Our March 2025 Evening Talk: Archaeological Developments in the Chipping Norton Area

Speaker: Paul Booth

Subject: Archaeological developments in the Chipping Norton area.

Paul’s talk featured the ‘new’ Romano-British settlement at Chipping Norton and examined its position within the wider context of Roman Oxfordshire.

Upwards of 65 interested members and guests enjoyed another successful and informative evening, featuring “close-to-home” history.

We learned of the initial geophysical survey carried out by Chris Knowles in 2021 on land around Glyme Farm, which made significant advances to knowledge of the site. Further developments in our understanding came from a 2022 survey by Wessex Archaeology.

Paul showed us detailed and fascinating composite plans of areas of the site developed from these surveys, and photographs of the various trenches made to reveal building foundations, including the possibility of several shrines.

Archaeology has also revealed evidence of Iron Age features through pottery deposits, and from this Paul discussed in more detail and with fine illustrations, the pottery types found in the wider region, and also showed interesting timelines of “lost” coinage during the Roman period.

Roman Oxfordshire in Outline

For the second part of his talk, Paul showed maps and diagrams of the location of other, better known, Roman Oxfordshire sites, enabling us to see the Chipping Norton settlement in this wider context. He picked out Alchester as a major military garrison from the early Roman occupation, and discussed also Sansom’s Platt (Tackley), Swalcliffe Lea, North Leigh, as well as the 1930s studies of Ditchley, Wigginton and Shakenoak. These latter sites showed similarities to the Chipping Norton complex in terms of function, religious worship, animal husbandry and farming.

There is still much to be done at Chipping Norton , but Paul showed us how the initial surveys have revealed quality structures,  materials and skeletal remains,   so the chances of improving our knowledge are high. It was indeed good to learn of the importance of these new discoveries close to our home in the Wychwoods.

About Paul Booth

Paul’s career journey started at Warwickshire Museum, later joining the Oxford Archaeological Unit (OA) in 1990. As a Senior Project Manager at OA, he managed numerous fieldwork and post-excavation projects in Oxford and beyond, including HS1, M6 Toll, and East Kent Access Road. His projects also covered large-scale work on Iron Age and Roman settlements at Gill Mill, Oxfordshire, and post-excavation reporting on the late Roman cemetery at Lankhills, Winchester.

Paul specialised in Roman pottery and coins, conducting extensive editing work. From 2007-2018, he directed a training excavation for a University and OA project at Dorchester-on-Thames. Since retiring in 2019, Paul has focused on post-excavation work for the Dorchester project but remains actively interested in Roman settlement, pottery, coin, and burial/cemetery studies, particularly in the Oxford region.

Our February 2025 Evening Talk: Child Labour in 19th Century Oxfordshire

Speaker: Liz Woolley

Subject: Child Labour in 19th Century Oxfordshire

Liz is a freelance local historian. She lives in Oxford and has an MSc in English Local History from the University’s Department for Continuing Education.

Whilst investigating child labour in the Industrial Revolution as part of her MSc she became interested in the experiences of child workers in Oxfordshire: a rural, rather than industrial, county.

A very encouraging group of 60+members and guests came to our latest evening talk and were presented with perhaps some quite counter-intuitive facts about the scale of child labour in the 19th Century England.

The image commonly evoked by the phrase ‘child labour’ is one of young children working in harsh conditions in the grimy factories and mines of the Midlands and the North. Yet in rural counties like Oxfordshire, child labour was as much a feature of everyday life in the nineteenth century as in industrialised areas.

Liz’s hour-long illustrated talk told the story of Oxfordshire’s child workers, many of whom started work part-time at the age of six or seven and, until the compulsory school legislation of the 1870s, left education for good by the age of ten to become permanently employed.

The conflict of attitudes around the need for education for children, especially of the poor, was very much a debate of the times. Many opted for the view that education for the poor was a waste of time. Set against this was, of course, the need for family income, where the alternative of destitution was a very real possibility. Thus, we learn that, even while legislation was being passed, and tightened up, children were still being made to work in a whole range of jobs, with long hours and health-compromising conditions.  George Dew, Relieving Officer for the Bicester Poor Law Union reported a child residing at Cottisford working at the age of seven as late as 1873.   His report asserted “It will do him more good than going to school”.

