Oxfordshire History Centre

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Oxfordshire History Centre

We're the archive and local studies centre for Oxfordshire. We are part of Oxfordshire County Council. Thank you for reading the above and visiting our page.

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07/09/2026

St Giles’ Fair returns to Oxford today. The fair has roots as a parish feast in the 17th century, before it eventually evolved into a funfair. It takes place in early September, typically on the Monday and Tuesday following the first Sunday after St Giles’ Day (1st September).

The fair has previously featured fairground rides, travelling exhibitions, menageries, boxing displays, shooting galleries, miniature railways and gift stalls. It drew people from far and wide, with thousands attending each year. A poem in Henry Taunt’s 1911 ‘Oxford Illustrated by Camera and Pen’ (pictured) reflects that, for many, an annual trip to the fair might be their only visit to Oxford.

The fair was threatened with abolition in the 1890s – some local townspeople were very concerned about the immorality and general rowdiness and mischief that took place. A newspaper article from 1893 talks of ‘indiscriminate kissing’ and youths ‘flounting their feathers [sic]’. A number of public notices also survive from the early 20th century warning fairgoers against assaulting others by throwing around rice, flour and other substances, or using a number of ‘instruments of personal annoyance’!

04/09/2026

Oxfordshire History Centre has recently welcomed Daniel Williams as our new History Service Manager.

Daniel has joined us from Buckinghamshire Archives, where he has been County and Diocesan Archivist for the past six years. He has built up a wealth of experience in the archives sector and is looking forward to working with the History Centre Team, along with local residents and organisations.

19/08/2026

Oxfordshire Health Archives (OHA) have produced a new online exhibition telling the story of the Warneford Hospital. It features a selection of records from the OHA collections held at the History Centre.

It’s part of the Warneford 200 project, celebrating the 200th anniversary of mental health provision at the Warneford through a series of exhibitions and events.

Visit https://www.oxfordshirehistory.org.uk/public/exhibitions.htm to view this and other exhibitions from both the Oxfordshire History Centre and the Oxfordshire Health Archives.

31/07/2026

On this day in 1718, two young lovers were tragically killed at Stanton Harcourt.

Sarah Drew (or Drue) and John Hewet were engaged to be married. When working outdoors during the harvest season they were struck by lightning, killing them instantly. The parish burial register makes a special note, ‘Theres two was killed by the thunder and Litinges thay were killed Stone dead’.

The incident was immortalised in an epitaph attributed to Alexander Pope, which was included on a memorial tablet erected on Stanton Harcourt church.

21/07/2026

A new exhibition is now open at The Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock. ‘Timeless Tales’ focuses on the folklore of the county, through tales of superstition, tradition and mythology.

A couple of items from our collections are featured, including the 1687 petition of Joane Walker of Bicester, accused by some in her community of being a witch, along with an account book recording 18th century medicines and treatments for illness.

The exhibition is free to all and is open until 6th September 2026. More information can be found here:
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/events/exhibitions-oxfordshire-museum/timeless-tales

17/07/2026

Did you know that Oxfordshire was home to one of the country’s most infamous highwaymen?

James Hind was born in Chipping Norton in 1616, the son of Edward Hind. After a series of failed local apprenticeships in his youth, James set his sights on London. Unfortunately, he quickly ended up in gaol, which is where he met and befriended highwayman Thomas Allen, setting him on a new criminal career path.

Joining Allen’s gang, he took part in their criminal enterprises, holding up and robbing riders and coaches around the country. Surprisingly, he was reported to be a somewhat courteous thief – relatively speaking - with stories of him engaging a number of his victims in polite conversation and sometimes leaving them a portion of their money or belongings. He was, however, said to have been responsible for one murder committed during a robbery.

He became a family man - there's a record of a James Hind marrying Margaret Rowlands in 1638 at Chipping Norton and subsequently having four children with her. When the Civil Wars broke out, Hind joined William Compton’s Horse and fought on the Royalist side at the Battle of Worcester. As a highwayman, he held to his strong Royalist sympathies, often targeting Parliamentarians. His exploits – likely somewhat overblown or fictionalised – were featured in sensational pamphlets of the time. His gang even attacked Oliver Cromwell’s coach! Unfortunately for them, most were captured and later executed on that occasion, with Hind luckily escaping.

