Bicester Local History Society

Past Talks

Listed below are the speaker talks we have had in the past. Click on the title of each to view its write up.

Title	Speaker	Date
Aerial Archaeology	Sarah Newsome	21^st February 2005
Alchester: invasion-era fortress, Roman town and predecessor of Bicester	Eberhard Sauer	16^th May 2022
Anatomy of a County: The Oxfordshire Historical Atlas Project	Kate Tiller	17^th October 2016
Apples! The Myth & Magic of England’s Favourite Fruit	Tim Healey	19^th January 2015
Archaeology in Bicester	Paul Smith	18^th April 2011
Art as Historical Evidence	Jane Card	18^th October 2021
Aspects of Ambrosden	Michael Ocock	19^th November 2012
Banbury & Bicester: Historic Market Towns – Reality or Nostalgia?	Brian Little	16^th February 2009
Banburyshire	Martin Greenwood	16^th October 2006
Bernwood Forest	Rebecca Wilcox	18^th July 2005
Beyond Bicester - Mesolithic to MoD	Paul Smith & John Moore	3^rd June 2006
Bicester and the Great War	Nigel Walton	21^st November 2011
Bicester & the Second World War	Pete Chivers	21^st February 2011
Bicester & the Supernatural	Pete Chivers	17^th December 2012
“The Bicester Gang” and other stories of Oxford Castle	Mark Davies	15^th October 2018
Bicester Local History Society Social Event		17^th January 2005
Bicester Priory	Bob Hessian	17^th October 2011
Bicester Railways	Bob Hessian	18^th July 2011
Blenheim and the Marlboroughs	Veronica Thorneloe	21^st July 2008
The Bodleian Library, Oxford	Phil Kemble	19^th December 2005
Bricks & Building Materials in Bicester’s Buildings	Pat Snelson	16^th February 2015
Can onions cure earache? Medical advice from the 1700s	Melanie King	20^th March 2023
Caring for the Textile Collection at the Museum Resource Centre	Samantha van de Geer	20^th September 2010
Castles in Oxfordshire	Trevor Rowley	22^nd March 2005
Charles Dickens as 19th Century Social Reformer and Medical Observer	Professor Greg Stores	16^th April 2018
Child Labour in 19^th Century Oxfordshire	Liz Woolley	19^th April 2010
Christmas at Waddesdon Manor	Molly Stafford	17^th December 2007
Christmas Music & Song Through the Ages	Ian Giles	16^th December 2024
The Church Courts	Mark Priddy	17^th September 2007
Church Detectives	Tim Porter	18^th January 2010
Churches have memories - the memorials of St Edburg's Church	Christopher Young	21^st January 2019
Churchyards and their Monuments	Liz Young	19^th November 2007
The Coming of the Railway and How it Affected Life in Oxfordshire	Dr Martin Barnes	21^st November 2005
Common Lodging Houses in Victorian Britain	Liz Woolley	16^th April 2012
Common Right to Private Property: how enclosure shaped the Oxfordshire landscape	Deborah Hayter	18^th March 2019
Cotswold Stone Barns	Dr Tim Jordan	20^th January 2020
Deserted Mediaeval Villages in Oxfordshire	James Bond	21^st June 2010
A Doorway into Bicester’s Architectural History	Pat Snelson	17^th January 2011
Dressing Up the Past: Historical Pageants in Early 20th Century Oxfordshire	Ellie Read	16^th May 2016
Drovers' Roads in Oxfordshire & Beyond	Tim Healey	21^st November 2016
Early Photography and the Local Historian	Dr John Wilson	20^th June 2005
Emigration from 19th Century Oxfordshire	Shaun Morley	19^th May 2014
Emigration from Bicester 1630 - 1930	Pete Chivers	19^th July 2010
The English Civil War and its effect on Oxfordshire	Martin Greenwood	20^th June 2011
Evacuation to Bicester and Local Villages 1939-45	Martin Greenwood	16^th October 2017
Excavations at the Westgate	Ben Ford	15^th January 2018
Exploring your Roots	Alan Simpson	15^th February 2016
Flora Thompson	Martin Greenwood	16^th May 2005
From Axtell to Zacharias: The men who built Oxford	Liz Woolley	15^th January 2024
Garden Archaeology - a different kind of digging	Dr Stephen Wass	19^th May 2025
Glimmer in the Dark: Anglo Saxon Art & Craftsmanship	Martin Way	20^th November 2006
The Gunpowder Plot of the Midlands	Mary MacDonald	20^th October 2008
