Lectures

OAHS Lecture Programme


Our annual lecture programme comprises 10 lectures.

In January and February our lectures will be online on Zoom, and members can book a place by clicking on 'Booking for Zoom' in the description for each lecture. You don't have to log in to make a booking (although it does help us to identify you!), you just need your name and email address. The list closes at midnight on the Sunday before the lecture, or sooner if we reach capacity. As Zoom only allows 100 people to log in for each lecture, OAHS members will be given priority. The link is sent out the day before the lecture.

Booking for these lectures is now open. One booking covers everyone who will be listening on one device, so your household companions are welcome to join you. The final lecture in March will be live at Rewley House and also available on Zoom.

We will record each of the online lectures (with the speaker's permission) and the recording will be available for OAHS members shortly afterwards for about a month.

Country House Building in South Oxfordshire 1700-1850


Date: 09 December 2025
Time: 17.30-18.30
Lecturer: Geoffrey Tyack
Location: Rewley House
Cost: Free
No of Places: 110


No Booking Required

The 18th and early 19th centuries saw substantial rebuilding and new construction of country houses in Oxfordshire, both by members of long-established gentry and aristocratic families and by newcomers to the county. Focusing on the southern part of the county, this talk examines some of the most notable houses of the period, drawing attention both to their architectural character and to their internal decoration.

Geoffrey Tyack is an architectural historian and the President of OAHS.

Kelmscott Community Archaeology Research Programme


Date: 13 January 2026
Time: 17.30-18.30
Lecturer: Martin Watts
Location: Online on Zoom
Cost: Free
No of Places: 100
Closing Date for Bookings: 11 January 2026


Booking for Zoom

Recent refurbishment works at Kelmscott Manor, home of 19th-century philosopher and designer William Morris, was accompanied by a Community Research Project to discover more about the archaeology of the village and local landscape that so inspired Morris in his works. A programme of test pits, geophysical survey, field evaluation and area excavation was undertaken over 3 seasons by volunteers from Kelmscott and beyond, led by Cotswold Archaeology. This talk describes both the archaeological results of that work, and the community engagement that enabled the investigations.

Martin Watts is the Director of Research and Engagement for Cotswold Archaeology.

The Oxfordshire Buildings Record Lecture 2025:
Three Houses in St Ebbes: Investigating the History and Development of Oxford Preservation Trust’s houses in Turn Again Lane


Date: 27 January 2026
Time: 17.30-18.30
Lecturer: Nick Wright
Location: Online on Zoom
Cost: Free
No of Places: 100
Closing Date for Bookings: 25 January 2026


Booking for Zoom

Using documentary, visual and oral sources, combined with close examination of the buildings' fabric, a small group is working on a project to reach a better understanding of the row of houses saved from the wrecker’s ball by OPT in 1971: among the last survivals of old St Ebbes. This lecture presents preliminary findings from the project.

Nick Wright works in conservation and undertakes research into vernacular buildings.

Initial Results from Recent Excavations at Oriel College and Hertford College


Date: 10 February 2026
Time: 17.30-18.30
Lecturer: Ben Ford
Location: Online on Zoom
Cost: Free
No of Places: 100
Closing Date for Bookings: 08 February 2026


Booking for Zoom

Recent excavations by Oxford Archaeology at Oriel and Hertford Colleges in central Oxford will be discussed, showing how their results shed new light on the form of the earliest Anglo-Saxon burh defences. The main focus of the talk will be on very recent excavations at Old Buildings Quad, Hertford College, with evidence about Catte Street as a centre of medieval book production, and about three academic halls – Catte, Black and Hart Halls – in this area.

Ben M Ford BA MCIfA SMSTS FSA, Senior Project Manager, Oxford Archaeology. Over the last 15 years Ben has principally focused on excavations in Oxford; his project at the Westgate won British Archaeologies 2016 Project of the Year. He is the author of a number of monographs and articles, with many more in the pipeline.

Photo: Excavations during renovation works to Oriel's bar and kitchens - OA.

'A Good Man for his Age': Dr W.T.G. Woodforde, Abingdon Medical Officer of Health 1873-1908


Date: 24 February 2026
Time: 17.30-18.30
Lecturer: Peter Steere
Location: Online on Zoom
Cost: Free
No of Places: 100
Closing Date for Bookings: 22 February 2026


Booking for Zoom

This remark was made by a Local Government Board Inspector in his report into the work of Dr W.T.G. Woodforde, who was responsible for most of Berkshire as Medical Officer of Health from 1873 until his death aged 81 in 1908. Using examples of his work in both the Abingdon Urban and Abingdon Rural districts, the story of gradual improvement in the public health of the town and its environs will be told, drawing on local newspaper reports, central government documents, and council minute books. Abingdon town and its surrounding villages presented different challenges with regard to disease prevention, clean water and access to modern sanitation. This talk will discuss Dr Woodforde’s involvement with both the urban and rural sanitary authorities and his contribution to improvements in public health.

Peter Steere began to take a serious interest in local history in 2009 and has an MSc in English Local History. He is about to complete a DPhil, researching public health in Berkshire in the nineteenth century. He was formerly the OAHS Membership Secretary, and during Covid in 2020 he was instrumental in setting up our programme of online Zoom lectures.

The Tom Hassall Lecture 2026: Uncovering Oxfordshire’s Dinosaur Highway


Date: 10 March 2026
Time: 17.30-18.30
Lecturer: Duncan Murdock
Location: Rewley House, Oxford, and online on Zoom
Cost: Free
No of Places: 110
Closing Date for Bookings: 08 March 2026


No Booking Required

In a stunning find, researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor at Dewars Farm Quarry near Bicester filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints, creating multiple enormous trackways. Dating back to the Middle Jurassic Period (around 166 million years ago), the trackways form part of a huge ‘dinosaur highway’ and include footprints from the 9 metre ferocious predator Megalosaurus, and herbivorous dinosaurs up to twice that size.

Dr Duncan Murdock is the Collections Manager for Earth Collections at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.