Oxfordshire: Literature by Independent Groups.

Thematic Trails supports independent organizations and associations within Oxfordshire who publish their own local literature by providing an international shop window and marketing structure within this Thematic Trails catalogue and web site. The following organisations, listed below in alphabetical order, have made use of this free facility. Scroll down the page to reach the organization you seek. Where organizations publish regular journals, content details of each series are listed under a separate menu panel: “Oxfordshire Groups - Journal contents”.
All the books/booklets listed below are available from Thematic Trails.

Denchworth Local History Group
Longworth and District History Society publications (see Oxfordshire Golden Ridge on menu).
The Marcham Society
Standlake History Society
Stanford-in-the-Vale History Society
Turnpikes - Tolls - Ancient Routes (Alan Rosevear)
Uffington - Tom Brown's School Museum Publication
Gardening with Nature (National series by Jenny Steel)

Denchworth

HISTORICAL WALK AROUND DENCHWORTH Denchworth Local History Group 2006
12 pages 14 illustrations A3 sheet folded and concertinaed to make pocket-sized (10cm X 21cm) pamphlet. 50p
Clear instructions for an exploration of the village with reference to 23 points of interest. A useful introduction to this Vale of White Horse village.

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST JAMES THE GREAT, DENCHWORTH Denchworth Local History Group 2001
14 pages (A5) 20 pen and ink drawings. £1.00
An introduction and guide to the history, architecture and monuments of this quiet rural church.

For more information about the Denchworth Local History Group contact Susan Brandon Tel: 01235 868451 Email: sue@brandonm.freeserve.co.uk

Longworth and District History Society

See menu: Oxfordshire Golden Ridge (Kingston Bagpuize, Southmoor, Longworth, Hinton Waldrist) or visit the history web site: Longworth & District History Society

Marcham Society publications

MARCHAM REMEMBERED a village in pictures
ISBN 978-0-9530220-2-1 (2009)
size 22cm X 28cm. 106 pages. 265 illustrations. £10
This is a record in pictures, together with a commentary, of the village of Marcham, three miles to the east of Abingdon in the Vale of the White Horse. The photographic record plots the changes in Marcham from an agricultural backwater a hundred years ago, to the greatly expanded settlement of today where it is no longer a place of work for most of its inhabitants. The book also serves as a village history of the past 100 years and is a celebration of village life and community, both the old and new.

A TALE OF TWO BENCHES Claire Bolton ISBN 978-0-9530220-1-4. 2000. A5. 21pages. £2.95 Reflections on Robert Gibbings and his link with Marcham.

AYRIS FAMILY RECEIPT BOOK of 1845 (published 1997). 23 pages. £2.95 The Ayris family, sometime local blacksmiths, made a record of useful recipes. These included how to make ‘a Horse Mare or Gelding follow its owner or stand to be shod’; ‘For the Cankers’; for ginger, parsnip and rhubarb wine and gooseberry vinegar.
THE CORAL RAG (Published by the Marcham Society) is the annual journal of the Marcham Society and was published between 2001 and 2008. Volume 10 was printed in 2019

For content details see menu: Oxfordshire Groups - Journal contents.

For more information about the Marcham Society visit: www.marchamsociety.org.uk

Routes across the Upper Thames Valley ~ Publications by Alan Rosevear

Turnpikes - Tolls - Ancient routes (Alan Rosevear)

These 13 booklets reflect Alan Rosevear’s long-term research interests in the Turnpikes, milestones, toll houses, coach, railway and waggon routes across the Upper Thames Valley. The text is supported by maps, tables, drawings and figures drawn from a wide variety of historical sources. A very worth-while historical resource in its own right.

For content details see menu: Oxfordshire Groups - Journal contents.