A History of Hunting in the Bicester Area	Pete Chivers	16^th December 2013
A History of Oxfordshire Parks & Gardens	Pete Chivers	19^th January 2009
A History of Shopping in Bicester	Pete Chivers	17^th June 2013
A History of Stoke Lyne	Dave Woodhead	17^th May 2013
The History of Tooley's Boatyard	Matt Armitage	21^st June 2021
Home of Lost Causes & Forsaken Beliefs – History of Oxford University	Chris Day	19^th February 2018
Homes fit for Heroes: The Centenary of Council Houses	Sheila Allcock	21^st March 2022
House Arrest in Woodstock	Pete Seaward	20^th October 2025
Houses and History	David Clark	19^th September 2005
Industrial Archaeology	Philip Morris	20^th March 2006
The Listed Buildings of Bicester	Bob Hessian	20^th December 2004
A Literary Tour of the Waterways of Oxfordshire	Mark Davies	18^th May 2009
Local Customs in the Bicester Area	Pam Chivers	19^th December 2011
Lost Villages of Oxfordshire	Deborah Hayter	20^th June 2016
The Mary Rose	Steve Griffiths	24^th April 2006
Mediaeval Women	Rowena Archer	19^th September 2016
The Medieval Household	Dr Elizabeth Gemmell	16^th July 2007
The Nonconformists of Banburyshire 1662-2012	Martin Greenwood	28^th April 2014
Nothing ever happens in Bicester!	Pete Chivers	18^th October 2010
The Origins of Surnames	Dr Cyril Dunsley	18^th June 2007
The Otmoor Riots 1830s	Pete Chivers	19^th September 2011
The Oxford Canal	Mark Davies	18^th April 2005
Oxford Past & Present	Dr Janice Kinory	17^th June 2019
Oxfordshire & the Spanish Civil War 1936-39	Liz Woolley	15^th November 2021
Oxfordshire at School	Malcolm Graham	19^th February 2007
Oxfordshire Castles	Trevor Rowley	20^th March 2017
Oxfordshire in World War II	Malcolm Graham	18^th November 2004
The Oxfordshire Landscape in the Twentieth Century	Trevor Rowley	15^th January 2007
Oxfordshire Maps	Nick Millea	15^th October 2007
Oxfordshire Mills	Elaine Steane	18^th February 2019
Pagans & Puritans – The Story of May Morning in Oxfordshire	Tim Healey	21^st May 2018
The Peripatetic Poor in the 18th Century	Deborah Hayter	17^th July 2017
Picture Oxon	Mark Lawrence	17^th February 2020
The Production, Distribution and Use of Salt in Prehistoric Britain	Dr Janice Kinory	19^th April 2021
Putting Bicester on the Map – from Gough to Google	John Leighfield	16^th November 2015
The Roaring 20s	Martin Greenwood	15^th April 2019
The Roman Pottery Industry in the Oxford Region	Dr Christopher Young	24^th April 2017
St Edburg’s Parish Church	David Buxton	16^th May 2011
St Giles Fair	Tim Healey	17^th February 2025
Stories of Oxford Castle	Mark Davies	21^st February 2006
The Message in the Map	Nick Millea	17^th March 2025
The Otmoor Riots in a Wider Context	Ciarán Walsh	15^th April 2024
The Work of the Relieving Officer in Bletchingdon District	Charles Eldridge	18^th March 2024
Tin Helmets & Gas Masks	Martin Way	20^th July 2015
Travelling in the Middle Ages	Dr Rowena Archer	20^th April 2015
Trench Humour in the First World War	Stephen Barker	18^th November 2024
A Tudor Christmas	Martin Sirot-Smith	18^th December 2006
Victoria County History	Simon Townsley	17^th October 2005
Victorian Christmas	Tim Healey	20^th November 2023
Victorian Class and Social Status	Andy Gunn	15^th March 2010
Visit to St Edburg’s Church and the Old Priory	Rev Phillip Ball & Robert Parkinson	25^th July 2005
Votes for Women: The Long Struggle	Muriel Pilkington	21^st March 2016
Where is the Mediaeval Blacksmith?	Gwyl Williams	18^th March 2013
A Window into Bicester's Architectural History	Pat Snelson	19^th March 2018
Wireless War Secrets	John Beaumont	16^th July 2018
Witney Blanket Making	Keith Crawford	21^st July 2014
The Workhouse	Peter Higginbotham	19^th March 2007
The World of Flora Thompson	Christine Bloxham	21^st March 2011
Wychwood Forest & Cornbury Park from the Middle Ages	Dr Simon Townley	19^th July 2021
Yesterday’s Runways	Bill King	21^st May 2007

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Past Talks