NB Change to advertised programme: our October talk will be delivered by Professor Rosemary Collier on the history of the Wellesbourne Research Station, Roy Smart’s talk on Admiral David Beatty will now take place on November 18^th.

As the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is now upon us it seems appropriate that the topic of our October 21^st meeting should be A Potted History of the National Vegetable Research Station at Wellesbourne, now the University of Warwick Crop Centre. and previously the Horticultural Research International.   The centre was started after WWII with the aim of researching and establishing better and more efficient methods of vegetable production in the UK with funding from the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries (MAFF).  The Wellesbourne site was acquired in 1949.  Many new research methods have been pioneered at the centre, leading to innovative and practical improvements in crop varieties and pest control. 

It will be fascinating to hear how the concerns about chemical control methods raised in books such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (published 1962) affected the centre’s approach through the 70 plus years of its existence. 

Rosemary is a lead researcher at the centre, specialising in entomology, – ie studying the pests which can devastate our food crops – and researching how to control them. 

Rosemary is also active locally in promoting environmentally friendly conditions for wildlife, through projects such as No-Mow-May, planting wildflower reserves, and undertaking intensive surveys of bugs and birds.  

Review of our September talk. 

There was a good turnout in our temporary venue, the meeting room of the Methodist Church, for our first talk after the summer break.  It wasgiven by Norman Hyde and entitled Tennis the Leamington Way: the oldest tennis club in the world and it’s importance to Leamington over 170 years.  

Norman has been a member at the court club for more than 35 years and was its captain for ten years from the late 1990s.  He took advantage of the covid lockdown towrite and publisha history of the club.  He began by declaring he was not going to describe the rules of the game, a pity as the audience were left in some confusion about the differences between Lawn Tennis, Real Tennis, Court Tennis, Royal Tennis, Racquets and Squash, some of which turn out to be the same game. 

The earlier members of the Leamington club were from the upper echelons of society, with a “no tradesmen” rule and, of course, no women.  Norman was robust in his characterisation of the ethos of the club in its heyday – with its Gentleman’s Club atmosphere of drinking and gambling.  His talk described some of the characters who have graced the courts during its history.  Many were eminent national figures, and sometimes it seems that some of the more colourful members were also the most courageous or foolhardy, with decorations for military bravery a prominent feature. 

The club was important in the development of Leamington as a resort, together with the spa bringing business and status.   Meetings were advertised in The Times, and trains from London laid on to bring participants to Leamington.  Norman was an overflowing fount of information about the club, its members and its influence.   

Refreshments were provided as usual after the talk courtesy of Ilona, assisted by Jackie and Mark Walker. 

Other K&LHG News

The Group mounted a modest stand at the Village Lunch on Sunday 2^nd October, organised by St Peter’s, at which seemingly all the village groups and societies were represented.  The aim was to introduce newcomers in the village to the variety of organisations ready to welcome them.  The Village Hall was packed and the bring-and-share lunch was more than enough to go round, the parable of the five loaves and two fishes springs to mind.  The K&DLHG stand was in the lobby, where DF stoppeth one in three, and may have encouraged some potential new members to give us a try.  Many thanks to Barry Jackson and Alison Abbott and their efficient helpers for a lively lunch

New Local History Book

Local history researcher Peter Johnson has revised updated his 2000 memoir recording the life of Joe Gerring, and produced a model of how to write local history.  Entitled Joe’s Story: a century of change in the South Warwickshire countryside it follows the career of Joe in Lighthorne, Kineton, Chadshunt, Gaydon, Wellesbourne,  Chesterton and Compton Verney.  With meticulous attention to detail and copious illustrations Peter Johnson describes the changes in the conditions and landscapes of the last 100 years.  He has also produced a 90 minute CD of Joe’s reminiscences.  The 146 page book is on sale for £14.00 and the CD at an additional £6.00.  We plan to have copies of both available at our forthcoming meetings 

The 2022-23 Programm

Date	Speaker	Title
21 Oct	Rosemary Collier	A Potted History of the National Vegetable Research Station at Wellesbourne
18 Nov	Roy Smart	David Beatty – The Last Naval Hero’ fame and celebrity following the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history.
9 Dec	Richard Churchley	‘Christmas Songs Through the Ages’ the Middle Ages to the 1940s
20 Jan ‘23	Beat Kümin	‘For a Good Cause – Church Ales and Early Modern Drinking Culture.’
17 Feb ‘23	David Fry	The Silk Ribbon Industry of Coventry’
17 Mar ‘23	AGM-	talk tbc
21 April ‘23	tbc
19 May ‘23	Frances Kerner	Common Land- Origin, Loss, and Survival
June July Aug	Outings	Guided visits to local historic venues venuestbc
15 Sept 23	Judith Ellis	The Campden House Project

Other Societies’ Events

Tuesday 25 October 2022	Stoneleigh History Society, Stoneleigh Village Hall, 7.30 pm. David Freke on Scratching the Surface – medieval graffiti in Warwickshire churches
Tuesday 25 October 2022	Lapworth Local History Group, Lapworth Village Hall, 7.00pm: Graham Sutherland on Curious Clerics
Tuesday 15 November 2022	Warwickshire Local History Society Changing Health Provision in 19th Century Warwickshire Dr John Wilmot considers developments in small towns and rural areas, with a focus on Stratford-upon-Avon and Southam
Wednesday 23 November 2022	Coventry University.   Approaching the (Family) Archive: Challenges and Reflections. A series of free, online workshops. Workshop 4: Archives into Institutions 4 pm Whether through sale, loan, or donation, many family collections are eventually transferred into museums, local record offices, and other institutions. Under the care of professional archivists they are preserved, catalogued, and made accessible to an audience beyond the family who compiled them. Which items do families seek to pass on, why, and how might these familial bequests shape national narratives? What is gained – and lost – in the migration from the home to the record office? Speaker: Dr Ann-Marie Foster (Northumbria University) For more information and to book a place please visit Approaching the (Family) Archive: Challenges and Reflections (eventsforce.net)
Tuesday 29 November 2022	Stoneleigh History Society, Stoneleigh Village Hall, 7.30 pm. John Purcell on Earlsdon’s Lost Industrial Heritage
Thursday 1 December 2022	Nuneaton Historical Association, Rutland Roman Villa, Jennifer Browning of Leicester University Archaeological Services, Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre, 4 Avenue Road, Nuneaton CV11 4LU, 7.30 pm

Wednesday 26th October 2022 Wellesbourne & Walton Local History Group at 7:30 pm The Mediaeval Wall Paintings in the Guild Chapel Stratford”  Talk by Pamela Devine and Janet Hall

All are welcome –Wellesbourne Village Hall. Entry for non-members £3. Contact Charlie and Peggy Gilbert on 01789 841805 or Email treblig99@outlook.com

Or see their website: sites.google.com/site/wellesbournelocalhistory/

British Association for Local History.  The Kineton Group is a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members.  Check their website www.balh.org.uk for upcoming talks available virtually.

Gresham College has series of history talks available digitally, here is the next 3 months’ programme

HISTORY LECTURES BY MONTH AT GRESHAM COLLEGE – includes the short link for print: 

October

Weds 12, 6pm,  The Lost Cities and Amazing Heritage of Kenya, Robin Walker, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/kenya-cities

Mon 17, 6pm, Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, Sudhir Hazareesingh, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/toussaint-louverture

Tues 18, 6pm  Britain’s Foreign Policy in a Fast-Changing World, Peter Ricketts, Mercers’ Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/britains-fp

Thurs 20, 6pm The Politics of Fabric and Fashion in Africa 1960-Today Christine Checinska David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later, gres.hm/africa-fashion

November

Tues 1, 6pm, Partition of British India, 75 Years On Kavita Puri, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/india-partition

Mon 7, 6pm The Trials of Alexei Navalny Thomas Grant QC  Barnard’s Inn Hall,  Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/navalny-trials

Tues 8, 6pm, Why did Europe’s Economies Diverge from Asia? Professor Martin Daunton, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/diverge-asia

Thurs 10, 6pm, Polio: A Cultural History, Professor Joanna Bourke Barnards’ Inn Hall, Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/polio-history 

Weds 16, 6pm The Irish Question and the Ulster Question Then and Now, Professor Vernon Bogdanor David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch  Later gres.hm/irish-ulster

Weds 23, 6pm Lives in Limbo: Jewish Refugess in Portugal, 1940-45 Professor Marion Kaplan, Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/refugees-portugal 

December

Mon 5, 6pm London’s Air: The 70th Anniversary of the Great London Smog Visiting Professor Ian Mudway, Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch later  gres.hm/londons-air (this is an Environmental Health Professor, not strictly History, but should be of interest to local societies)

Tues 6, 1pm, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding by Professor Jolyon Mitchell, Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch later  gres.hm/israel-palestine 

Weds 7, 6pm, Paganism in Roman Britain, Professor Ronald Hutton, David Game College/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/paganism-roman  

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

Membership.   If you are, or would like to become, a Member of the group, your 2022 subscription is

due (still £10pa!).  Our Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ,  For queries contact Alec on alec.hitchman@btinternet.com You can also join at any talk.

With our bank now charging for payments by cheque or cash, we would urge those who can to please pay by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.

2022-23 KDLHG Committee

President:                               Dr Robert Bearman MBE                  

Chairman                                David Freke                           

Vice-Chairman                        Roger Gaunt                           

Secretary                                 Ilona Sekacz                           

Treasurer                                Alec Hitchman                       

Outings Secretary                   vacant                                     

Programme Secretary             Claire Roberts                            

Other committee members

Rosemary Collier

Isobel Gill

George Lokuciejewski

Catherine Petrie (PR)

Pamela Redgrave (Membership)

Date of next Committee meeting:  28^th November via Zoom 7.00pm, 

Contact David Freke tel. 01295 670516  mob. 07876 290044   email:  djfreke@gmail.com

NB change of email address

DF 15.10.22

NB   VENUE CHANGE!

Our September meeting on Friday 16^th will be at the METHODIST HALL Southam Road Kineton, usual time 7.30pm.

Our first talk after the summer break will begiven by Norman Hyde entitled Tennis the Leamington Way: the oldest tennis club in the world and it’s importance to Leamington over 170 years.  

Norman will describe how the club has been a significant venue both locally and nationally and how some of its members played an important part in the expansion of the town, the club and town’s role in the establishment and growth of lawn tennis and more

Norman has been a member at the court club for more than 35 years and was its captain for ten years from the late 1990s. He has recently published the history of the club, and he is also known as the motorcyclist who broke the World Sidecar Land Speed Record in 1972 –  a man after my own heart!
^Former club member Alfred Lyttelton. former MP for Warwick and Leamington and the first man to play cricket and football for England.”