Oxfordshire children worked in agriculture. We learned that in 1861 there were 20,000 agricultural labourers in Oxfordshire. 16% of these were under 14 years old, with 300 of them between the ages of 10-14. 300 were actually younger than this.

However, the range of employment was much wider than agriculture.  Children were employed in domestic service and in lacemaking, gloving and in a host of other small-scale occupations. Liz’s talk highlighted the differences between girls’ and boys’ experiences of these various occupations, and the particular fates of pauper apprentices.

Liz also highlighted the fact that, contrary to popular belief, cottage industry and agricultural work were by no means the ‘soft option’ in comparison with work in the factories and mines of industrialised areas.

Liz’s talk drew on research from a range of sources, including school logbooks, census returns, newspaper articles, private correspondence and other contemporary accounts, offering us a wealth of detail. We were given much to reflect on in terms of how recently these attitudes to child welfare were the norm and not the exception. 

Visit Liz Woolley’s website here >>

Our January 2025 Evening Talk: Costwold Quarries – Part Two

Wychwoods Local History Society Poster January 2025

Speakers: Jonathan Maisey and Joe Duxbury

Subject: Cotswold Quarries Part 2

Jonathan Maisey’s 2023 presentation with Joe Duxbury on the Windrush Quarries was particularly well-received and attracted interesting questions and feedback.

Jonathan and Joe were invited back to complete the story of the their work on the Windrush Quarries.

For Jonathan and Joe’s update presentation to their 2023 visit, we had an encouraging turnout of 40+ members and guests for the first talk of the year, so soon after Christmas and New year festivities and with snow still lingering.

After a quick recap on the work and findings of the Gloucestershire Speleological Society for Windrush 1 and 2, Jonathan took us through the highlights of the discoveries and research on areas of the quarries, suitably named Windrush 3 to 5.

Map showing Windrush 4 – Coloured Green
Quality Stone Arch in Windrush 2

We were reminded how the Windrush Quarries was opened in the strip of Taynton stone that crops out in a continuous band between the river Windrush and the main road past Burford  (A40, Oxford to Cheltenham) that rises 150-200 feet above. The quarrymen moved from surface quarrying to underground activity to avoid the need to dig through layers of Hampen Marley Beds, and White Limestone.

Developing the story from the discovery of Windrush 2 and the establishment of the location of the “Windrush Stables” where the horses/ponies used for moving the stone were kept, Jonathan showed the locations of other sections of the quarry complex. These included the 2013 discovery of workings in Windrush 3, and more workings nearby discovered a year later known as Windrush 4, with a final set of workings discovered in 2015 known as Windrush 5 – currently the extent of the known workings of the quarries.

Workings in Windrush 3

We learned in the Q&A at the end, that in addition to extensive local use, Windrush stone has been used for some of the Oxford Colleges (estimates and accounts from 1716 & 1788 report Windrush stone being selected) and in 1804 replacing inner worn stone in some Oxford colleges as well as the exterior of Oriel Library. It is recorded in 1883 as being used in the inside of St George’s Chapel, Windsor.  It was also used for the new Houses of Parliament in 1839.

Not everyone in the hall would share Jonathan and Joe’s passion for crawling through dark narrow spaces, but their enthusiasm and excitement at what they might discover – and the care, of course, in gingerly stepping onto fresh ground to avoid damaging any possible finds – was infectious.

Clay Pipe in Windrush 3
In Windrush 3

The clues which miners left behind all connect us in a time capsule to the local men who worked these quarries.  These included slabs of good stone awaiting transport, the marks along the walls left by the tackle of the horse-drawn carts, carved drainage channels of varying and mysterious purpose, broken clay pipes, old shoes, bits of broken tools, and not least, the graffiti which gives us names and dates of many of those men.

Example Graffiti -Windrush 2. John Hooper/John Jackson/Joseph Wheeler/William MasonNovember 4 1838. Plus – Anthony [Jackson] 1800

Joe gave us a summary from census records of the numbers of stone masons, stone miners and mason’s labourers which showed a decline from the 1880s. But it seems that at no time were the quarries a major employer of skilled workers. However, the quarries offered an important additional income for landowners, and crucially, gave winter employment for farm workers during the lean months for agriculture.