In 1651, he was betrayed and arrested by government forces. By now infamous – known by some as ‘that grand thief of England’ – he was eventually put on trial for High Treason due to his Civil War activities. He was hung, drawn and quartered at Worcester on 24th September 1652.

His story was recounted in a contemporary play, along with a number of broadsheets. Our collections include a later printed copy of his ‘declaration’, made from Newgate Prison in 1651 (SV 2011), along with some more recent sources including collections of manuscript research notes (ref. P344/MS/1-2).

25/06/2026

An impossibly early Panini sticker book? Not quite, but illustrations from Henry Taunt’s ‘New Map of the River Thames from Oxford to London’ have recently been digitised and added to Picture Oxon.

Published in the 1870s, the handbook was sold as a guide for ‘the tourist, the oarsman, and the angler’. It features a lovely map of the river in sections, with a series of 79 of Taunt’s photographs of river scenes pasted in to illustrate it, https://heritagesearch.oxfordshire.gov.uk/search/all:images/0_50/all/score_desc/new%20map%20river%20thames%201872.

29/05/2026

Today we are saying a fond farewell to Mark Priddey, who is retiring after 38 years at Oxfordshire History Centre (previously Oxfordshire Record Office).

His career in Oxfordshire has seen a rise from part-time archivist to History Service Manager. During that time, he’s helped to oversee the successful move of the service from the basement of County Hall to our present home of St Luke’s in Cowley. He was instrumental in the History Centre attaining Archive Service Accreditation in 2015 (and in the years since!). Along with co-ordinating a popular series of History Days, he’s contributed to countless talks and outreach events and collaborated with a wide range of heritage colleagues, local history groups, depositors and community groups.

Mark has made a major contribution to opening up Oxfordshire’s history to the public, having catalogued a whopping 350 archive collections and taken in around 500 new accessions!

A familiar face in our public searchroom for the last few decades, his wide-ranging expertise has proved invaluable to both researchers and fellow History Centre staff.
He’s also been a fantastic manager to us for many years and will be greatly missed.

All of us at the History Centre wish him all the best for a well-earned retirement.

08/05/2026

For the last two weeks, Oxfordshire History Centre has had a UCL Archives and Records Management Masters student working with us on her cataloguing placement.

We’re pleased to say that she has really enjoyed her time with us, particularly using our Collections Management System ‘Epexio’, and learning about and arranging the Culham St Gabriel’s Trust records.

The institutional records relating to Culham Educational Foundation, St Gabriel's Trust, and their merged organisation Culham St Gabriel's Trust (CSTG) have now been catalogued, documenting the governance and operational activity across both trusts. Culham Educational Foundation was established following the closure of Culham College, a Church of England teacher training college in Oxfordshire, in 1979. Similarly, St Gabriel's Trust was formed after the closure of St Gabriel's College in Southwark, London in 1978.

Our UCL student processed the collection by removing original wallets, folders, and paper clips, and replacing them with brass paper clips and acid-free packaging to support long-term preservation. The collection was then referenced, reboxed and fully catalogued using Epexio.

28/04/2026

Z is for Zoo in our A-Z of ephemera.

We’ve reached the final (and somewhat tricky) letter in our A-Z. Not to be defeated, we’ve chosen ephemera relating to zoos!

Oxford Zoological Gardens (sometimes known as Kidlington Zoo) were located at Gosford Hill, on a site now largely occupied by the Thames Valley Police Station. The zoo was only active for a short period, opening in 1931 and closing in 1937. The animals were then moved to Dudley Zoo.

A few photographs and advertisements survive in our collections, featuring some of the animals held at Oxford Zoo. These included a lion, a tiger, wolves, monkeys, cattle, penguins and a wide range of other birds. The most famous animal associated with the zoo was Rosie the elephant – a sculpture of Rosie now stands on Kidlington roundabout, not far from the original zoo site. A map from the zoo’s guidebook provides a site layout, including office areas and animal enclosures.

Address

St Luke's Church, Temple Road, Cowley
Oxford
OX42HT

Telephone

01865 398200

Website

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxfordshirehistory

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