Remember the venue has been changed to the Methodist Hall, but refreshments will be available as usual after the talk, courtesy of Ilona. 

KDLHG SUMMER OUTINGS.   

Our last summer visit was an afternoon in Chipping Norton on Friday August 12^th led in lively fashion by Sean Callery, a Blue Badge Guide.  Ten members attended, down from the expected numbers, as illness and the excessive heat (remember that?) understandably kept some members away.  In the event we were able to take advantage of the shade of buildings and trees to stay tolerably comfortable.  Sean showed us the lower parts of the town, not touched by the main road we have all navigated, explaining how settlement moved uphill leaving the earlier settlement as a series of humps in a field adjacent to the church.  The town was a centre for the medieval Cotswold wool trade and the magnificent church of St Mary the Virgin is a result of the prosperity that wool brought. 

It has a rare medieval octagonal porch, with roof bosses depicting grotesques including a lamb savaging/hugging? a wolf – medieval humour or an allegorical reversal of the social order?  A modern feature of the church is a deteriorating 19^th century side-chapel devoted to the Dawkins family – yes, the ancestors of that Dawkins, the famous atheist – apparently the condition of the chapel is the subject of debate between the family and the church authorities.   

In the churchyard are many early gravestones, including a splendid rococo headstone of 1763 commemorating Phillis the wife of John Humphreys, Rat Catcher – he must have been a character of some consequence to have been able to afford such a memorial.   

A little up the hill from the church are the elegant Almshouses – “The Work and Gift of HENRY CORNISH 1640”  –  which still fulfil their original function.  A redundant chimney ensures a pleasing symmetry. 

Just outside the town is Bliss Tweed Mill, with its distinctive domed chimney-base – the plunger –  a landmark for miles around.  The owners built themselves imposing houses opposite one another within sight of the factory, houses between which the workers must have passed twice a day.  Only the gate pillars survive of the largest mansion – look on my works ye mighty  etc.!

Our thanks to Isobel for arranging such a stimulating and informative visit,  which brought to life a town often unjustly considered an impediment to travel.  

A round-up of our Summer visits:  We have been lucky with the weather this year, with all our visits blessed with sunny dry conditions, once possibly too hot, but we must always have a little complaint.  Our guides have been expert founts of information, ranging in date from a deep analysis of iron age and Roman territorial concerns around Ilmington, via the surprising vistas from Pittern Hill,  to the Victorian primary school in Chipping Norton which became a recording studio for Status Quo, Duran Duran, Radio Head and Gerry Raffery among others, and is now a Dental Practice.,

At Ilmington, forsaking the archaeological heights of Windmill Hill, we visited the site of the medieval manor house to viewed a lake, which appears ancient and is surrounded by promising-looking humps and bumps.  It turns out to have been excavated in the 1970s and the bumps are the spoil heaps. 

The church is a treasure trove of architectural features and memorials, perhaps the most poignant is in the churchyard – a fallen headstone dated 1714 which features a skull and crossed bones with an arrow piercing the skull.  Did the unfortunate Mary Snow, who died “in her prime”,  succumb to some sort of head injury or brain disease?  It’s rare for such details about cause of death to be even hinted at on 18^th century memorials. 

 

Our visit to Pittern Hill was on another hot evening, and our guide Brian Lewis was unable to complete the tour, but not before expounding expertly on the development of this little-known area so close to Kineton.  The views from the ridge are wide ranging.  The Listed barn at Longbourne Farm (previously Pittern Hill Farm) has a chequered history, ably researched by Brian.  It still retains its historic character as a rather grand statement representing the flowering of agricultural confidence and prosperity in the early to mid-nineteenth century, cruelly cut down by the rural depression which lasted until the 20^th century. 

The party was quite informal, and near the end a splinter group became engaged in lengthy discussions with a local resident with a remarkable history ….

Our afternoon visit to Chipping Norton was an attempt to widen the appeal to members who might be less willing to come out in evenings, particularly if the weather is less benign than this season’s.   In the event, ironically, the weather proved to be too extreme for some potential attendees, albeit not in the usual wet and windy fashion.  As with many of our visits to “familiar” locations, Chipping Norton turned out to have surprising and fascinating stories to tell, and our Blue Badge Guide, Sean Callery, has other local villages in his repertoire, so we may see more of him in the future.  I am always on the lookout for interesting graffiti in churches and St Mary’s did not disappoint – it contains the only medieval spiral graffiti I have seen in more than 100 local churches I’ve visited.  It’s inscribed on the frame of a door, and is probably a charm to trap the devil,.

Isobel, Rosemary and DF put together a varied and stimulating summer of outings, and we look forward to see what 2023 will bring.

The 2022-23 Programme

Please note that Rosemary Collier and Roy Smart have swapped their October and November dates, the table below is correct

Date	Speaker		Topic
16 September	Norman Hyde		‘Tennis the Leamington Way.’ the oldest tennis club in the world and its importance to Leamington over 170 years.
21 October	Roy Smart		‘David Beatty – The Last Naval Hero’ fame and celebrity following the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history.
18 November	Rosemary Collier		A Potted History of the National Vegetable Research Station, Wellesbourne
9 December	Richard Churchley		‘Christmas Songs Through the Ages’ the Middle Ages to the 1940s
20 Jan 2023	Beat Kümin		‘For a Good Cause – Church Ales and Early Modern Drinking Culture.’
17 Feb 2023	David Fry		The Silk Ribbon Industry of Coventry’
17 March 2023	AGM

Community Archive Project update

As you will know we have been pursuing a project to construct a space in the village hall to house our archives, and those of other village organisations who my wish to store their own archives there.  With the blessing of the Village Hall Association we obtained planning permission in 2019 for an extension to the mezzanine behind the stage.  Covid intervened and the planning permission 3-year timetable to start the project was up on September 3^rd 2022 (covid restrictions meant little could be done for much of that time).  To avoid the hassle and expense of having to re-apply for planning we completed the first stage of the project – the insertion of a new firedoor –  in time to beat the deadline (and the car park works).  

Our thanks to the Village Hall Association and to KADS whose  members cleared the clutter from the backstage space. 

Other Societies’ Events.

Warwickshire Local History Society

Lighthorne History Society Friday 23 Sept, The Czech Army in south Warwickshire in WW II, by John Berkeley, Lighthorne Village Hall, 8 pm.   In World War II 4000 Czech army volunteers escaped Czechoslovakia and formed the Czech Free Army in Britain. Units of their field artillery were trained and quartered in Moreton Hall, Moreton Paddox, Walton Hall and Kineton.

Long Itchington History Group. Wednesday 14th September  “Southam “Bobbies” 100 years of Southam Police.   LindaDoyle,  Village Community Centre,7.30 pm.  £3.00 

Wellesbourne & Walton Local History Group Wednesday 26th October 2022 at 7:30 pm The Mediaeval Wall Paintings in the Guild Chapel Stratford”  Talk by Pamela Devine and Janet Hall

All are welcome –Wellesbourne Village Hall. Entry for non-members £3. Contact Charlie and Peggy Gilbert on 01789 841805 or Email treblig99@outlook.com

Or see their website: sites.google.com/site/wellesbournelocalhistory/

Leamington History Group .  Monday, 26th September  Sir William Lyons and Jaguar Cars,  talk by Tony Merrygold  (Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust). at 7.30 pm at the Oddfellows Hall, New Street.  Refreshments will be available after the meeting.

British Association for Local History.  The Kineton Group is a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members.  Check their website www.balh.org.uk for upcoming talks available virtually.

Gresham College has series of history talks available digitally, here is the next 3 months’ programme

HISTORY LECTURES BY MONTH AT GRESHAM COLLEGE – includes the short link for print: 

September

Weds 14, 6pm Progresses: Royal Courts on the Move in Tudor and Stuart England Professor Simon Thurley; David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/royal-progresses   

Weds 21, 6pm, Gods of Prehistoric Britain Professor Ronald Hutton, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/prehistoric-gods

Tues 27, 6pm,  War and Peace in Europe from Hitler to Putin Professor Richard J Evans, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/hitler-putin 

October

Thurs 6, 6pm, Tuberculosis: A Cultural History Professor Joanna Bourke, Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/tb-history 

Weds 12, 6pm,  The Lost Cities and Amazing Heritage of Kenya, Robin Walker, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/kenya-cities

Mon 17, 6pm, Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, Sudhir Hazareesingh, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/toussaint-louverture

Tues 18, 6pm  Britain’s Foreign Policy in a Fast-Changing World, Peter Ricketts, Mercers’ Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/britains-fp

Thurs 20, 6pm The Politics of Fabric and Fashion in Africa 1960-Today Christine Checinska David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later, gres.hm/africa-fashion

November

Tues 1, 6pm, Partition of British India, 75 Years On Kavita Puri, David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/india-partition

Mon 7, 6pm The Trials of Alexei Navalny Thomas Grant QC  Barnard’s Inn Hall,  Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/navalny-trials

Tues 8, 6pm, Why did Europe’s Economies Diverge from Asia? Professor Martin Daunton, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/diverge-asia

Thurs 10, 6pm, Polio: A Cultural History, Professor Joanna Bourke Barnards’ Inn Hall, Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/polio-history 

Weds 16, 6pm The Irish Question and the Ulster Question Then and Now, Professor Vernon Bogdanor David Game College, Aldgate/ Online/ Watch  Later gres.hm/irish-ulster

Weds 23, 6pm Lives in Limbo: Jewish Refugess in Portugal, 1940-45 Professor Marion Kaplan, Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/refugees-portugal 

December

Mon 5, 6pm London’s Air: The 70th Anniversary of the Great London Smog Visiting Professor Ian Mudway, Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch later  gres.hm/londons-air (this is an Environmental Health Professor, not strictly History, but should be of interest to local societies)

Tues 6, 1pm, The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding by Professor Jolyon Mitchell, Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online/ Watch later  gres.hm/israel-palestine 

Weds 7, 6pm, Paganism in Roman Britain, Professor Ronald Hutton, David Game College/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/paganism-roman  

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

Membership.   If you are, or would like to become, a Member of the group, your 2022 subscription is

due (still £10pa!).  Our Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ,  For queries contact Alec on alec.hitchman@btinternet.com You can also join at any talk.

With our bank now charging for payments by cheque or cash, we would urge those who can to please pay by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.

2022-23 KDLHG Committee

President:                               Dr Robert Bearman MBE                  

Chairman                                David Freke                           

Vice-Chairman                        Roger Gaunt                           

Secretary                                 Ilona Sekacz                           

Treasurer                                Alec Hitchman                       

Outings Secretary                   vacant                                     

Programme Secretary             Claire Roberts                            

Other committee members

Rosemary Collier

Isobel Gill

George Lokuciejewski

Catherine Petrie (PR)

Pamela Redgrave (Membership)

Committee News.  The committee met on September 9^th.  A short report will appear in the October Newsletter

Date of next Committee meeting:  28^th November via Zoom 7.00pm, 

Contact David Freke tel. 01295 670516  mob. 07876 290044   email:  djfreke@gmail.com

                                                                                                     NB change of email address

DF 13.09.22

KDLHG SUMMER OUTINGS.   