Standlake History Society

1228 AND ALL THAT ~ a history of Standlake Village Compiled by Joan Goadby. Illustrated by Gilbert Hitchcock (First published in 1978. This facsimile edition 2011)
72 pages, 7 illustrations. £3
Over a period of nine years, the Standlake History Society produced this remarkable digest of their discoveries and compilations, disproving the somewhat disparaging remark someone once made that “Standlake had no history”. As they point out, “all villages have a history if only it is devilled out”. The result is this fine little book which evokes a sense of place and helps to provide a bonding sense of community.

Stanford-in-the Vale

Publications by Stanford-in-the-Vale History Society

The Stanford Historian Edited by Phil Morris. ISSN 1476-8232 £1 per issue.

The Stanford Historian is the regular journal of the Stanford-in-the-Vale History Society.
This bi-annual (Spring and Autumn) journal is edited by Phil Morris. ISSN 1476-8232 . It was first published in the spring of 2002 and continues to the present, £1 per issue.

For content details see menu: Oxfordshire Groups - Journal contents.

Routes across the Upper Thames Valley ~

Turnpikes - Tolls - Ancient routes (Alan Rosevear)

Uffington: Tom Brown's School Museum Publication

THE WHITE HORSE AND THE VILLAGE OF UFFINGTON Jane Cooper and Sharon Smith. Tom Brown’s School Museum Publication 2004 £5.00 A5, 60 pages, 41 illustrations and maps. This book is an attractive story of the growth and history of the village of Uffington in the Vale of the White Horse. The 3000 year-old White Horse, on the edge of the Berkshire Downs, dramatically dominates the view to the immediate south-west of the village. The probable long-term relationship of the village and the White Horse provides a fascinating theme which threads its way through the book from an iron age settlement, excavated to the immediate north of the village, to present-day studies. For further information on the village and its museum visit: www.museum.uffington.net
WHITE HORSE TRAIL, secrets in the Landscape (Oxford Geology Group) £2 12 page folding pocket booklet 11X24cm, in full colour. 22 plates, 5 maps and figures. From the Uffington White Horse carved into the 261 metre high White Horse Hill, explore the 2800 year old earthworks of Uffington Castle with its outlier of Dragon Hill. To the south of the crest of the escarpment runs the 85 mile long Ridgeway, probably the oldest ‘road’ in Britain. From here there are unparalleled views out across the clay Vale of the White Horse. The trail explores the chalk upland landscape as well as offering explanation for the presence of ‘sarsens’, flints and chalk as a building stone.

Gardening with Nature (Jenny Steel)

Jenny Steel, who formerly ran the Wildlife Gardening Centre in Kingston Bagpuize, has developed a remarkable series of wildlife gardening guides.

BUTTERFLY GARDENING Jenny Steel ISBN 978-0-9541116-2-5 Webbs Barn Designs 2007. A5. 32 pages, 20 colour illustrations, 7 plant lists. £4.95. How to encourage butterflies to visit and breed in your garden; garden butterflies & their life cycle; nectar plants; larval food plants; the winter garden.
WILDFLOWERSJenny Steel Webbs Barn Designs 2001. A5. 28 pages. £3.00 A descriptive list of over 140 wildflowers to attract wildlife to your garden. MEADOWS AND CORNFIELDS Jenny Steel ISBN 978-0-9541116-0-1 Webbs Barn Designs 2001. £3.50 A5. 25 pages. 20 colour illustrations. How to create and maintain a meadow or cornfield to attract wildlife to your garden.
WILDLIFE PONDS Jenny Steel ISBN 978-0-9541116-1-8 Webb Barns Designs 2002. £3.50. A5. 32 pages. 17 colour photos. How to create a natural looking pond to attract wildlife to your garden.
NATIVE TREES, SHRUBS AND CLIMBERS

Jenny Steel Webbs Barn Designs 2003 A5. 28 pages, 5 illustrations. £3.00. Jenny lists native trees, shrubs and climbers that are suitable for garden cultivation, giving information on their height, the soil conditions which they prefer, whether they have flowers or berries and most importantly, what wildlife they attract.

For further publications see menu: Oxfordshire Groups - Literature