Digital Archive: Journal No 14

Introduction to The Wychwoods Local History Society Journal No 14

We who live in a time of rapid change sometimes forget that, as Disraeli said in 1867, change is constant. This view is amply supported by the articles in this our fourteenth journal.

In the turbulent sixteenth century John Chapman of Milton foresaw the possibility of religious change. His story came to light from the discovery of the Shipton churchwardens’ accounts for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which have surfaced after 300 years in the Lambeth Palace Library in London.

Emigration, both imposed and voluntary, brought change to many men, women and children in the nineteenth century. ‘A Sad Tale of Wychwood Men’ tells the story of two men convicted of burglary and sentenced to transportation to Australia. The terrible conditions suffered for months on prison ships, the misery of the prisoners and those left behind are brought home to us in this article.

The horror of fire on an emigrant ship described in ‘The Cospatrick Tragedy’ put an end to hopes of change to a better life in New Zealand for those on board. The picture on the front of this journal is of the memorial on Shipton village green to the Cospatrick victims from Shipton.

‘The Agricultural Ladder’ shows the changes in farming and in the lives of farmers and their families after the enclosure of land in Milton in 1849 and Shipton in 1852. The article looks at the difference between the two villages in the mid-nineteenth century.

The railway was a great catalyst for change. ‘Memories of Shipton Station’ describes the station in its heyday. It is just still there with a reduced passenger service only – a shadow of its former self.

In spite of change there is always continuity. There are many who live quietly at home, getting on with their daily lives and supporting their community. Their changes are those of family events, employment, births, marriages and deaths. ‘A Bouquet of Roses’ is the story of one such family.

Trudy Yates, Joan Howard-Drake and Sue Jourdan
January 1999

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