Our last summer visit will be an afternoon in Chipping Norton on Friday August 12^th at 2.30pm (£10.00).   We will be shown round the historic town of Chipping Norton by Sean Callery, a Blue Badge Guide.  The town was a centre for the medieval Cotswold wool trade and the magnificent church of St Mary the Virgin is a result of the prosperity that wool brought to the town. 

Also of note are the Almshouses, the Guild Hall and the neoclassical Town Hall.  Just outside the town is Bliss Tweed Mill, with its distinctive domed chimney-base, a landmark for miles around. 

Hear tales of the town that walked up the hill, a policeman saved by a thin skull, how trees cure headaches, and see where a vicar lost out to a king and the sites of an alarming number of riots!  .

Meet at New Street Car Park (free), in Hill Lawn Ct,  OX7 5NF opposite the entrance to Sainsbury’s car park.

NB meeting time 2.30pm

Report on our 15^th July outing exploring the new bridleway on Pittern Hill. 

Our former Chairman Brian Lewis has spent two decades campaigning and researching the historic bridleway on Pittern Hill above Kineton.  He has produced an attractive and informative guide to the features to be seen from the bridleway and its associated footpaths.  On a very hot evening Brian came to introduce the walk at the foot of Pittern Hill, leaving us to walk up past the forage tower (constructed from the top down!) and past Pittern Hill House and stables, now being converted to residential use.   Brian and Daphne rejoined us at the top of the hill and accompanied us for the first few hundred yards of the bridleway.  Unfortunately Brian became unwell, and was helped down the field, to be rescued by Daphne in their car, after being rested in a garden chair borrowed from Longbourne Farm’s garden.  I’m pleased to report that he made a full recovery.  So we lost our guide, but not before we had had the benefit of his detailed knowledge of the Pittern Hill landscape and its development.  The bridleway showed clearly as a wide stony track, winding past a windmill mound, reliably identified, as Brian has tracked down an historic map showing a windmill in approximately this location.  Passing the cows (and a distant bull) we viewed Pittern Hill Farm (now named Longbourne Farm) and its rather grand listed barn.  Brian gave us a full history of farm and its agricultural context. 

Our route then passed the site of Brookhampton Roman villa, which is large enough to compare with the recently discovered Broughton Estate villa.  We followed Brookhampton Lane before diving down past the sewage works to the River Dene, and then up again to King John’s Mound at the end of Castle Road.  This motte and bailey castle may or may not have anything to do with King John (see the similarly named King John’s Well nearby, and King John’s Lane in Edgehill).  The castle could be related to the anarchy of Stephen’s reign (1135-1154) or the rebellion in John’s (1199-1216), and is more likely to have been a local lord’s response to unrest rather than either King’s personal initiative.  Our recent talk by Ann Langley on allotments is relevant to Castle Road, which occupies the site of allotments visible on post-war aerial photos.  Our thanks to Brian and Daphne for enabling such an informative trip, I’m sure everybody present learned some surprising things about the immediate environs of the village.

The 2022-23 Programme

Date	Speaker	Topic
12 August 2.30pm	Sean Callery	Walk around Chipping Norton
16 September	Norman Hyde	‘Tennis the Leamington Way.’ the oldest tennis club in the world and its importance to Leamington over 170 years.
21 October	Rosemary Collier	A Potted History of the National Vegetable Research Station, Wellesbourne
18 November	Roy Smart	‘David Beatty – The Last Naval Hero’ fame and celebrity following the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history.
9 December	Richard Churchley	‘Christmas Songs Through the Ages’ the Middle Ages to the 1940s
20 Jan 2023	Beat Kümin	‘For a Good Cause – Church Ales and Early Modern Drinking Culture.’
17 Feb 2023	David Fry	The Silk Ribbon Industry of Coventry’
17 March 2023	AGM

Other Societies’ Events.

Alcester and District Local History Society 

Wednesday 10^th August.  The South Warwickshire Coin Hoard by Dr Stanley Ireland,  St Benedict’s High School, Alcester, 7.30pm.  The topic of this talk is the large hoard of Roman coins found locally during archaeological excavations and now on display in Warwick Museum.  

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.  Their summer outing to Middleton Hall, Tamworth, is planned for September 7^th from 11.00am to 4.00pm: A morning tour of the hall followed by members’ choice of packed lunch or lunch in the cafe, with access to the hall and gardens for the rest of the day. 

Join Middleton Hall’s expert volunteer tour guides as they lead you on a journey through the Hall’s fascinating history which encompasses 900 years of exploration, discoveries and quirky characters. The oldest building on site dates back to 1285 and is believed to be the oldest domestic building in North Warwickshire. After a group tour in the morning you will then be free to explore the house and gardens at your leisure for the remainder of the day.  Price: WLHS members: £13.75; non WLHS members: £15.75. 

Ticket price includes tea and coffee on arrival, morning guided tour and access to house and gardens for remainder of the day.  It does NOT include lunch but you can either bring your own lunch to eat in their outdoor picnic area or visit the café nearby.

The buildings of Middleton Hall are grade II* listed and there are multiple steep staircases, no lifts and areas of uneven ground. All tours involve a considerable amount of walking, are up to 75 minutes long and are unsuitable for those with mobility limitations. However, an alternative ground floor Hall tour can be arranged in advance and there is an interactive tour available in the entrance.

Booking details are included on the Middleton Hall booking form.   Please visit WLHS’s Eventbrite page: WLHS Members,’ Meeting Tickets, Eventbrite, to register your interest for this talk.  A link and joining instructions will then be sent to you a few days before the event.

Lighthorne History Society Friday 23 Sept, The Czech Army in south Warwickshire in WW II, by John Berkeley, Lighthorne Village Hall, 8 pm.   In World War II 4000 Czech army volunteers escaped Czechoslovakia and formed the Czech Free Army in Britain. Units of their field artillery were trained and quartered in Moreton Hall, Moreton Paddox, Walton Hall and Kineton.

Long Itchington History Group. Wednesday 14th September  “Southam “Bobbies” 100 years of Southam Police.   LindaDoyle,  Village Community Centre,7.30 pm.  £3.00 

Kenilworth History and Archaeology Society.  Monday12th Sept.  Coventry in the Civil War John Chester.  We meet at 7.30pm for a prompt start at 7.45 in The Senior Citizens’ Club off Abbey End Car Park, behind The Almanack in Kenilworth Town Centre. All are welcome. Entry is free for members and entry for non-members costs £2.

Wellesbourne & Walton Local History Group Wednesday 26th October 2022 at 7:30 pm The Mediaeval Wall Paintings in the Guild Chapel Stratford”  Talk by Pamela Devine and Janet Hall

All are welcome –Wellesbourne Village Hall. Entry for non-members £3. Contact Charlie and Peggy Gilbert on 01789 841805 or Email treblig99@outlook.com

Or see our website: sites.google.com/site/wellesbournelocalhistory/

Leamington History Group .  Monday, 26th September  Sir William Lyons and Jaguar Cars,  talk by Tony Merrygold  (Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust). at 7.30 pm at the Oddfellows Hall, New Street.  Refreshments will be available after the meeting.

 

The Sealed Knot.  Sunday .August 28 – Monday August 29 The Battle of Edgehill.   THE BATTLE of EDGEHILL is brought to life with a major battle of musket, pike, canon and cavalry.   Come and see the civilian and military displays. Hosted by Oliver Cromwell’s Brigade. 

At Home Farm, Compton Verney, Warks.  CV35 9HJ

British Association for Local History.  The Kineton Group is a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members.  Check their website www.balh.org.uk for upcoming talks available virtually.

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

Membership.   If you are, or would like to become, a Member of the group, your 2022 subscription is

due (still £10pa!).  Our Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ,  For queries contact Alec on alec.hitchman@btinternet.com You can also join at any talk.

With our bank now charging for payments by cheque or cash, we would urge those who can to please pay by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.

2022-23 KDLHG Committee

President:                               Dr Robert Bearman MBE                  

Chairman                                David Freke                           

Vice-Chairman                        Roger Gaunt                           

Secretary                                 Ilona Sekacz                           

Treasurer                                Alec Hitchman                       

Outings Secretary                   vacant                                     

Programme Secretary             Claire Roberts                            

Other committee members

Rosemary Collier

Isobel Gill

George Lokuciejewski

Catherine Petrie (PR)

Pamela Redgrave (Membership)

Committee News.  There has been no committee meeting since the July Newsletter report

Date of next Committee meeting:  5^th September via Zoom 7.00pm, 

Contact David Freke tel. 01295 670516  mob. 07876 290044  

email:  djfreke@gmail.com NB change of email address

DF 02.08.22

NEWSLETTER  12 July 2022

K&DLHG SUMMER OUTINGS.   

Our July outing will explore the new bridleway on Pittern Hill (6.30pm July 15^th,  £5.00). 

Our long-term member and previous Chairman, Brian Lewis, spent two decades campaigning to re-establish the historic bridleway on Pittern Hill above Kineton.  It was eventually added to the Definitive Map of footpaths by the Highways Authority in 2019.  The route gives great views of the village and the wider landscape as well as encompassing many historic features researched and described by Brian in an informative leaflet. 

The route passes the site of a Roman villa, which is grand enough to compare with the recently discovered Broughton Estate villa.  Other features include evidence of medieval farming, a 19^th century “model” farm, an Edwardian Arts and Crafts house, evidence of Kineton’s early water supply systems, as well as the sites of wind and water mills, and the railway.

Meet at the entrance to Alchemie at the bottom of Pittern Hill, 6.30pm  

NB The route involves some steep places.

Our last summer visit will be an afternoon in Chipping Norton (August 12^th 2.30pm, £10.00).   Click here to view flier for more details. 

To book for these outings email djfreke@gmail.com and either pay on arrival, or by BACS direct to our bank account: Kineton and District Local History Group, sort code:  40-43-19,  business acc. no. 71281992.  Please indicate what your payment is for.

