Surveying the buzzing scene that was The Rickety Press last Thursday night — tables full, crowds of happy people of all ages clustered at the bar — it suddenly struck me how so easily this cheery local could have ceased to be.
Christine Bloxham charts the history of Ewelmes famous watercress beds which once brought prosperity to the village
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
