Around thirty people attended the local history event at the Memorial Hall on 6th April to hear more about the Chadlington Enclosure Award and of the historical landscape of Pudlicote. The event raised a surplus of £75, donated to the Friends of Chadlington Abbeyfield. A number of villagers helped with the event and Nicky, the organiser, sends thanks to all of them.
There was an exhibition of maps of the village from 1797 and 1899 and photographs of the map which accompanies the Enclosure award, giving details of the names and land holdings of local people in the 19th century. There were also displays of 16th, 17th and 18th probate documents, which had been transcribed by the Charlbury History Group. These gave lists of the possessions of deceased residents of Charlbury in the form of inventories, which were required to be recorded at the time and gave a fascinating picture of the lifestyle and occupation of ordinary people living over two hundred years ago.
Deborah Hayter MA, Tutor of the Sources of Local History course at Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education, chaired the event and her husband, Paul Hayter, bought along a wonderful old photograph album showing scenes from Langston House and the village. His maternal grandparents had lived in the house around 100 years ago. At the end of the evening those attending were invited to talk about their local history interests. These included the history of the Memorial Hall (which will be 100 years old in two years time), the origin of the different ‘Ends’ of the village, stories of colourful characters, the origin of place names and the old workhouse
There was a call for the revival of the Chadlington History Society, which met from the 1990s and produced the two volumes of local history. If anyone is interested in forming a core group to organise this, please send your name and contact details via the ‘Contact Us’ link on the Home page. Finally, volume 2 of the Chadlington History booklet, the 1994 field map of the village and the Millennium book of photographs were on sale, for £5 each. If you could not attend but would like any of these items, please ‘Contact Us’ via the link on the Home page.
Copies of the 1899 map are also available