Report on our Friday 17^th June visit to the village of Ilmington,  The street layout reflects its medieval origins, but there are prehistoric, Roman and Saxon elements in its history.   Our guide, archaeologist Brian Brock, was keen to establish the long view of Ilmington’s past, literally – he marched us up to the top of a hill to demonstrate the landscape context, which clearly affected the early settlements and communications.  He made a convincing case for the area being a bridge between large territories to the east and the west, connected by sight lines and long distance routeways.  He treated a kissing gate, isolated in the middle of a wheat field, as a lectern, and pointed out the extent of a Roman site, not a “fort” despite being bounded by large ditches, all now invisible beneath the ripening cereal.  He then marched us down the hill again to the village.  The original medieval main street now peters out to become a footpath alongside a ditch behind the manor.  The site of an earlier moated manor house is now confused by a large modern pond and humps and bumps of excavated material. 

In the church Brian presented a collection of items collected from the fields, from Mesolithic flints to medieval pottery.  Ilmington had a strong catholic presence throughout the religious controversies of the early modern period, and several 17^th and 18^th catholic memorials can be seen in the church, identifiable by the inclusion of cross symbols and RIP inscriptions.

Brian’s enthusiasm for the light which these artefacts can throw on Ilmington’s past was infectious, but Our July outing will explore the new bridleway on Pittern Hill (6.30pm July 15^th,  £5.00). ultimately time was called by his wife, who arrived to draw the visit to a close.  

Our thanks to Rosemary Collier for her efforts in organising a fascinating evening.

The 2022-23 Programme

15 July  6.30pm	Brian Lewis	Pittern Hill bridleway walk
12 August 2.30pm	Sean Callery	Walk around Chipping Norton
16 September	Norman Hyde	‘Tennis the Leamington Way.’ the oldest tennis club in the world and its importance to Leamington over 170 years.
21 October	Rosemary Collier	A Potted History of the National Vegetable Research Station, Wellesbourne
18 November	Roy Smart	‘David Beatty – The Last Naval Hero’ fame and celebrity following the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history.
9 December	Richard Churchley	‘Christmas Songs Through the Ages’ the Middle Ages to the 1940s
20 Jan 2023	Beat Kümin	‘For a Good Cause – Church Ales and Early Modern Drinking Culture.’
17 Feb 2023	David Fry	The Silk Ribbon Industry of Coventry’
17 March 2023	AGM

Membership.   If you are, or would like to become, a Member of the group, your 2022 subscription is due (still £10pa!).  Our Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ,  For queries contact Alec on alec.hitchman@btinternet.com You can also join at any talk.

 With our bank now charging for payments by cheque or cash, we would urge those who can to please pay by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.

Other Societies’ Events.

Wednesday 10^th August  Alcester and district Local History Society  The South Warwickshire Coin Hoard by Dr Stanley Ireland,  St Benedict’s High School, Alcester, 7.30pm.  The topic of this talk is the large hoard of Roman coins found locally during excavations.

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.

Sat  16 July 2022 Edgehill BattlefieldWalk. 

• 

Please visit WLHS’s Eventbrite page: WLHS Members,’ Meeting Tickets, Eventbrite, to register your interest for this talk.  A link and joining instructions will then be sent to you a few days before the event. https://www.warwickshirehistory.org.uk

British Association for Local History.  The Kineton Group is also a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members. 

Check their website www.balh.org.uk for upcoming talks available virtually.

Don’t forget to check our own website at: Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

2022-23 KDLHG Committee

President:                     Dr Robert Bearman MBE                  

Chairman                     David Freke               Other committee members

Vice-Chairman             Roger Gaunt               Rosemary Collier 

Secretary                     Ilona Sekacz              Isobel Gill

Treasurer                     Alec Hitchman            George Lokuciejewski

Outings Secretary       vacant                        Catherine Petrie (PR)

 Programme Secretary Claire Roberts    Pamela Redgrave

(Membership)       

Committee News.  The committee met, via Zoom, on 11^th July.  The treasurer confirmed that our financial situation remains healthy, and that our membership stands at 60.  Sources of funding for the Archive Room construction were considered, and an application to Stratford District Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund was agreed, as was a raffle at each meeting, starting in September.  We need to start the project on site to avoid having to re-apply for planning permission, and it was agreed to commission the installation of the new firedoor.  Claire provided a list of potential speakers for 2022-23 and a shortlist was agreed for Claire to commence booking. Options for outings in 2023 were discussed, and several committee members offering to explore contacts.  

Date of next Committee meeting:  5^th September via Zoom 7.00pm, 

Contact David Freke tel 01295 670516  mob. 07876 290044   email:  djfreke@gmail.com

                                                                                                     NB change of email address

DF 12.07.22

K&DLHG SUMMER OUTINGS.   Our first summer outing of 2022, on Friday 17^th June, is to the village of Ilmington, just the other side of Halford.  The street layout reflects its medieval origins, but there are prehistoric, Roman and Saxon elements in its history.  Ilmington also had a strong catholic presence throughout the religious controversies of the early modern period.  We will be led by Brian Brock, meeting 6.30pm at the Red Lion, in Front Street – medieval “Back End”!.  Cost £5.00

Our outings in July and August are to explore the new bridleway on Pittern Hill (6.30pm July 15^th,  £5.00) and an afternoon in Chipping Norton (August 12^th 2.30pm, £10.00).   A flier is attached with more details.  To book for any of these outings email djfreke@gmail.com and either pay on arrival, or by BACS direct to our bank account: Kineton and District Local History Group, sort code:  40-43-19,  business acc. no. 71281992.  Please indicate what your payment is for.

Report on April’s talk and performance by Alan Benjamin, entitled The History and Music of Morris Dancing .  Alan’s presentation was as informal and entertaining as we anticipated.  He took us through the history of the traditional instruments, playing several pipes (including one with only one hole), and the melodion.  He demonstrated the different rhythms of the “chorus” and “figure” which are repeated throughout each dance.  The importance of hats he demonstrated by showing his own very battered example.  We learned the role of the fool, and the captain.  He was cautious about determining the origin of the name Morris.  The Oxford English Dictionary comes down in favour of “Moorish” with the earliest literary reference dating from 1458, probably initially in the sense of “outlandish” rather than suggesting that English Morris dancing was actually similar to the dances of the Moors.  Alan recounted the different forms the dance has taken in different regions, –  the multicoloured streamers and black faces (now eye-masks) in Ludlow and the clogs in the north.  He related the Morris dancing  phenomenon to the early 20^th century revival of folk dance and song spearheaded by Cecil Sharpe, culminating in the publication of The National Song Book, which many of us remember from our school days.  Ilona briefly abandoned her tea and coffee preparations to thank Alan for a splendidly informative and entertaining evening.

Report on May 20^th talk The Early Allotments in Warwickshire by Anne Langley.  Anne gave us a thoroughly researched account of the development of local allotments, from informal grants compensating agricultural workers for the loss of grazing and other rights s a result of enclosures, to the formation of Allotment Associations.  During the enclosures of the 19^th century landlords were obliged to let small areas of land to the parish poor to help eke out their meagre wages or inadequate poor relief.  These plots were sometimes called “field gardens”.  Other names such as The Poor and The Promised Land (both names occur in Tysoe parish) indicate areas of allotments.  Early allotment landlords made rules governing who would be eligible (church-going often obligatory), what holders could do and when they could it (eg Sabbath observance restrictions), and what they could do with their produce.  Even the most enlightened regulations would seem to us to be paternalistic.  Our own local political activists, Joseph Ashby of Tysoe and Joseph Arch from Barford, both came from farm labouring backgrounds, and campaigned for allotments, among other issues, supported by Edward Raleigh Bolton King a major landowner in Chadshunt, who established allotments in Gaydon.  A series of acts of parliament in the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries have attempted to regulate the legal aspects of allotments but some are still under threat, as in Wellesbourne, where many of our members will have noticed the “Save Our Allotments” sign on the approach to the village.      

2022-3 Programme:  NB The October and November talks have been swapped around, the table below is correct at the time of writingthe  

17 June 6.30pm	Brian Brock	Walk around Ilmington
15 July  6.30pm	Brian Lewis	Pittern Hill bridleway walk
12 August 2.30pm	Sean Callery	Walk around Chipping Norton
16 September	Norman Hyde	‘Tennis the Leamington Way.’ the oldest tennis club in the world and its importance to Leamington over 170 years.
21 October	Rosemary Collier	A Potted History of the National Vegetable Research Station, Wellesbourne
18 November	Roy Smart	‘David Beatty – The Last Naval Hero’ fame and celebrity following the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history.
9 December	Richard Churchley	‘Christmas Songs Through the Ages’ the Middle Ages to the 1940s
20 Jan 2023	Beat Kümin	‘For a Good Cause – Church Ales and Early Modern Drinking Culture.’
17 Feb 2023	David Fry	The Silk Ribbon Industry of Coventry’
17 March 2023	AGM

Membership.   If you are, or would like to become, a Member of the group, your 2022 subscription is due (still £10pa!).  Our Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ,  For queries contact Alec on alec.hitchman@btinternet.com You can also join at any talk.

 With our bank now charging for payments by cheque or cash, we would urge those who can to please pay by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.

Other Societies’ Events.

Saturday July 2^nd CBA West Midlands  AGM and Summer Field Day. 

The Making of Tysoe Project is an ambitious community project and the day is being run in collaboration with the Tysoe Heritage Research Group

‘CBA West Midlands members and members of the community are invited to join with the Tysoe Heritage Research Group to hear more about the project and its work to date. There will be several short talks in the morning to explain what is being done, while the afternoon will include a walk around parts of the village to look at its historic setting, and visits to look at the church, and a demonstration of our work to record the graveyard around the church. There will also be a display of finds from field walking, and other materials, that may be visited throughout the day.’ 

The venue has been confirmed at the Tysoe C of E Primary School, School Lane, Tysoe , CV35 0SD.  Non-CBA West Midland members are welcome to this free event.  Booking via Eventbrite preferred:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cba-west-midlands-summer-field-day-2022-tysoe-warwickshire-tickets-339898283917

or use the booking form above.

Monday 27^th June.   Leamington History Group.  Fetch the Engine: a history of firefighting in Warwickshire by Mike Bunn.  Oddfellows Hall, New Street, Leamington, 7.30pm

Wednesday 10^th August  Alcester and district Local History Society  The South Warwickshire Coin Hoard by Dr Stanley Ireland,  St Benedict’s High School, Alcester, 7.30pm.  The topic of this talk is the large hoard of Roman coins found locally during excavations.

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.

Sat  16 July 2022 Edgehill BattlefieldWalk. 

Please visit WLHS’s Eventbrite page: WLHS Members,’ Meeting Tickets, Eventbrite, to register your interest for this talk.  A link and joining instructions will then be sent to you a few days before the event.

