Limited Edition and Weekend

Keeping the county’s church bells in tune

12:00pm Friday 17th December 2010

Julie Webb talks to Brian White of bell-hanging firm Whites of Appleton, the oldest continuously trading bell-hanging firm in Britain

The clockmakers of Claydon

11:58am Friday 17th December 2010

Nicola Lisle celebrates the achievements of Oxfordshire clockmakers, the Knibb family

Lords of Misrule

Lords of Misrule

11:55am Friday 17th December 2010

Tim Healey discovers why the arrival of midwinter once brought with it madness and general mayhem in towns and villages across the county

Omens of death

St Mary's Church, Adderbury

8:56am Monday 8th January 2007

Death has always been an inevitable part of life, but today, more people die in hospital, and undertakers, rather than local women, lay out a corpse. Few people now keep the body in the house until the funeral, so many traditional death rites have disappeared.

Catch a falling star

11:30am Tuesday 24th October 2006

The phases of life are marked in religion by christening, confirmation, marriage and the last rites of death and burial. People have developed many superstitions to encourage good luck at these times.

Beyond the bounds

Beating the Bounds of St Michael-at-the-Northgate parish, Oxford, in 1992

9:41am Monday 11th September 2006

Until the Reformation, the Church dominated society, physically as well as mentally. Churches were the most important buildings of the village and the church exerted influence over almost every aspect of life, from baptism to death, with rituals for the expulsion of evil spirits, to drive away thunder and to bless many aspects of life and work.

Fit for a King

1:23pm Tuesday 8th August 2006

Oxfordshire was once rich in woodland such as Wychwood Forest, which covered an area from Woodstock to Witney, Burford and Chipping Norton, and Shotover Forest. These woodlands were owned by the reigning monarch, and only he and favoured retainers held the right to catch any type of animal in the forest.

The Otmoor riots

2:38pm Friday 21st July 2006

Otmoor, was marshland until the mid-19th century, which made it a remote area with its own distinct character and a close-knit community.

‘To your health’

10:41am Tuesday 20th June 2006

We carefully wove our way along a grassy path illuminated by candles suspended from the gnarled branches of the apple trees. It was a magical night. Only the lightest of light breezes brushed our cheeks and caused the glass jars in which the lights were fixed to sway.

Stand and deliver

9:35am Tuesday 16th May 2006

Highwaymen were a hazard to travellers for centuries. One notorious highwayman was Captain James Hind, a saddler's son, who was born in 1616 in Chipping Norton, educated at the local grammar school and apprenticed as a butcher. James however wanted a life of adventure and left to seek his fortune in London.

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