Archive

Since its establishment in 2008, the Society has accumulated an archive of documents and photographs relating to the history of Sutton Courtenay and the surrounding area and to the Society’s activities. 

Recently (during 2021-23) this archive has been brought together and organised by Mary Thompson with a view to its being stored in a secure location, while making it available for access by members and others who may be interested.  A locked storage box has been acquired and has been lodged in the River Room at All Saints Church.  The key will be available from the All Saints’ Church in person (opening hours 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month 10.30 - 12.00 or by appointment) or from the Society’s Chair, John Talbot, by email (enquiries@sclhs.org.uk).

 

Contents of Archive Box (List of folders’ contents)

SCLHS Photographs

The Society’s collection of photographs is included in the archive, but these have almost all also been scanned and made available to view in the Gallery section of this website (augmented by scans of the Webmaster’s collection of topographical postcards of Sutton Courtenay and its environs).  Digital copies of the scanned photographs are also included in the archive on a memory stick.

SCLHS Documents

The Society’s collection of documents comprises mainly the official records of the Society’s AGM, EGM and Committee meetings plus the original texts of or notes for talks given at the Society’s meetings and elsewhere.  

The physical records/documents etc are included in the archive.  At the same time, wherever practicable, they have been or are being digitised so that they can be made available for reference via this page - see list below:

Constitution

AGM and EGM Minutes

Committee Meeting Minutes

Current accounts

Talks - A list of the topics and speakers at the Society’s meetings may be found here.  Further details and/or summary reports of some of these talks may be found on the relevant meeting page as listed under "Past Meetings"


Books, etc

A few books, pamphlets and CDs with information of local interest are also included in the archive:


- Memoire of Henry George Lock, with introduction by his grandson.


- Booklet about the Life of Caroline Irons.


Berks Book



- "The Berkshire Book" compiled by Berkshire Federation of Women’s Institutes




“Memories (of a WWII Evacuee)” by Rosina Woodward (née Rankin) 


Fletcher-SC



- History of a Thameside Village by John Fletcher (sadly now out of print)




Manor Visitors Book Cover

- Sutton Courtenay Manor Visitors Book 1909-1917 donated by Jonathan Blinman.  For the background to the Visitors Book coming into Jonathan’s possession and his decision to donate it to the SCLHS Archive, see his letter here.  


The Oxfordshire History Centre has kindly digitised the main contents of the Visitors Book (photographs of the Manor gardens and the signature pages) - the OHC accession number is ‘COS:2023.32’.  The album contents can be seen by clicking here or on the image above.  A more detailed analysis of the signature pages can be seen here.

Blinman Snr - SC Para Landings - Version 2


- The “Invasion” of Sutton Courtenay in 1944 (description of this event by Jonathan Blinman in the form of a letter to his grandson)


<- Watercolour sketch by Edward Blinman


- Memories of farming in Sutton Courtenay by Jonathan Blinman


- Roll of Honour Book: The Two World Wars. (Details of men who died in both wars.)


- Redcoats to Riflemen:  History of Oxon & Bucks County Regiment


Other documents

- Local History Weekend – July 2007

- CD of Monumental Inscriptions from the churchyard and church

- CD of presentation by John Leighfield : The Development of Printed Maps of Oxfordshire (see also below).


Maps

The Society had also acquired two interesting old maps of Sutton Courtenay and its immediate surroundings.  The first was a boxed set of maps by James Wyld of 457 Strand London dated 1876 and comprising a series of very large sheets at a scale of 25 in to 1 mile.  The second was an enclosure map of a smaller area around the village that appeared to be hand-drawn and was unattributed.

Having consulted the Oxfordshire History Centre (OHC), the Society decided in 2022 that, rather than include these maps in the Archive Box, they should be donated to the OHC with the understanding that they would be preserved and in due course digitised and made available for consultation by the public. The reason for this decision was that the OHC was and is in the best position to conserve this material and could make it available more widely than the Society alone could do. 

The maps were accordingly lodged with the OHC in March 2023 and they will be available for viewing by appointment at the OHC and eventually online as part of the OHC’s online collections.  

For enquiries about this site contact the Webmaster