Windrush War Memorial, reflecting some some local names seen in the mines. A subject for research?

Sadly, the social and economic value of the quarries was finally compromised by the introduction nationwide of new government regulations for mining activity specifically geared to the larger and vital national scale mines in the UK. An unintended consequence of such legislation was to make such smaller enterprises as the Windrush Mines uneconomical due to the prohibitive costs involved.

Our evening ended with some very engaging questions from many of  the group, and particularly focussed around the possibility of finding descendants of the named miners, including any connections with workers employed by Groves in Milton.

About Jonathan and Joe

Jonathan Maisey  has been involved with caving and the Gloucester Speleological Society (GSS) since 1983 and has undertaken a wide range of caving/mining trips across the UK, France and the USA. Nowadays, his underground interest is more towards mines rather than caves. Of particular interest are the underground stone quarries of the Cotswolds and ongoing work to uncover some of these lost mines. Jonathan has also been a member of the Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group for 30+ years.

Joe Duxbury has been caving for nearly 60 years, and has been a member of GSS for about 40. He has visited caves throughout Europe and North America. Mines and underground quarries are just as interesting to him as caves, and Windrush has proved to be a fascinating project over the years.

Our December 2024 Evening Talk: A Victorian Christmas

A Victorian Christmas Poster

Speaker: Tim Healey

Subject: A Victorian Christmas

Tim Healey is a freelance writer and broadcaster who has presented many programs on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.

The author of over 60 books he is also a frequent contributor to The Oxford Times on issues relating to popular culture and local heritage. Tim directs the 17th-century costume band The Oxford Waits, with whom he performs in period attire.

With a wealth of innovations such as Christmas trees, cards and crackers, it is fair to that the Victorian era in Britain shaped all our Christmas festivities. It is generally accepted that the royal family’s influence was significant, especially in the figure of Prince Albert.

In 1848, a published illustration showed Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their children gathered around a decorated Christmas tree. This image captured the public’s imagination, and the tradition of the Christmas tree quickly spread throughout Britain. The idea of decorating a tree became a fashionable and widely adopted practice.

But with Tim we learned a great deal more about the existing strands of influence already present in these islands and the loosening of the influence of some of the more extreme Puritan values of the previous two centuries.

His entertaining talk described for example how Santa Claus’ appearance and style was shaped by the Dutch “Santeclaus”, and challenged the received wisdom that Prince Albert was the first to introduce the idea of the decorated Christmas tree.

Alongside the Christmas tree, other traditions began to take hold. Christmas cards became popular, starting with the first commercial Christmas card designed by Sir Henry Cole in 1843. The development of improved colour printing methods, and of course the arrival of the Penny Post were instumental in creating the fashion of Christmas card exchange. Meantime also, Christmas crackers, invented by Tom Smith in 1847, became a festive staple.

The plight of the poor and the influence of Dickens, as well as exploration of bygone customs such as Goose Clubs , London costermongers, “Wassailing” and the development of Christmas Carols from earlier popular songs – these were all part of the mix explored by Tim. In the mix also, he showed us some occasionally bizarre images of subject-matter for Christmas cards and gave some fun recitals of humourous verse.

Over 5o members and guests enjoyed a festive evening with a perfect mix of social history and Christmas goodwill, and we are grateful to Tim for perfect educational entertainment.

Our November 2024 Evening Talk: The Cospatrick 150th Anniversary Reflections

Speakers: John Bennett/Carol Anderson   

Subject: The Cospatrick 150th Anniversary Reflections

The Society’s evening Talk on 13th November was themed around the Cospatrick story. Talks by Carol Anderson and John Bennett recounted the story and its context as an episode in 19th Century emigration.

We were delighted to welcome members and guests in record numbers, reflecting the importance of the Cospatrick story to Wychwood villagers old and new.

John covered the background to the history of New Zealand emigration, focussing of course on the Wychwoods. In particular, he focussed on the role of Julius Vogel, Treasury Minister for the newly formed colony of New Zealand, who implemented a major drive for immigrant workers to build the country’s infrastructure.

He touched on the appointment of immigration agents such as Charles Carter who operated in the Wychwoods area. John mentioned key names such as Christopher Holloway and Joseph Leggett. These men were appointed by Carter as emigration agents for the area. They worked in tandem with Joseph Arch, Methodist firebrand and key player in promoting the interests of agricultural labourers at a time of extreme difficulty and hardship.