Sunday 19^th June  National Gardens Scheme  Maxstoke Castle Open Day  Castle and gardensopen between 11.00am and 5.00pm by kind permission of the Fetherston-Dilke family.  Adults £8.00 concessions £5.00.  No wheelchair access inside, and no dogs. Proceeds to Centre of England Riding for the Disabled, and National Garden Scheme

Saturday 9^th July  MoD DM Kineton Station Open Day celebrating 100 years of ammunition technical training in the British Army.  Flypast, bands, parachute display, refreshments, military stands, children’s entertainment.  Gates open 12 noon, Marlborough Barracks, CV47 2UL

British Association for Local History.  The Kineton Group is also a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members. 

Check their website www.balh.org.uk for upcoming talks available virtually.

Warwickshire in WWII

The link below takes you to a fascinating article about WWII in the locality, keep going to the end to read about PoW Camp 31 at Ettington. 

https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/doorstep-history-german-soldiers-buried-warwickshire?fbclid=IwAR2glVLC2bOpFyt0W1hkJRPiG_zjVhlc7d-y4KjAfZ3uBySlvBj7w63esv0

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

2022-23 KDLHG Committee

President:                               Dr Robert Bearman MBE                  

Chairman                                David Freke                            Other committee members

 Vice-Chairman                       Roger Gaunt                           Rosemary Collier 

Secretary                                 Ilona Sekacz                           George Lokuciejewski           

Treasurer                                Alec Hitchman                         Catherine Petrie

 Outings Secretary                   vacant                                     Pamela Redgrave       

  Programme Secretary            Claire Roberts                        Isobel Gill

Committee News.  The committee met via Zoom on 14^th March.

Date of next Committee meeting:  11^th July via Zoom 4.00pm, 

Contact David Freke tel 01295 670516  mob. 07876 290044   email:  djfreke@gmail.com

NB change of email address

NEWSLETTER, 18th April 2022

I hope you all took advantage of the untypically good weather we enjoyed  over the Bank Holiday weekend. The spring has decided it’s OK come out.

Morris Dancing, like Mumming, is a rural tradition that has undergone a revival, and enthusiasts are often quite evangelical.  Again, some will remember Stephen Wass and his lively performance in a horse costume, prior to persuading some of our members to risk their fingers in a stick bashing dance (see picture for an idea of how it should be done).

At present there are no mandatory covid-related restrictions on the use of the village hall, so we expect to present a normal evening, with refreshments.  However, we advise that masks be worn when moving around, unless taking refreshments, and that the hand washing facilities be used. 

Review of AGM 18^th March  

The AGM was overseen by David Freke as our President was unable to attend, but Robert Bearman had agreed to continue to serve as President for the coming year.  The agenda and the Chairman’s and Treasurer’s reports had been circulated, and were approved unanimously.  Peter Waters retired from the committee and was thanked for his contributions to the group in this capacity for 6 years,  He has generously agreed to continue to audit our accounts.  The meeting elected the following committee:

President:	Robert Bearman MBE
Chairman:	David Freke
Vice-Chairman:	Roger Gaunt
Secretary:	Ilona Sekacz
Treasurer:	Alec Hitchman
Outings Secretary:	Vacant
Programme Secretary:	Claire Roberts
Other committee members:
Rosemary Collier
George Lokuciejewski
Catherine Petrie
Pamela Redgrave
Isobel Gill

The AGM was followed by James Ranahan’s postponed talk The Photographer’s Gaze: viewing Warwickshire since 1839.  James’s position as archivist at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and previously the Photographic Archivist at the Library of Birmingham, has given him intimate knowledge of the major collections of historic photographs of the West Midlands and Warwickshire.  He used this experience to illustrate how individual local photographers exploited technical advances and how they approached the subjects of their photographs — “the photographers’ gaze”. 

The earliest photographers captured notable individuals and places, but this was quickly followed by attempts to emulate “fine art”, with posed compositions of subjects familiar to Victorian Royal Academicians.  These often required the compilation of multiple images to render the subject, and we saw an affecting sickbed scene by Henry Peach Robinson which could have been a painting..  Views of local tourist beauty spots became important as people acquired greater mobility through the bicycle, the charabanc and the motor car.  The rise of the photograph as record was shown with a picture bowler-hatted archaeologists from 1923.  This function continues to this day of course, and James showed an example of an aerial photograph, still an important branch of archaeological investigation.  Major enterprises use photographs as records and PR, and we saw historic pictures of RSC productions – Paul Robeson as Othello for example. 

The introduction of the Kodak Box Brownie (1900) and 120mm roll film brought photography to the masses, and “snaps” are still a part of most people’s personal archive, although now these are more likely to be digital and stored on phones than in family albums.   James’s review of almost two centuries of photography showed how a once elite occupation for specialists has become completely a part of everyday life, to the point where sometimes it seems more important to digitally record (and share) an event than actually experience it!  Steve gale gave our vote of thanks, pointing out that it is estimated that about 55,000 pictures are taken every second, over 90% on smart phones.

2022-3 Programme: 

22 April	Alan Benjamin	‘The History and Music of Morris Dancing’ with instrumental accompaniment.
20 May	Anne Langley	‘Early allotments in Warwickshire’ a major institution of Victorian village life
17th June	6.30pm	Guided walk around Ilmington
July	tbc
12 August	2.30 pm	Walk around Chipping Norton with Blue Badge guide
16 September	Norman Hyde	‘Tennis the Leamington Way.’ the oldest tennis club in the world and its importance to Leamington over 170 years.
21 October	Roy Smart	‘David Beatty – The Last Naval Hero’ fame and celebrity following the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history.
18 November	Rosemary Collier	A Potted History of the National Vegetable research Station, Wellesbourne
9 December	Richard Churchley	‘Christmas Songs Through the Ages’ the Middle Ages to the 1940s
20 Jan 2023	Beat Kümin	‘For a Good Cause – Church Ales and Early Modern Drinking Culture.’
17 Feb 2023	David Fry	The Silk Ribbon Industry of Coventry’
17 March 2023	AGM

Membership.   If you are, or would like to become, a Member of the group, your 2022 subscription is due (still £10pa!).  Our Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ,

With our bank now charging for payments by cheque or cash, we would urge those who can to please pay by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.

You can join at any talk.

Other Society Events.

Warmington Heritage Group

Thursday April 21st^th Chris Pickford Notable Buildings of Warwickshire. in the Village Hall at 7.30pm

Thursday May 19^th  Jude Barrett Art and Archaeology in the Village Hall at 7.30pm

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.

Tue 26 April 2022 at 19:30 The next WLHG talk via Zoom :is by Maria Tauber Sir Roger Newdigate at Arbury.  Go to  www.warwickshirehistory.org.uk  for link to join the meeting

British Association for Local History.  The Kineton Group is also a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members. 

Check their website www.balh.org.ukf or upcoming talks available virtually.

Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society

Wednesday  20^th April 7.00pm. Online only: David Freke Medieval Grafitti of South Warwickshire Churches  Email frekedj@globalnet.co.uk  for link to join this free talk.  

Warwickshire in WWII

The link below takes you to a fascinating article about WWII in the locality, keep going to the end to read about PoW Camp 31 at Ettington. 

https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/doorstep-history-german-soldiers-buried-warwickshire?fbclid=IwAR2glVLC2bOpFyt0W1hkJRPiG_zjVhlc7d-y4KjAfZ3uBySlvBj7w63esv0

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

Committee News.  The committee met 14^th March via Zoom 4.00pm. 

Date of next Committee meeting.  9th May.  Venue tbc

DF 19.04.22

Contact:  David Freke   tel: 07876 290044…Email frekedj@globalnet.co.uk

Our AGM will take place on Friday 19^th March in the Village hall at 7.30pm, followed by the talk by James Ranahan, postponed from last month. 

The AGM Agenda, the,Minutes of the 2021 AGM,  the reviewed 2021 Accounts, and the Chairman’s and Treasurer’s reports will be circulated in the next few days in order to make the AGM business as brief as possible. The main business of the AGM will be to accept these reports and elect a committee for 2022-23  

All members of the present committee are standing for re-election:

David Freke Chair,                                        

Roger Gaunt Vice Chair,                               

Alec Hitchman Treasurer,                               

Ilona Sekacz Secretary,                                 

Claire Roberts Programme Secretary,           

Catherine Petrie PR,

Pamela Redgrave Membership Secretary,

Isobel Gill,

Rosemary Collier,

George Lokuciewski, 

Peter Waters

                                    ,

Nominations to the 2022-23 committee are invited and may be proposed and seconded at the meeting.  Please consider joining us.

DEJA VUE! (appropriate for a talk on photography)

Following our AGM  James Ranahan, has kindly agreed to give his postponed talk The Photographer’s Gaze: viewing Warwickshire since 1839 . 

He will take us back into the Warwickshire of the last century and a half.   This is a period of Warwickshire’s boomtime, for some, and then bust, for some, and change, for all.  In the 19^th century the industrial towns benefitted from new canal and railway transport links, with the north Warwickshire coalfield fuelling huge urban population growth.  In the late twentieth century de-industrialisation forced radical changes on these communities.  Agricultural fortunes grew until the middle of the 19^th century, then dipped to desperate straits for landowners and agricultural workers at the end of the century.  In the twentieth century the two World Wars impacted on Warwickshire in ways which left permanent changes in the landscape and society.  Our own member Roger Butler has shown us historic images of local canals thriving with commercial traffic, becoming abandoned and lost in derelict wastelands and then reviving as amenities at the centre of leisure and retail activities (think Banbury).   Increasingly we use photographs to chart change – our own “snapshot” of Kineton 10 years ago is already, inevitably, an historic record. 

Photographs have increasingly documented these changes, and by the 21^st century photography has changed from its original elite specialist pursuit to a ubiquitous reflex available to anybody with a smart phone.  James’ title “The photographer’s gaze …” suggests that he will consider what subjects photographers have chosen to focus on and how they have presented them –  which of the infinity of possible views have they selected and frozen for posterity?  And how have these choices themselves changed over time?   James’ work is looking after these records.  He is an archivist with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, specialising in the photographic records, and was previously for many years the Photographic Archivist at the Birmingham Library. We are eager to hear his postponed presentation.

At present there are no mandatory covid-related restrictions on the use of the village hall, so we expect to present a normal evening, with refreshments.  However, we advise that masks be worn when moving around, unless taking refreshments, and that the hand washing facilities be used.  Seats will be spaced, although not at the previous 2m distance. 

