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Are you researching ancestors in Oxfordshire?
This is a collaboration between Society of Genealogists, Oxfordshire Family History Society and Oxfordshire History Centre.
Learn about family history resources for the county of Oxfordshire at:
Oxfordshire is rich in surviving records going back to medieval times and the Oxfordshire Family History Society has been exploring many different publications to enhance the “usual” sources. This talk concentrates on why and how the Society launched its latest project – Big Oxfordshire Names Database and more importantly what it has delivered for our members. We will also touch on the other projects and resources such as Wills, MIs.
Mark Priddey’s presentation will focus on Heritage Search, Oxfordshire History Centre’s relaunched online catalogue of Oxfordshire’s heritage resources, and their service’s other digital resources, which have been upgraded and expanded greatly in the last few years. He will use these resources as a focal point to highlight the range of our collections and how to research and access them.
The Oxfordshire Record Society was founded in 1919 with the aim of publishing records relating to the county of Oxfordshire. To date, it has published 77 volumes. 71 of these are freely available on the Society’s website as downloadable documents, vols 72-77 are only available for members. Many of the volumes include genealogical information, such as the Registers of the Oxford Catholic Mission 1700–1875 (vol 77) and Hearth Tax returns: Oxfordshire 1665 (vol 21). Other volumes have a local focus, including volumes on Glympton, Mapledurham, Thame, Banbury, Henley, Witney, Woodstock, Charlbury and many others. There are also themed volumes on topics such as bells, charters, courts, estates records, religion, war and many others covering all periods from the twelfth century to the twentieth. An especially useful work is the Historical Atlas of Oxfordshire which is being revised for a new edition in 2026.
The Victoria County History of Oxfordshire is part of the national Victoria County History project (VCH), which produces detailed and fully researched histories of individual towns and villages. The Oxfordshire project has so far produced 21 volumes covering different parts of the county, most of them available online. This presentation will give a brief overview of what’s available, how to access it, and how it can be used to help with genealogical as well as local history research.
We will also learn how A Vison of Britain Through Time and Historic Towns Trust can support your family history research in Oxfordshire.
Humphrey Southall is a Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Portsmouth, he is an expert on the History of the North-South divide in Britain, gazetteers and geospatial ontologies and the role of travellers in the development of political life. Dr Paula Aucott is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Portsmouth, her research interests include historical Geographical Information Systems (GIS), historical land use and medieval landscapes. They have been working together on the Great Britain Historical GIS project for over twenty years, and have been invited to present their research findings around the world. The main public interface to their work is the highly successful local history website A Vision of Britain through Time, which they continue to maintain and update.
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