The Cospatrick on Fire: From an engraving by Joseph Nash. The Graphic 9 Jan 1875

In giving  illustrated insights into the types and styles of the vessels which carried emigrant to their new lives, John also covered the story of the Cospatrick’s fate, and the memorial on Shipton Green to the members of the Hedges and Townsend families. And finally he offered some insights into the hardships of the voyages and their aftermath during quarantine. These were illustrated also by an audio clip of the fate of one particular child Mary Jane Johnson [ shown here on our Cospatrick Resources area ].

Burial of an emigrant child at sea, from a sketch by an officer of the North  German Steamship Line, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 1882

Carol’s talk followed on with the theme of expectations and realities of immigrant life in New Zealand, offering contrasting views and anecdotes from correspondence of the time.

Carol focussed particularly on the story of Eli Pratley, who had suffered misfortune on his first migration attempt to Canada. He finally, with a second family, made the journey to New Zealand to eventually become a landowner and successful family man. Carol contrasted this tale with words from a letter of 1875 “I shall never make my fortune… This country is not what the agents represented it to be.”

The Pratley Family c1890: An Emigration Success Story. Photo Courtesy Beverley McCoombs

These reflections were rounded off in good spirits by Jim Pearse’s delivery of his poem “Emigration” which he had also recited at the society’s 1990 Victorian Evening, with audience participation on good form.

We are grateful to Jim for offering to reprise this poem for us. It was a perfect note on which to end a memorable evening.

The Cospatrick Tragedy: Booklet

Members were able to collect their copies of the society’s new booklet “The Cospatrick Tragedy- 150th Anniversary reflections on a Wychwoods story of hope and loss”. This booklet, sponsored by Shipton Parish Council and compiled and researched by John, Carol and other society members, covers the full story. It especially looks deeper into the Hedges and Townsend families, researched by Diane Melvin.

Here are the introductory pages to the booklet, copies of which remain available and free to members.

Visit our special Cospatrick Pages here

Cospatrick 150th Anniversary Commemorations

In November the Wychwoods Local History Society are organising and participating in a number of events to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Cospatrick Tragedy.

Artist’s impression of the Cospatrick in full sail
© Blue Peter Productions 1924

Look out for the following:

 • An exhibition of historic photographs, posters and newscuttings relating to the Cospatrick story in the Wychwoods Library, Milton, open from 4th November until mid December.

• The Society website has a new “Cospatrick Resources” page here with information about the Cospatrick story and links to many other sources of information relating to the Cospatrick and emigration from 19th Century Britain.

• The Society have compiled a new booklet giving an account of the Cospatrick story, and its place in Wychwoods history. This booklet has been generously sponsored by Simon Randall and Shipton Parish Council. The booklet will be available from 9th November.

The Cospatrick Memorial on Shipton under Wychwood Village Green features on the booklet compiled by the society for Shipton Parish Council. Photo by Diane Melvin

• The Society’s evening Talk on 13th November is themed around the Cospatrick story. Talks by Carol Anderson and John Bennett will recount the story and its context as an episode in 19th Century emigration.

The evening will include a short audio recording of a dramatic emigration episode by former Society stalwart Duncan Waugh, and Jim Pearse will perform a poem on emigration that he first gave for the Society in 1990.

• Members of the Society are also contributing to the Oxfordshire Local History Society’s Study Day on emigration, This will be held at Burford Baptist chapel on 9th November, booking essential, further information here: [PDF Download in new window]

 • There will be a memorial service at the Cospatrick Memorial on Sunday 17th November, at 11.15am, led by the vicar Sarah Sharp. The 17th November is the actual 150th Anniversary of the Cospatrick fire. This will be followed by a service at Shipton Parish Church.

Our October 2024 Evening Talk: Our Boys 1914 – 1918

Speaker: Julie Ann Godson:    
Subject: Our Boys 1914 – 1918
Julie read history at the University of Oxford under Dr Rowena E Archer. She made so many good friends at Oxford that, after 25 years as a Kent girl, she moved in 2010 to rural West Oxfordshire and now lives in a converted piggery and  loves it.


Julie is also a good friend to WLHS and has given us many talks over the years and it was a pleasure to welcome her here again.


