OLHA study days take place in the spring and autumn. Each focuses on a particular aspect of Oxfordshire’s history, with two or three illustrated talks in the morning and a guided walk or tour in the afternoon. Study days are open to anyone and the cost is around £10-14 per person.
The next study day will be in Wallingford on Saturday 3 November 2018 on Wallingford and its Castle. Wallingford was the leading town of Berkshire when William the Conqueror crossed the Thames here after his victory at Hastings, and it was one of only four towns mentioned in Magna Carta. Before the Norman invasion it had been a large fortified town (burh), part of a defensive network ordered by Alfred the Great. William the Conqueror’s castle was enlarged over the centuries, serving as a stronghold and royal palace which dominated the town. In the English Civil war it withstood a twelve week siege by Roundhead forces and was ordered to be destroyed by Cromwell. Much of its stonework was re-used in Windsor Castle.
The study day will include two illustrated talks, a guided walk around the town, and entry to Wallingford Museum where there is a special display of new information about the castle, as well as exhibits on resident Agatha Christie, and the town’s role in the television series Midsomer Murders.
Further details here.
To book and pay for one or more places (£10 per person) on the Wallingford study day using a credit or debit card, or via PayPal, click on this button:
We will send you an acknowledgement by e-mail.
Or to book and pay by cheque, dowload a form here.
Previous study days have included (click on title for further details):
Enclosure: Reform and Rebellion, in Islip, April 2018
Witney, Wool and Wesley, in Witney, November 2017
A Village in the Vale, in Stanford in the Vale, May 2017
Focus on Thame, October 2016
Bodleian Library Resources for Oxfordshire Historians, at the Weston Library in Oxford, May 2016
The People of the Oxfordshire Canals, in Banbury, November 2015
Uffington in fiction and fact, in Uffington, May 2015
Oxfordshire in the First World War, in Woodstock, November 2014
Anglo-Saxon Oxfordshire, in Wantage, May 2014
The Romans in Oxfordshire, in Charlbury, November 2013
Water Power in Oxfordshire and Berkshire, held in conjunction with the Berkshire Local History Association (BLHA), at Mapledurham Mill and House, May 2013 (above)
Looking After the Poor: Crisis and Reform, and Did the Workhouse Work?, Abingdon, November 2012
William Morris (Lord Nuffield) and the Development of the Car Industry in Oxfordshire, Long Hanborough, April 2012
The Civil War in Oxfordshire, Tadmarton & Broughton Castle, November 2011
Garden History from the Tudors to the Victorians, Middle Barton, April 2011
Celebrating 150 years of the Great Western Railway, Didcot, September 2010
If you have ideas for study days – themes, venues or speakers – we would like to hear from you. Please contact: studydays@olha.org.uk
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