2022-3 Programme: 

Mar 18	AGM, followed by James Ranahan	The Photographer’s Gaze: Viewing Warwickshire Since 1839
22 April	Alan Benjamin	‘The History and Music of Morris Dancing’ with instrumental accompaniment.
20 May	Anne Langley	‘Early allotments in Warwickshire’ a major institution of Victorian village life
June/July	tbc	Walk around Ilmington  (date and time tbc) Visit to Brailes  (date and time tbc)
12 August	2.30 pm	Walk around Chipping Norton with Blue Badge guide
16 September	Norman Hyde	‘Tennis the Leamington Way.’ the oldest tennis club in the world and its importance to Leamington over 170 years.
21 October	Roy Smart	‘David Beatty – The Last Naval Hero’ fame and celebrity following the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle in history.
18 November	Rosemary Collier	The History of the Royal Horticultural Research Institute, Wellesbourne
9 December	Richard Churchley	‘Christmas Songs Through the Ages’ the Middle Ages to the 1940s
20 Jan 2023	Beat Kumin	‘For a Good Cause – Church Ales and Early Modern Drinking Culture.’
17 Feb 2023	David Fry	The Silk Ribbon Industry of Coventry’
17 March 2023	AGM

Membership.   If you are, or would like to become, a Member of the group, your 2022 subscription is due (still £10pa!).  Our Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ,  or by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.

Or you can join at any talk.

Other Society Events.

Warmington Heritage Group

Thursday March 17^th  in the Village Hall at 7.30pm

Professor Andrew Hopper of Oxford University , Principal Investigator of AHRC Project, ‘Conflict, Welfare and Memory during and after the English Civil Wars, 1642-1710’ www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk will talk about ‘The Human Costs of the British Civil Wars’ (based on the Civil War Petitions Project), to include some reference to our own area.

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.

Tue 15 Mar 2022 at 19:30 The next WLHG talk via Zoom :.

Two short presentations by members, on aspects of current research.

‘Rokeby Camp, Rugby’, Christine Howling considers this local example of the 1946 Squatters’ Movement.

‘Warwickshire’s pioneering role in the development of dog shows’.   In the month that Crufts is hosted by the N.E.C. at Bickenhill, Ruth Barbour discusses the county’s contribution to the development of dog shows.

Please visit WLHS’s Eventbrite page:WLHS Members,’ Meeting Tickets, Eventbrite, to register your interest for this talk.  A link and joining instructions will then be sent to you a few days before the lecture.  Non-members are welcome to attend online meetings free of charge, for a limited time and subject to ticket availability. Annual Members’ Meeting.

Tuesday 26 April 2022           Annual General Meeting.  Speaker to be confirmed

Saturday 7 May 2022  Edgehill Battlefield Walk, A morning outing followed by optional lunch.  Led by Martin Russell, the Vice President of Shipston and District Local History Society (this finishes at the local pub and members can choose to stay for lunch if they wish).  Full details and prices to be confirmed.  

 

The Dugdale Society

Loss Accounts Project

Those who have an interest in the Civil War, and Edgehill in particular, may be pleased to know that the project to transcribe loss accounts that David Beaumont and Catherine Petrie were involved in is now complete and there will be an on-line launch on Saturday 26 March 2022 from 2.30pm to 3.30pm.    Please click on the link below on Saturday 26 March to join the on-line event.  Further details of the event are set out in the attached ‘flyer’.

Click here to join the Live Event

Please ensure that you access the link (which uses Microsoft Teams) before 2.30pm on Saturday 26^th March. You will be held in a waiting room and the host will let you in just before 2.30pm when the event is due to start.  Please ensure your microphone and camera are switched off when you join.

This project, created and managed by Dr Maureen Harris, ran from June 2018 to June 2020.  It was supported by the Friends of the Warwickshire County Record Office and the Dugdale Society, and received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.   

With support from County Record Office staff and experienced project ‘assistants’, Maureen led a team of volunteers from across the county (including members of the Friends) in exploring the human cost of the First Civil War through transcribing and tabulating the ‘Loss Accounts’ and researching the people and events they discovered within them.  The ‘Loss Accounts’ itemise the financial and material losses sustained by local inhabitants through Parliamentary activity before and during the First English Civil War between 1642 and 1646.

British Association for Local History.  The Kineton Group is also a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members. 

Check their website www.balh.org.uk for upcoming talks available virtually.

Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society

Tuesday 5^th April  7.00pm Medieval Grafitti of South Warwickshire Churches by David Freke

Venue St John’s House Museum Warwick.  For tickets see website www.bwas-online.co.uk

Tickets bookable from BWAS website.

 

Warwickshire in WWII

The link below takes you to a fascinating article about WWII in the locality, keep going to the end to read about PoW Camp 31 at Ettington. 

https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/doorstep-history-german-soldiers-buried-warwickshire?fbclid=IwAR2glVLC2bOpFyt0W1hkJRPiG_zjVhlc7d-y4KjAfZ3uBySlvBj7w63esv0

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

 

OBITUARIES

Three of our long-standing members, each of whom contributed greatly to the group, have passed away in the last month.  Bob Crockett, who many of you will remember regularly maned the kitchen with his wife Doreen, has died after suffering for some years with Alzheimers Disease.  Our sympathies are with Doreen.  Richard Hurley who retired as our Treasurer in November 2018, died in early March after suffering a very aggressive brain tumour.  Again ,our thoughts are with Brownwen and his family.  Both in their different ways were stalwart members of the group of many years standing, and though for different reasons we have not seen them at our meetings for several years, they are missed. 

 

2021-22 KDLHG Committee

President:                               Robert Bearman MBE           

Chairman                               David Freke                            

Vice-Chairman                        Roger Gaunt                           

Secretary                               Ilona Sekacz                                      

Treasurer                                Alec Hitchman                        

Outings Secretary                   Isobel Gill                                    

Programme Secretary             Claire Roberts                               

Other committee members

Rosemary Collier    

George Lokuciejewski 

Catherine Petrie     

Pamela Redgrave  

Peter Waters                                                                                                     

Committee News.  The committee last met via Zoom on 17^th January and a summary was included in the January Newsletter.

Date of next Committee meeting:  14^th March via Zoom 4.00pm,  NB change of time

DF 11.03. 22

Contact:  David Freke   tel: 07876 290044

Email frekedj@globalnet.co.uk

NEWSLETTER 10th October 2021

October Evening Talk. Our next session in the Village Hall on Friday 15^th October at 7.30pm will be led by Michal Luntley with his folk trio, in an evening entitled From This Ground: songs and stories about 19^thcentury Warwickshire agricultural workers. The 19^th century saw a see-saw in the fortunes of the farming community. The mid-century was a period of prosperity innovation and expansion, at least for estate owners, but from the 1870s there was a catastrophic downturn. The late 19^th century saw a great agricultural depression when labourers wages were often at poverty level.

Activists from our part of Warwickshire played a significant role in the reform of these conditions, started by representatives who came from the agricultural labouring community. Joseph Arch of Barford founded the National Agricultural Labourers Union and became an MP, and Joseph Ashby of Tysoe was a liberal social reformer who championed the agricultural workers’ cause.

The conditions of work, the low wages and the poor state of rural homes, often tied cottages, were the subjects of several inquiries and reports, both official and personal, and cases of hardship were commonplace. Emigration was often the only sensible recourse and villagers from our area migrated to Canada, Australia and New Zealand in search of better lives. From This Ground will include songs, stories and poems about this period of our history, a period which ultimately ushered in the great improvements in agricultural workers’ conditions and wages in the early 20^th century.

At present there are no mandatory covid-related restrictions on the use of the village hall, so we expect to present a normal evening. However, we advise that masks should be worn, and that the hand washing facilities be used. Please wrap up warmly as the hall will be ventilated. To minimise risk there will be no tea and biscuits, sorry.

Report on September meeting. Peter Coulls described the birth, operation and demise of The Warwick and Leamington Tramways. After a stuttering beginning it was inaugurated in 1881 as a horse drawn service on 3’ 6” gauge rails. The timetable started at 5.30am and the last tram was at 11.07pm – those were the days! The original route from Warwick was intended to go down High Street and through the Eastgate archway, but an official inspection pointed out that the upper deck passengers would lose their heads. The suggestion that they could dismount and walk around the arch to reboard on the other side was deemed unworkable, and the line was diverted round the arch. he resulting sharp curve was an accident waiting to happen which it duly did in 1916, when a speeding tram left the tracks and crashed through the wall of the Castle Arms. A postcard photographer was rapidly on the scene to immortalise the incident.  The horse drawn carriages were replaced by electric cars in 1905, and the gauge changed to the standard 4’ 8” of the main line railways. Peter Coulls showed many historic pictures of Warwick and Leamington in the background of shots of the tramway and its often crowded carriages. As an archaeologist I was pleased to see that, although all trace of the tramway was supposed to have been ripped up in 1931 at the end of the tramway, which was confirmed to have been done, a stretch of line was spotted (by Mrs Coulls) in a service trench. The limitations of documents! The evening was thoroughly absorbing, and Peter gave a fascinating insight into local transport a century ago.

Membership. If you are a Member of the group but have not paid your 2021 subscription yet (£10) our NEW Treasurer Alec Hitchman awaits! You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Alec Hitchman, The Hills Farm, Pillerton Hersey, WARKS, CV35 0QQ, or by BACS to our bank business account:

name: Kineton and District Local History Group,

sort code: 40-43-19;

acc. no. 71281992. Please be sure to include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment! Or you can pay at the talk.

2021 Programme update:

Oct 15 Michael Luntley: From This Ground: songs and stories about 19^thcentury Warwickshire agricultural workers

Nov 19 Ellie Reid Dressing up the Past: the 1906 Warwick Pageant and the 20^th century pageant movement in Warwickshire.

Dec 10 Christmas treats

2022

Jan 21 George Derbyshire: Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Feb 18 James Ranahan: The Photographer’s Gaze: Viewing Warwickshire Since 1839

Mar 18 AGM

Official covid advice and regulations may change for better or worse in the coming months, so we will be assessing the programme one meeting at a time and we will confirm each event when we are reasonably confident that we can run it.

Other Society News

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.

Many other local societies are running their talk series via zoom! Check the Warwickshire Local History Society website for up-to-date lists. https://www.warwickshirehistory.org.uk

British Association for Local History. The Group is also a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members, and some of which are available via Zoom. Check out their website at: balh.org.uk

Thursday, 21st October.  David Beaumont, Catherine Petrie and Jenny Handscombe were part of a group of volunteers who transcribed Loss Accounts from the Civil War.  The Battle of Edge Hill took place on October 23 and Warmington Heritage Group present their findings in the church at Radway where David was instrumental in getting Heritage Lottery funding for the Civil War exhibition. For details:   http://www.battleofedgehillexhibitionradway.org.uk/

Warwickshire in WWII

The link below takes you to a fascinating article about WWII in the locality, keep going to the end to read about PoW Camp 31 at Ettington.

https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/doorstep-history-german-soldiers-buried-warwickshire?fbclid=IwAR2glVLC2bOpFyt0W1hkJRPiG_zjVhlc7d-y4KjAfZ3uBySlvBj7w63esv0

Other local on-line offerings:

Birmingham Museum virtual tour https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/virtual-tour

Herefordshire Museum and Art Gallery Life through a Lens virtual tour https://www.herefordshirelifethroughalens.org.uk/virtual-exhibitiontours/

Warwick Castle Virtual Tour https://historyview.org/library/warwick-castle/

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

KDLHG Committee

President: Robert Bearman MBE

Chairman   David Freke

Vice-Chairman  Roger Gaunt

Secretary   Ilona Sekacz

Treasurer   Alec Hitchman

Outings Secretary Isobel Gill  Rosemary Collier

Programme Secretary  Claire Roberts

Membership Secretary  Pam Redgrave

Other Committee Members

Catherine Petrie

Peter Waters

Rosemary Collier

George Lokuciejewski

Breaking News. Our former Treasurer Ted Crofts has now left us for pastures new, but long live the new Treasurer: Alec Hitchman, who volunteered to take on the mantle at our September meeting.

