley started the evening by informing the BHS members present about the ‘Times Gone by Oral History Archive’ through which memories are recorded for posterity. She invited everyone who wished to contribute to just put up their hand and to speak in their normal voice ignoring the microphone. She said that previous recordings had been used when devising the metal tokens in Parsons Street. The Parkside development artist is also using the recordings for her piece of public art. She reminded everyone who contributed to sign the copyright permission form before the end of the evening. Karey also said that the memories could be of events that had happened elsewhere than Banbury.

Before the recording commenced the audience was shown a film about children growing vegetables on bomb sites.

Peoples’ reminiscences included all sorts of interesting trivia. The St Mary’s school children were each allocated a house where they were to run if the sirens went off. Another memory was of the frequent siren testing in Oxford – no bombing there. Someone else said there was so much bombing their family gave up trying to sleep in the house.  Anderson shelters were supplied by Northern Aluminium to their employees in Banbury. One person said their shelter was only used once, when the RAF dropped a practice bomb outside their house! Families without shelters often retreated under the kitchen table and one mother always had a stick with her to bang to alert rescuers if their house collapsed on top of them. People talked about keeping chickens and bees and growing their own food. More than one commented that at the end of the war they had to be shown how to eat a banana.

After the interval some of the recording was played back to the audience. Then an edited recording of ‘Christmas during the War’ was heard.

A very different evening for BHS members. 

                                                                                                 Clare Jakeman

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Thursday 14 March 2019.

“It will do him more good than going to school”: Child Labour in Nineteenth century Oxfordshire.

Liz Woolley.

The quotation which began the title of Liz Woolley’s lecture comes from a poor law guardian at Cottisford and reflects an attitude that was widespread in rural England in the nineteenth century – that it was perfectly normal – and indeed necessary - for children, even those under the age of ten, to contribute to family income by undertaking full-time work. Building on the work of the late Dr Pamela Horn, Liz Woolley used a variety of sources, including school log books, poor law records, census returns and some remarkable photographs, to give a detailed picture of ways in which young children were employed in the county, in agriculture and domestic service virtually everywhere, in lacemaking around Bicester and Thame, in glove-making around Woodstock, in brickmaking at Headington Quarry and in slop tailoring around Abingdon. Liz showed how, in the early decades of the century, parish apprenticeships might be sent to employers in distant parts of the country, to Benjamin Smart’s cotton spinning mill at Milverton, Warwick, to fishermen at Gorleston or to a coal mine at Dudley. It was cheering to hear that research on a topic which has been well-investigated in the past is taking forward our understanding of the county’s past. 

Barrie Trinder

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Thursday 14 February 2019

Discovering the Broughton Hoard and the Broughton Roman Villa

Keith Westcott

We expected a good house for a talk by one of our members on these much-publicised pieces of local history, but in the event we were overwhelmed by a record attendance. Every seat was filled, we brought in extra chairs from the café and we had members and visitors standing at the back and sitting on the floor at the front.

Mr Westcott described how diving on the wreck of HMS Ramillies off the Devon coast was one of the events that sparked his interest in archaeology and led him to take up metal detecting. He admitted that metal detecting could be destructive, but argued that it was of real historical value if used responsibly. It was important that detectorists brought in the archeologists at the early stage of any significant discovery.

He emphasised the importance of doing your research before choosing a site for metal detecting. It was this approach that led him to wonder whether the area around the long-gone eastern bridge over the moat at Broughton Castle might bear fruit. In 1966, with the permission of Lord Saye and Sele he started to explore and almost immediately found  some sixteenth and seventeenth coins within a very small area. He consulted the Ashmolean who gave their approval to him exploring further. In all he found 16 coins which were declared Treasure Trove at a coroner’s inquest in the following year. This collection was eventually acquired by the Ashmolean Museum where it is now on permanent display.

Moving on to the discovery of the Roman villa, Mr Westcott said that he had always been curious about the discovery in 1963 on the Broughton Estate of a lead-lined stone coffin containing the remains of a woman in her thirties who died in the third or fourth century. This was the key to his discovery of the Broughton Roman villa, one of the biggest ever found in Britain. It seemed to him unlikely that this high status burial was in the middle of nowhere; it was surely in the vicinity of a substantial settlement. With approval of the owners, he started to explore the topography of the area of the burial and soon found evidence of terracing. He then found a piece of earthenware which, as a specialist heating engineer, he recognised as part of a hypocaust tile of the sort used to carry hot pipes up the walls of high-status Roman buildings.

Geophysicists were then brought in to survey the whole area. Their scans revealed the outline of a terraced villa, not much smaller in area than Buckingham Palace. At the side of a large courtyard was the outline of a large aisled hall, probably used as a grain store. The next stage was a trial dig of five sites by Oxford Archaeology, in which Martin Fiennes was heavily involved. This dig produced a wealth of significant artefacts.

The five sites have now been filled in and crops are growing on top of them. Excavation of the whole site would cost about £2 million. The hope is that universities or the Heritage Lottery Fund might be willing to fund the project.

GG

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Report on BHS lecture of 10th Jan 2019.

‘The rise and rise of Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk’.

Dr Rowena Archer, a medieval historian who has studied Alice Chaucer (c 1405-1475) and her family for many years, gave the first lecture of 2019. The Duchess was a formidable woman who rose to great wealth from a commoner background who was also an adept politician in the turbulent years of the mid fifteenth century.
Her father, Thomas (son of Geoffrey Chaucer) probably acted as an example; five times Speaker of the House of Commons he was prominent in assisting Henry V and in manoeuvring advantageous marriages. Alice herself was married at the age of about 10 to Sir John Phelip, who died almost immediately after the battle of Agincourt, leaving her with the jointure of all the Phelip lands; an important start to her subsequent landed wealth, some of which also came to her from the estates of her mother, Maud Burghersh. As a wealthy widow she remarried Thomas Montagu, fourth earl of Salisbury (d 1428) and thirdly William de la Pole, the fourth earl, and subsequently, first duke of Suffolk. He was Steward of the Household of Henry VI and an influential minister to the king, but was exiled in 1450 as a result of his impeachment by the House of Commons. Murdered by pirates on his way to France he left Alice with a young child, John, and immense wealth which she used for influence and to consolidate her lands.
At her husband’s death that wealth was calculated to include property in 22 counties, six London houses and five castles. all richly furnished in a manner which suited her status, and jewellery previously estimated to be worth 3000 marks. Surviving accounts suggest that her income was at least £1500 per annum and probably more like double that; she adroitly avoided a state trial in 1451 and although her origins were Lancastrian she switched sides in 1455 when she organised the second marriage of her son John to Elizabeth of York, sister of Edward IV and Richard III. She used the de la Pole entourage to annex additional land in Norfolk, infuriating the Paston family amongst others, but nevertheless was appointed a Lady of the Garter and is depicted wearing the garter on her wrist on her fine tomb at Ewelme church.
Although she lived at Wallingford castle for much of her life (which had come to her through the de la Pole family) she eventually retired to the Palace at Ewelme which she and William de la Pole had built, together with the church in which she is buried, the alms-houses and the school. The grandeur of her three-part alabaster tomb, the trappings around her and the richness of the decoration attest to the stature which she thought herself due and probably the awe with which she was regarded. The tomb itself, with an unusual lower part containing an effigy of her body in death, is a striking testament to a powerful and successful woman of the mid fifteenth century whose influence has been underestimated.
Helen Forde

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