Category: Editorial

It was with sadness the Wychwoods Local History Society learned of the passing of Dr Kate Tiller OBE.

Kate is remembered as a key supporter of the society in its early days. It was her enthusiasm for our project which encouraged the founding society members. Her advice and practical support meant we were able to acquire and develop skills to direct our research efforts fruitfully.

As Margaret Ware recorded in her review of the history of the society: “In January 1983 we found that the fund-raising members’ evening with wine and a ploughman’s supper had grown to a substantial exhibition and well over a hundred enthusiastic people crowded into Milton Village Hall.

Among the visitors was Dr Kate Tiller of the Oxford University Department for External Studies (as it was then) who congratulated us and offered to hold a series of evening classes in the Wychwoods on ‘Sources of Local History’, which duly started the following winter”.

Largely because of the skills developed from these classes, our first journal, Wychwoods History No. 1 was published in May 1985. Kate wrote an appreciative preface for us. The journal proved extremely popular and was soon reprinted.

The Journal with Kate’s preface is available here to view or download.

We record the Kate’s passing with gratitude for the extraordinary support she offered, guiding a group of enthusiastic amateurs to achieve some professional research of lasting value.

A tribute by Geoffrey Thomas, Professor Emeritus of Kellogg College Oxford where Kate was a founding Fellow, is available here.

We organised a display of photos from Wychwoods villages, as well as demonstrations of our extensive digital photo library. It was a welcome opportunity to hear and share memories and put some names to several photos (group and individuals). Often these come to us with missing or incomplete information, and so it is always a benefit to fill in gaps and continue the learning process.

On show also was the amazing Ascott Martyrs Family Tree and some of the tools used by farmers before mechanisation. Also on show was a stand organised the Oxfordshire Family History Society, who were on hand to give advice and help for those looking to develop their family tree, or perhaps start their own journey of family history discovery.

As an extra treat, visitors were regaled with music and dance from the Charlbury-Finstock Morris who performed traditional Ascott dances outside the hall.

Cricket has been played in the Wychwoods since at least the mid-19th century. Jackson’s Oxford Journal records a match between Shipton and Ascott, played on 24th August 1861 (Shipton scored 89, Ascott 35).

Shipton Cricket Club: Historic Moments

The Shipton Cricket Club website records that it is believed that village matches were staged in a field on the edge of Shipton near Fiveways. This is the junction of Leafield and Swinbrook Roads, Mawles and Plum Lane.

The club also records that country house cricket was played on the present ground in the late 19th century. This was made possible by the levelling and draining of the area by the Pepper family. This family were the owners of Shipton Court, which locals will know, stands opposite Shipton’s cricket ground.

A historic timeline of Shipton Cricket Club appears on the club website here. This includes links to videos of some of the early 21st century games played by Shipton Cricket Club at Lord’s.

The club first entered the National Village Knockout Competition in the mid-90s , reaching the final in 1997.

Sam Mendes, who was a regular player at this time, hosted a meal for the team at the Groucho Club on the eve of the match. In the event the final is overshadowed by the overnight death of Princess Diana. There are doubts about proceeding with the match but it goes ahead. The result was a defeat to Caldy of The Wirral.

Here is a video of pre-match interviews, and many slices of action from the match.

.. and here are some images from Shipton’s later visit to Lord’s in 2010:

Images © Alan Vickers

Following the success of the first village trails of Milton and Shipton, The Arts Society Cotswolds (TASC) has launched the third in the series at Ascott.

The new Ascott trail is in three parts, each beginning and ending on the village green.

Part one is focused on the centre of the village. Part two goes along the High Street and includes an optional longer footpath to Manor Farm and the site of Ascott D’Oyley castle. Part three takes you in the direction of Tiddy Hall and the site of Ascott Earl Castle.

The Village Trails created by TASC are being publicised around each village.

Each trail comprises a description and image of individual landmarks in each village and invites answers to simple questions about those landmarks. All three trails have language simple enough for children to follow, but they are also suitable for all ages.

There are optional amounts of walking required. The trails need not be completed in one session.

How to get my Village Trail Copy?

In various locations around each village, there are posters which have a QR code on them, so that the trail can be downloaded on to a smart phone or tablet and printed off as necessary.

Paper copies of the trails are also available free of charge at many locations in each village.

Or you can download from the Arts Society of the Cotswolds website here, using these links:

Read more on the TASC website here >>>>

Our collection of Oral History audio files has recently been digitised. Almost 100 audio records of selected society talks, BBC features and many interviews of Wychwoods residents are included in the WLHS archive.

To offer a brief flavour of the many interviews from the 1980s-2000s, here are a few out-takes.

• Cissie Carpenter and the Good Doctor
• Bim Champness and Some Memories of Village Characters
• Dorothy Thomson, Hathaways and Mrs Wiggins
• Dorothy Thomson and the Tale of Mr Samuda’s Model T Ford
• Dulcie Arundell and the Tale of the American Soldier at Shipton Station
• George Bradley and his London Wartime Deliveries
• Megan Bradley and the Canadian Soldiers in World War II

By autumn of 2024, we hope to make the full selection of these audio files available on request.

Janet was born in Hammersmith, the eldest child of Dr Gordon Scott and his wife Betty. She had two sisters and a brother, Dr Sandy Scott. She worked for a year at the Chipping Norton Memorial Hospital before training as a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital and then doing midwifery training at the Radcliffe in Oxford. While her family was very young, she worked at the Cokethorpe School in the sanatorium and then as a classroom assistant and later secretary at Milton primary school.

She joined her father and brother as a typist/nurse in the Wychwood surgery in 1972 and worked there as practice nurse for 25 years.

She joined the committee of the Wychwoods Local History Society in 1992 and, after 25 years of service, stepped down in 2017. She wrote articles for the annual Journal, especially looking at emigration during the latter part of the 19th century. Janet was a pioneer in carrying out recorded interviews with local inhabitants. She produced many hours of such in-depth recordings, making a priceless contribution to the society’s oral history archive.

For many years she organised refreshments for members at speaker evenings. She manned the Society’s stands at village fetes. As somebody who worked with her on our committee for more than fifteen years, I remember her as an efficient and engaged local historian but someone also prepared to do the humblest of tasks for the good of the membership and to share her wide knowledge of the Wychwoods and its people.

Alan Vickers

Our programme of photograph displays continues in the Wychwoods Library in Milton. We aim to change the theme regularly throughout the year. In doing so, we will be hoping to demonstrate the huge variety and breadth of subjects to be found in our archive.

The Library Display Programme

Here is a record of our 2023/24 programme so far:

Sept 22nd : Ellis Groves Slides
Oct 27th : Transport in the Wychwoods
Dec 8th : Christmas and Pantomimes
Jan 20th : Snow Scenes: “A Winter’s Tale in The Wychwoods”
Mar 9th: “Wriggly Tin” – Corrugated Iron in the Wychwoods
Apr 20th:“Back to School” in the Wychwoods
June 8th: Howzat! History of Cricket in the Wychwoods

More subjects coming soon.

When to Visit

Details of the Milton under Wychwood Library opening times are here

Your Thoughts?

We would welcome your feedback and comments – and especially would like to hear from you if you recognise individuals in our photo displays, or have any stories or memories relating to any particular image