Committee News. The committee met on 16^th September, at Pamela Redgrave’s home. We heard that our finances are in good order, with both outings making a profit, and the membership up to 70. Alec Hitchman agreed to take the position of Treasurer, ensuring a seamless transition from Ted. Pamela Redgrave volunteered to look after the Membership, a job that Ted had also carried out. Topic suggestions for 2021-22 included the Coventry Blitz, Roman Cooking, the history of Kineton schools, village food and drink, and the history of pest control. Outing venues in 2022 considered were Henley in Arden, Knapton on the Hill, Brailes, Wootten Wawen, the Shipston Museum and the Wellesbourne Horticultural Research Station. If members wish to suggest speakers or raise any matters for consideration by the committee please talk to one of the committee at our meetings or contact the Chairman.

Date of next Committee meeting: 15^th November, 7.00pm, at Pamela Redgrave’s home by kind invitation: 8 King John’s Road, Kineton, CV35 0HS

DF 11.10.21

Contact: David Freke

Email frekedj@globalnet.co.uk

07876 290044

Newsletter September 2021

September Evening Talk.  Our next talk in the Village Hall on Friday 17^th September will be by Michael Coulls and Alan Jennings describing the Warwick and Leamington Tramways. 

This operation started in 1881 running trams from outside the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick to Leamington Spa Station.  Until 1905 the cars were horse drawn but from then until 1930 the route was electricity powered.  The only surviving car is horse drawn Car no. 1, preserved in an unrestored condition in the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire.

 The original paintwork is faded but the words LEAMINGTON AND WARWICK TRAMWAY COMPANY can still be seen on the side.  Some members may recollect a wonderful Group  coach trip in  2007 when we also visited Arkwright’s Cromford Mill nearby. 

At present there are no mandatory covid related restrictions on the use of the village hall, so we expect to present a normal evening illustrated talk. 

It advised that masks should be worn, that the hand washing facilities be used, and the hall will be ventilated.  If this situation changes we will immediately inform our members and friends, and set out whatever precautions or arrangements may be needed to allow the talk to go ahead. 

 

Report on 2021 Summer Outings.  Isobel’s hard work throughout the pandemic restrictions finally came to fruition with our first two outings since 2019: in August we were treated to an expert and informative tour round Stoneleigh by Sheila Woolf; and in early September your Chairman led a walk around the sites of the recent excavations on the fields of the Herb Centre.     

First Stoneleigh.  The history of the village has benefitted from Nat Alcock’s researches into its wonderful documentary and architectural evidence, illuminating the life of the community from the 16^th to 18^th centuries.  Sheila has carried on that work with energy and commitment; for example, leading the Stoneleigh History Society not just to survey of the churchyard but also to dig out the biographies of the individuals where possible, and publishing the results on the Society’s website. This, together with her research on the Leighs of Stoneleigh Abbey, informed her descriptions of the village and its community.  Stoneleigh was owned by the Leighs until the middle of the 20^th century, and as well as cottages they enriched the village with many welfare buildings.  The fine red sandstone almshouses where we met, endowed in 1558, housed 5 men and 5 women (count the chimneys).  The Victorians built a separate one for women, one wonders what happened to elderly married couples then?  The Leighs also built the school and the village club, but no pub!  

The village has a fine assemblage of cruck-built  houses, as well as many timber-framed buildings, and we were introduced to examples of both.  One had been the house of a fuller, an historic but noxious industrial activity, using urine to degrease woollen cloth, with mills driven by the nearby River Sowe.  Fulling is a very ancient process – remember Vespasian taxing urine in Rome in the 1^st century CE!    The Leigh family monuments can be seen in the church, where charitable donations by the family and other notables are recorded in gold letters on the gallery panels.  The church has a stunning chancel arch that looks so fine that it fooled me into wondering whether the Victorians had a hand in it, but no, it’s 12^th century.  The chancel is dominated by a formidable black and white monument, completely filling the north wall, a memorial to a mother and daughter, erected in 1668.  The Leigh Chapel now houses a fine exhibition of the work of the History Society, including a “Snapshot” of village life compiled by the Stoneleigh WI in the 1980s. We have of course our own Kineton snapshot taken in 2008, in our archive.   The Stoneleigh visit was a great success, thanks to Sheila, the weather, and the relief of being able to meet as a group again. 

On September 8th we took an afternoon stroll around the fields at the Warmington Herb Centre on one of the hottest days for the time of year.  We gathered in the shade of convenient trees and hedges to survive the heat as we viewed the sites of the recent dig.  Despite the excavations being backfilled and invisible, our Chairman described the 4,000 years of history unearthed at the sites, emphasising the role of the landscape.  In default of actual holes in the ground to look into, David promoted Richard Hammond to the role of honorary picture displayer. Thank you Richard, and Gill Stewart, for keeping track of the  many sheets of paper.  The excavations unearthed a Neolithic (2500BC) burial of a prominent man, probably under a barrow sited to be seen from a valley settlement.  This was followed by a massive Iron Age bank and ditch (700BC to AD43) cut across the neck of the promontory, intended to mark a territorial boundary rather than a defendable line.  Deliberately levelled and filled in before the Roman invasion of 43CE, it was replaced by a line of large posts, so it still served as some form of division into the Roman period.  A twelve-sided temple was built on the east side, exactly over the Neolithic grave of 2,500 years earlier.   One of the two coin hoards from the excavations was buried inside this structure.  Another temple is suspected on the west; possibly the two temples served as a sort of spiritual passport control as travellers crossed from the domain of one god into that of another?   A few hundred yards brought us to a site of Roman domestic occupation and other activities, with a collection of five buildings.  They spanned the whole Roman period – 43 to 410CE –  each replacing the one before, but each built differently as to size, shape and construction method.  Their functions remain obscure, but one concealed a second early coin hoard.  A large hunting dog had been buried to guard a late Roman pit, and a tiny lapdog was buried outside one of the buildings.  These high-status animals, together with a pet eagle and the two coin hoards are at odds with the peasant economy evident from the domestic debris from the site.  Our speculation is that the earlier “boundary” character of the area persisted into the Roman period and the function of the establishment was connected somehow with the management of this liminal zone, involving at least one wealthy individual.  The picture of the Roman exploitation of the area, previously thought to be devoid of high-status sites, has recently been turned on its head by the discovery of the huge Roman villa only a few kilometres away on the Broughton Castle estate.  So history is made.

Membership.   If you are a Member of the group but have not paid your 2021 subscription yet (£10) our Treasurer awaits!  You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered, until the end of the month (see Breaking News below) to Ted Crofts, 5 Bank Close, Butlers Marston,  CV35 0NL,  or by BACS to our bank business account, name: Kineton and District Local History Group, sort code: 40-43-19; acc. no. 71281992. Please be sure to include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment!  Or you can pay at the talk. 

2021 Programme update: 

Sep 17              Peter Coulls and Alan Jennings: The Warwick and Leamington Tramways 

Oct 15              Michael Luntley: From This Ground: songs and stories about 19^th century Warwickshire agricultural workers 

Nov 19            Ellie Reid  Dressing up the Past: the 1906 Warwick Pageant and the 20^th century pageant movement in Warwickshire.

Dec 10           Christmas treats

2022

Jan   21            George Derbyshire:  Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Feb 18             James Ranahan: The Photographer’s Gaze: Viewing Warwickshire Since 1839

Mar 18            AGM

Official covid advice and regulations may change for better or worse in the coming months, so we will be assessing the programme one meeting at a time and we will confirm each event when we are reasonably confident that we can run it. 

Other Society News

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.

Many other local societies are running their talk series via zoom!  Check the Warwickshire Local History Society website for up-to-date lists.  https://www.warwickshirehistory.org.uk

Time Team is returning with feature on Broughton Castle Roman Villa.  See link below for article:

https://www.timeteamdigital.com/news/breaking-news-time-team-is-coming-back

Warwickshire in WWII

The link below takes you to a fascinating article about WWII in the locality, keep going to the end to read about PoW Camp 31 at Ettington. 

https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/doorstep-history-german-soldiers-buried-warwickshire?fbclid=IwAR2glVLC2bOpFyt0W1hkJRPiG_zjVhlc7d-y4KjAfZ3uBySlvBj7w63esv0

Council for British Archaeology West Midlands

CBA West Midlands have also given details of local history and archaeology podcasts.

Amongst several podcasts about the region CBAWM has recently released podcasts by Dr Roger White of the University of Birmingham on Wroxeter Roman city and the Roman West Midlands. https://historywm.com/podcasts

Other local on-line offerings:

Birmingham Museum virtual tour https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/virtual-tour

Herefordshire Museum and Art Gallery Life through a Lens virtual tour https://www.herefordshirelifethroughalens.org.uk/virtual-exhibitiontours/

Warwick Castle Virtual Tour  https://historyview.org/library/warwick-castle/

 

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

 

KDLHG Committee

President:                                Robert Bearman MBE                          

Chairman                                David Freke                                     

Vice-Chairman                        Roger Gaunt                                         

Secretary                                  Ilona Sekacz                                          

Treasurer                                 Ted Crofts                                               

Outings Secretary                    Isobel Gill                                              

Programme Secretary              Claire Roberts                                

Other committee members

George Lokuciejewski

Catherine Petrie

Peter Waters

Rosemary Collier

Alec Hitchman

Pam Redgrave

Breaking News.  Our Treasurer Ted Crofts is leaving the area for pastures new, taking effect in a few weeks.  He has been an exemplary Treasurer, spreading an aura of calm, composure and efficiency.  He has shown the patience of a saint in his dealings with the Kafkaesque machinations of our bank, and the even more baffling administration of PayPal, from which battles he has emerged triumphant.  We will really miss him.  His departure leaves us with vacancy for Treasurer; please consider whether you or a shyer fellow member might follow in his footsteps. 