Julie’s book “Our Boys 1914–1918: who were the fallen of one Oxfordshire valley? “ traces the often-surprising lives of 48 of the men and boys from Oxfordshire who fell in the First World War. From the workhouse boy who became an early submariner to the officer who proved to be not quite a gentleman, all of life is here.

A fine attendance of 50+ members and guests enjoyed Julie’s focus on the background of a few of these individuals, looking at their lives before the war rather than focussing on the business of battles and warfare.

We learned of individuals working with their families at various trades, practicing their crafts and toiling in fields and indeed signing up pre-war for army and navy adventures.

Remembrance of the First World War often brings to mind stone  monuments, quiet churchyards, and endless rows of gravestones in distant fields. 

Julie Ann’s talk told a different story of the lives of men in their familiar villages and farms, and encouraged a different way of remembering them. And she also showed reasons why names appeared on village monuments, of individuals not necessarily domiciled in that village. The reasons were intriguing.

Julie Ann’s book is available on Amazon here

Our September 2024 Evening Talk: The Portable Antiquities Scheme

September 11th 2024

The first in our 2024/5 season of talks was by Edward Caswell, who presented with great enthusiasm his work with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).

Edward started as the Finds Liaison Officer for Oxfordshire in 2020 following volunteering with the PAS in Durham during his undergraduate studies and working as a Finds Liaison Assistant for Devon and Somerset.

Edward loves studying and writing reports for artefacts of all time periods. He is particularly passionate about analysing the patterns we can see in big datasets such as the PAS database.

Edward’s wide ranging presentation demonstrated how the PAS database can be instrumental in developing our understanding of the nature, scale and effects of the large social transformations occurring in Britain over time.  This is achieved by integrating burial, settlement information, artefacts and landscape evidence – creating narratives previously hidden from view to researchers.

About the Portable Antiquities Scheme

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is run by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales to encourage the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales. Every year many thousands of archaeological objects are discovered, many of these by metal detector users, but also by people whilst out walking, gardening or going about their daily work.

The Database

The Portable Antiquities Database can be found here. The database is easy to search, and your search results can be filtered to find just the data you want. Tips on searching the database.

This link is especially interesting for Wychwoods-related queries

A summary of finds in the Wychwoods now recorded by the PAS

The Society and the Fete at Milton

Committee members enjoyed a successful afternoon at the fete in Milton on July 13th, where our stall attracted a steady stream of visitors.

Once again, as is a feature for us at these events, our photo displays generated lots of conversations. Most of these start with the regular refrain along a theme: “Look, that’s my uncle/sister/ grandad/…” and the stories emerge.

We were pleased this year to include in our display, the model by the late Arthur Ashton of the sailing ship “Cospatrick”. This attracted much interest: a puzzle for some, moments of recognition for others.

We were grateful to the organisers of the fete for the ease of set-up, and pre-event publicity which ensured a good attendance and festive atmosphere.

Thanks to Alan Vickers for help with the photos.

Our May 2024 Evening Event: AGM and “From Our Archive”

The Wychwoods Local History AGM took place in Milton Village Hall on May 8th 2024

Agenda (PDF) | Chairmans Report (PDF)

After the AGM, our final talk of the season included 3 presentations from WLHS Committee members, featuring stories from our archive using newly-discovered historic photographs, letters and oral history recordings

First we had a short review of the society’s work on audio recordings and oral histories by David Betterton. He played a few sample clips which typified the variety and human interest found in this archive. [ Overview here ]

John Bennett gave a review of a recently-acquired album of photographs of Milton under Wychwood dating from 1891. This album – we call it the “Marshall Album”  is a treasure trove of historic images of Milton houses, from which John selected several individual properties and compared them to their appearance today. The Album itself was a gift from the guest of a prominent Baptist family in the village. 

In the final presentation, Carol Anderson took us on a fascinating audit trail of the Baughan family in Milton, derived from her research around an intriguing box containing apparently random notes, receipts and letters – a box she titled “A Box of Baughans”.  Her work on this revealed fascinating insights, for example, on the role of women in business administration.

Wychwoods Local History Archive Room

Further research is planned for the Marshall Album and the “Box of Baughans”, and work continues on creating extracts from the society’s oral history files.