Author Archives: Joyce Huddleston

Programme of talks for 2025-2026 published

The full programme of talks at Radley History Club’s monthly meetings from September 2025 to September 2026 is now available. View details of each talk in the Events calendar on this website.

DateSpeakerTalk title
2025
08-SepSimon WenhamMore than Three Men in a Boat: the rise and fall of pleasure boating on the Thames
13-OctLiz Woolley‘Some may question its flavour, but none its potency’: a history of brewing in Oxford a history of brewing in Oxford
10-NovPaul BoothFrom Roman Britain to Early Anglo-Saxon England: archaeological evidence from Dorchester-on-Thames
2026
12-JanRichard DuddingWick Hall: the story of a house and a family
09-FebSteven GunnEveryday life and accidental death in 16th century Oxfordshire and Berkshire
09-MarJohn Lowe‘Always Ready, Always Willing’: Fires and firefighting in the city of Oxford from 879 to 1974
13-AprHubert ZawadzkiMy Polish father’s experiences in WW2 from Gulag to Normandy and Scotland
11-MayMike HurstTracks to trenches
08-JunStephen WassGarden archaeology: ‘not that kind of digging’
13-JulVictoria BentataAlice and the Dodo in Oxford
08-SepMelanie KingSarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough: taking the waters in Bath, Scarborough and Windsor Great Park

Club’s Millennium Map is 25 years old

Millennium map produced for Radley History Club

This year marks 25 years since the Millennium. To commemorate that occasion, Radley History Club commissioned the artwork to create a large, annotated colour map of Radley featuring many of the village’s historic landmarks. The map – commonly referred to as the ’Millennium Map’ – proved popular and many were sold at the time. Many past and present Radley residents have one!

There are still some left to buy at a cost of £5 (plus postage and packing). If you’d like one, please get in touch with Joyce Huddleston (chairman@radleyhistoryclub.org.uk).

Back in November 2024, one of the maps was sent (courtesy of Royal Mail) all the way to California to someone who had found details of it on this website. His name was Steve Fabes and he’d been born in Radley in 1944 during the war when his parents, refugees from London, were living in the attic flat at Lower Farm. Steve even gave his youngest son the middle name ‘Radley’. He can remember his father referring to the farmer as ‘Mr Frierson’ and thinks the family probably moved back to London in 1946. Steve still has relatives in the UK but has lived in California for over 50 years.

July 2025 meeting: What a Liberty! Memorable moments along Oxford’s ancient boundaries

On 14 July, Oxford-based local historian and tour guide Mark Davies talked to a smaller than usual number of members and guests about notable events during the ceremonial circuits by Oxford’s mayors of the city’s boundaries over the past 500 years. The tradition was for the city mayor, when they first held that office, to make a tour (a ‘perambulation’) to confirm the location of the city boundary. On this tour they were accompanied by the macebearer, other city dignitaries and those freemen of Oxford who wished to attend. The boundary changed as the city of Oxford grew, but remains mainly defined by its waterways. The tour took most of the day, being enlivened by stops at various waterside pubs.

Mark presented detailed maps of the route taken along the city’s boundaries as these changed over the years and photographs taken by Oxford photographers Henry Taunt and Henry Minn of the 1892 event – the first one photographed and notable for the sinking of the punt carrying the mayor, the macebearer and worthies in the river Cherwell. The mace was retrieved from the muddy river bed, but the cross on the top of its orb was lost and had to be replaced.

Mark ended his talk by drawing attention to Stephanie Jenkins’ Oxford History website and its collection of photographs of various stone waymarkers erected when a boundary change was first ‘walked’.

June 2025 meeting: From Medieval Knights to Atomic Spies

Mike Evans came to talk to us about the history of Fitzharry’s Estate, just to the north of the centre of Abingdon. The estate has a rich history, transforming from a medieval Norman property to a modern residential area. Its continuous occupation highlights the enduring value of this location as it adapted through centuries to changes in society. Originating in the early 12th century as an Abingdon Abbey holding granted to the Norman knight Owen, the Manor included a small motte with a moat, built between 1071 and 1084 for defence. By 1247, Hugh Fitz-Harry, a descendant of Owen, was disputing control with the Abbey. The manor later became known by variants of his name, including Fitzharrys and Fitzharris.

After the dissolution of Abingdon Abbey in 1538, the freehold of the manor and its house passed to the new Borough of Abingdon. The Borough continued the policy of leasing out the estate and the house was rebuilt over the centuries. In 1862, the Borough sold the freehold and the manor’s farmland was gradually sold off by successive purchasers for housing as the town of Abingdon grew. Major-General Sir Charles Corkran was the last resident freeholder; he died in 1939 in a tragic shooting accident on the estate.

A pivotal shift occurred in 1946 when the Ministry of Supply acquired the estate to build houses for senior or key staff arriving in the area to work at the new Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) south of Abingdon at the former RAF Harwell. Rapid construction of 140 houses underscored the urgent national priority for atomic research and attracting talent. Residents included Bruno Pontecorvo, who defected to Moscow, linking the development to Cold War espionage. The manor house, neglected and vandalised, was demolished by 1953. Houses were initially rented, then sold by the UK Atomic Energy Authority from the early 1960s. The memories of its early residents give a picture of a happy and carefree childhood they had enjoyed on the Fitzharry’s Estate. It remains a thriving community at the heart of Abingdon.

Learn more about the Fitzharry’s Manor Estate and its history from:

May 2025 meeting: Putting Radley on the Map – from Gough to Google

The talk by John Leighfield on 12 May commenced with the Gough Map of England (c. 1400), housed in Oxford’s Bodleian Library and a key early map and how detailed development accelerated in the 16th century. Christopher Saxton’s 1579 atlas of England and Wales, funded by Elizabeth I’s courtier Thomas Seckford, became foundational. His surveys from high vantage points informed the 6th edition of William Camden’s Britannia (1607).

John Speed’s 1611 atlas added town plans and ‘hundreds’. Late Dutch engravers subsequently produced world atlases including Britain, often adapting Speed’s work occasionally with transcription errors. Notably, roads were absent until John Ogilby’s Britannia (1675), which introduced strip maps for routes and distances, reflecting growing travel needs.

The late 18th century saw county survey competitions sponsored by the Royal Society of the Arts, spurring progress. The 1791 establishment of the Ordnance Survey, driven by French invasion fears, shifted focus to official, topographical mapping at a variety of scales, largely ending commercial mapping. The depiction of places like Radley (also appearing as Rodley) on these maps evolved with improved surveying. Today, platforms like Google Maps offer instant global access, a significant leap from the laborious creation and limited availability of historical maps.