The committee has not met since the report in the August Newsletter. 

Date of next Committee meeting: 16^th September.  If members wish to raise any matters for consideration by the committee please talk to one of the committee at our meetings or contact the Chairman. 

DF 13.09.21

Contact:  David Freke

Email frekedj@globalnet.co.uk

07876 290044

NEWSLETTER 7th August 2021

Summer Outings. Isobel has been working hard throughout the covid restrictions to arrange our summer outings, and we can now confirm that the visit to Stoneleigh village will take place on 27^th August. This is our first opportunity for over 18 months to meet in person and we hope to see many of you again as we start to resume normal service. As we will be mainly in the open air wearing masks is not mandatory, but some members may feel more comfortable taking precautions. That is a personal choice. Meet at 6.30 at The Green where there is a rustic bench under a tree. It may not accommodate all who attend so be early for a seat! As a useful landmark there is a red telephone box opposite the bench.

For car parking: it is suggested that you aim for the signposts to the church and park by the meadow in Vicarage Road. You get there from The Green by passing in front of the telephone box and the lovely stone almshouses, and the meadow is a 100m or so on the left-hand side. Consider car sharing please, to limit the parking in this small village.

The walk will be led by Sheila Woolf, whose delightful talk on Cordelia Leigh of Stoneleigh Abbey many of you will remember. The trip will include a visit to the church as well as examining the outstanding examples of vernacular buildings in the village. Refreshments unfortunately will not be provided. The cost is £5.00 per head. Those who have already paid but cannot attend this rescheduled trip will be reimbursed, or their money credited against future events. Members and friends who have not pre-paid can pay at the event. Could everybody intending to come please let Isobel know asap so Sheila can ensure the parking arrangements are adequate and what size of group to expect. Please contact Isobel on isobel.mirador.gill@gmail.com or phone her on 01926640426.

On Wednesday September 8^th David Freke will lead an afternoon walk, from 2.00pm to 4.00pm, around the fields at the Warmington Herb Centre to the sites of the recent excavations there. The excavations unearthed a Neolithic (2500BC) burial, a massive Iron Age ditch (700BC to AD43), several Roman buildings and two large 1^st century coin hoards, now on dispay in Warwick Museum. The local topography is the key to understanding how prehistoric, Roman and later communities lived and exploited this landscape, and it has implications for the wider region. The cost will be £5.00. The Herb Centre Café will be open, and can provide a tea at an additional cost (tbc).

Please contact Isobel on isobel.mirador.gill@btinternet.com or phone her on 01926640426 or phone David Freke (frekedj@globalnet.co.uk; phone 07876 290044) to book a place. As with the Stoneleigh visit, payment can be made at the venue, but we will need numbers for the trip and the café.

Just a reminder that booking is necessary for both trips, please email or phone David Freke (frekedj@globalnet.co.uk; phone 07876 290044) or Isobel Gill (isobel.mirador.gill@gmail.com) to book a place. You can pay by cheque made payable to Kineton and District Local History Group, sent or delivered to Ted Crofts, 5 Bank Close, Butlers Marston, CV35 0NL, or by BACS to our bank business account, name: Kineton and District Local History Group, sort code: 40-43-19; acc. no. 71281992. Please be sure to include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment! Or you can pay at the venue.

As most of you will be aware it is considered not viable to book a coach to Croome Park this year so reluctantly this trip is postponed, and may be reviewed for 2022.

September Evening Talk. Our next talk in the Village Hall on Friday 17^th September will be by Michael Coulls and Alan Jennings describing the Warwick and LeamingtonTramways.

This operation started in 1881 running trams from outside the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick to Leamington Spa Station. Until 1905 the cars were horse drawn but from then until 1930 the route was electricity powered. The only surviving car is horse drawn Car no. 1, preserved in an unrestored condition in the National Tramway Museum in Crich, Derbyshire.

The original paintwork is faded but the words LEAMINGTON AND WARWICK TRAMWAY COMPANY can still be seen on the side. Some members may recollect a wonderful Group coach trip in 2007 when we also visited Arkwright’s Cromford Mill nearby. At present there are no covid related restrictions on the use of the village hall, so we expect to present a normal evening illustrated talk. If this situation changes we will immediately inform our members and friends, and set out whatever precautions or arrangements may be needed to allow the talk to go ahead.

Report on May 21^st Zoom talk by Dr Stanley Ireland of Warwick University. A total of 36 households logged in representing 43 participants. Dr Ireland described the two South Warwickshire Roman Coin Hoards found locally in recent years, concentrating on the most recent one of over 450 silver denarii recovered as part of a more extensive archaeological excavation. Both hoards have been acquired by Warwick Museum and are on display. Dr Ireland has carried out the formal identifications for the Museum and recognised some extremely rare items amongst the second assemblage. Of particular interest are the 30 plus coins which derive from AD 69, the “Year of the Four Emperors” which followed Nero’s suicide. Emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian followed one another in quick and violent succession, with Vespasian emerging as the stabilising individual whose reign lasted 10 years. He taxed urine (essential in the tanning trade) and financed the Colosseum. Fair exchange?

Dr Ireland pointed out the political messages hidden in the symbols and scenes stamped into the coins. The cap of liberty with a dagger symbolised the freedom from tyranny claimed to result from the assassination of Julius Caesar; a cornucopia obviously promised a return to plenty and wealth. The portraits of the emperors are also revealing, Otho wears an elaborate tidy wig, Vitellius is fat with a double chin, Galba looks military and pugnacious and Vespasian wears a victor’s wreath. Altogether the hoards represent an early period of the Roman occupation of Britain, and their deposition poses some questions about the purpose of their burial, and wider issues about the site of the find. The questions from the participants at the end of Dr Ireland’s talk reflected some of these issues – eg how much was a denarius worth? A legionary earned about 200 denarii per year compared with a present UK private soldier’s £20,000 pa. The 1st hoard contained 1,156 coins, the second one about 450, so their combined value in today’s money would be about £150,000. Of course, this calculation is not really valid given the widely differing values of goods and services between Roman and modern society, but it does suggest somebody had access to some serious cash.

2021 Programme update:

Aug. 27 Sheila Woolf: Guided Tour of Stoneleigh, meet at 6.30pm at The Green, Stoneleigh

(NB change of date}

Sept 8th David Freke: A walk in a prehistoric and Roman landscape at Warmington,

meet 2.00pm Herb Centre car park

Sep 17Peter Coulls: Warwick and Leamington Tramways

Oct 15 Michael Luntley: From This Ground: songs and stories about 19^thcentury Warwickshire agricultural workers 

Nov 19Ellie Reid Dressing up the Past: the 1906 Warwick Pageant and the 20^th century pageant movement in Warwickshire.

Dec 10 Christmas treats

2022

Jan 21 George Derbyshire: Arts and Crafts in the Cotswolds

Feb 18 James Ranahan: The Photographer’s Gaze: Viewing Warwickshire Since 1839

Mar 18 AGM

Official covid advice and regulations may change for better or worse in the coming months, so we will be assessing the programme one meeting at a time and we will confirm each event when we are reasonably confident that we can run it. Even in a strict lockdown we intend to continue virtual meetings online on the regular dates, but they may not be by the speakers or on the topics set out in the current 2021-22 Programme. Please be patient if an eagerly awaited talk is postponed. We will try to re-schedule any speaker not suited to the Zoom route. Our Zoom presentations have all been recorded and we will discuss showing these in the Village Hall to members who do not have access to Zoom.

Planned Kineton Village Day Saturday 10^th July – cancelled. The Kineton Art Group and Kineton Camera Club hoped to set up a village “get together” for village groups and clubs to promote their activities following the long lockdown over the past year. This was to be associated with the Centenary Re-dedication of the War memorial, originally unveiled on July 10^th 1921. K&DLHG members intended to mount an exhibition in the churchyard, joining other village organisations. I understand that there may be an attempt to revive this idea for 2022.

Other Society News

Warwickshire Local History Society

K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.

Many other local societies are running their talk series via zoom! Check the Warwickshire Local History Society website for up-to-date lists. https://www.warwickshirehistory.org.uk

Council for British Archaeology West Midlands

CBA West Midlands have also given details of local history and archaeology podcasts.

Amongst several podcasts about the region CBAWM has recently released podcasts by Dr Roger White of the University of Birmingham on Wroxeter Roman city and the Roman West Midlands. https://historywm.com/podcasts

Other local on-line offerings:

Birmingham Museum virtual tour https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/virtual-tour

Herefordshire Museum and Art Gallery Life through a Lens virtual tour https://www.herefordshirelifethroughalens.org.uk/virtual-exhibitiontours/

Warwick Castle Virtual Tour https://historyview.org/library/warwick-castle/

A fascinating account of local WWII German POWs can be found with this link.

https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/doorstep-history-german-soldiers-buried-warwickshire?fbclid=IwAR2glVLC2bOpFyt0W1hkJRPiG_zjVhlc7d-y4KjAfZ3uBySlvBj7w63esv0

Don’t forget to check our own website at:

Kineton and District Local History Group (kinetonhistory.co.uk)

KDLHG Committee

Chairman David Freke

Vice-Chairman Roger Gaunt

Secretary Ilona Sekacz

Treasurer Ted Crofts

Outings Secretary Isobel Gill

Other committee members

Catherine Petrie

Peter Waters

Alex hitchman

Rosemary Collier

Pam Redgrave

George Lokuciejewski

The committee met via Zoom on 29^th June.

Ted reported that we have 45 paid-up members, our finances remain in a healthy condition, and the newly achieved access to our Paypal account revealed that we have nearly £100 from the sale of the Village History book online. Ted reported the donation of £60.00 from Gill Ashley-Smith to be put towards costs of archiving. An invoice for £486.00 for the next 4 years was received from our internet service provider, and it was agreed that we should explore the costs of annual payments [post meeting note: the invoice is in line with our previous payments, and considerably cheaper per year than annual payments, agreed to pay it] Our recently published book of essays by Peter Ashley-Smith has not sold many copies during lockdown, but the resumption of our evening talks in September should get sales moving again. The other outlets in the village have also been affected by lockdown but should be revisited as things open up. It was agreed to wait a little longer before offering the book on line. Alec suggested the Community Library as an outlet for sales. Pam suggested recording the book or extracts of it, a suggestion to be explored further.

Claire and Isobel confirmed the meetings and outings arrangements to date (see Programme section above Lucie has added a counter to record the hits on the web site, and Roger reported that we had an average of 150 “hits” per month, many from non-members, some from as far away as Holland and Australia. The time spent on the site varied from one and half to three minutes.

Date of next Committee meeting. tbc

DF 06.08.21

Contact: David Freke

Email frekedj@globalnet.co.uk

07876 290044