View Gallery
  • Lumleys tea advert – Walton Street, Oxford
  • Cotswold style barn ventilation
  • Walling of medieval inn in Henley
  • Church – Chalgrove
  • Fire insurance mark – Burford
  • Town Hall shield – Eynsham
  • The Bull Inn – Dorchester

GALLERY

OUR PROGRAMME & EVENTS

NEW Buildings Forum

The Oxfordshire Buildings Forum was launched last year. It is a new initiative which was piloted as an informal and wide-ranging discussion group for Oxfordshire Buildings Record members. The OBR has now decided to open the forum more widely, with the same broad agenda based on the buildings of Oxfordshire.

Four meetings are planned for 2025, on 5 February, 9 April, 16 July and 8 October. They
will be held on Zoom, lasting about an hour. Any building-related topic is welcome: share a new discovery, or a puzzling feature you would like to discuss, ask a question, or share details of a book you might recommend – it’s up to you.

If you can give us some notice, we will try to invite someone with specialist knowledge to answer your question. The aim is for us all, whatever level of experience, to have the opportunity to share knowledge and increase in our understanding of the buildings in our area.

To the right is a former detached kitchen to the rear of a timber-framed house in South Oxfordshire – now connected to the building.

For the first meeting of 2025 we have one topic already on the agenda – detached kitchens. These were an important feature of the more high-status late medieval houses as their ‘detachment’ provided a fire-safety gap between the cooking area and the dwelling house. Perhaps the grandest surviving example in Oxfordshire is that at Stanton Harcourt (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1053135). How prevalent were they in the county, and during which period? How many survive and are any still detached? Over time, many have been incorporated into the main house or converted to some other use, so how can they be identified? Have you come across a building that does not make sense as a ‘normal’ house and might be a candidate?

OBR members will be sent a link to zoom about a week before the meeting; non-members please email secretary@obr.org.uk for a link, or to request a future topic.

David Clark, Secretary.

For OBR members

Surveying & recording a house in N. Oxfordshire

Building surveying and recording is open to all members, serving as training exercises for the novice guided by experienced architectural historians as we analyse and record a wide range of vernacular buildings.

Many of the county’s  historic houses lay hidden behind modernised exteriors, awaiting discovery, and as more of us become aware of what gems lay inside the more we understand how our ancestors lived and shaped their homes.

At our Presentation Day each November members share their year’s achievements and discoveries from around Oxfordshire.

Our AGM held each May is held in a different venue each year and usually includes a guided tour of places of local interest, often inside historic buildings.

Members touring Tewkesbury buildings

We also sometimes arrange excursions to places of special interest to members.

Details of forthcoming events are listed in our quarterly newsletter. If you have any suggestions for excursions, please contact our events secretary.

Many of us are also members of the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society (OAHS) which, in addition to lectures, usually has a full programme of summer excursions, mostly to historic buildings.

See the OAHS website.

Events and courses by other organisations

OAHS Excursions

In addition to their regular meetings, the Oxford Architectural and Historical Society have excursions both near and not so near. See their programme for more details.

Victoria County History

Staff from VCH Oxfordshire regularly give talks to local groups. See their events page for a calendar.

OUDCE (Oxford University Department for Continuing Education)

The Dept for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, hold courses on architectural history, as well as archaeology and local history.

OAHS (Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society).

See programme for list of talks. Tuesdays  5.30pm – 6.30pm. Place:  Rewley House, Oxford.

Weald and Downland Living Museum

The museum runs many courses, from traditional rural trades and crafts to building conservation. They also host a series of evening talks. (And it’s a great place to visit, with over fifty reconstructed historic buildings.) See the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum site for details.