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You are here: Home / The Village History Website / Table of Contents

Table of Contents

This Table of Contents is intended as a comprehensive listing of the individual elements that currently make up this website. Most of the elements are individual downloadable documents in PDF format. 

The Table divides the contents into five areas: Gateway; Approaches; Epochs; Themes; and Appendices.

Many documents are available under more than one area. For example,  the document “The Victorian Parish Church, 1840-1950” is available under the Theme Religious Life and the Epoch Victorian and Edwardian Transformations, 1830-1914.

GATEWAY TO HOOKY HISTORY

Village History Website: introduction

Table of Contents
Recommended Reading

APPROACHES

Overviews

Introduction to Overviews

Hook Norton’s Place in History
The Bad Reputation of Hooky Folk
Population, Now and Then
Interested in Your Family History?
Understanding Local Place Names

Exploring the Village

Introduction to Exploring the Village

Hook Norton Village Trail
Visible Remains of the Railway
Much in Little – A Pictorial Tour of Down End

Film and Sound Recordings

Introduction to Film and Sound Recordings

Hook Norton on the Radio
Hook Norton on Film and Television
Entertaining Creations of the 1990s:

A Passion for the Countryside
Bare Bones
Folk in the Field
The Hooky Insurrection of 1991

EPOCHS

Before Written Records

Introduction to Before Written Records

Geological Foundations
Hooky’s Dinosaur
Ancient Britons and Romans
New Light on Roman Hook Norton
Invaders of the Dark Ages
Where was the original Hook Norton ?

The Middle Ages, 1066-1540

Introduction to the Middle Ages

Medieval Life

Hook Norton in the Domesday Book
Building the Parish Church
Community Farming

The Manors of Hook Norton -What is a Manor?

The Secular Lords of the Manor:

The D’Oilly Dynasty, 1066-1253
Decline of the Barony, 1253-1414
The Wars of the Roses, 1414-1553

The Ecclesiastical Manor:

Oseney Abbey
Fall of Oseney Abbey

Reformation, Revolution and Reaction, 1540-1830

            Introduction to Reformation, Revolution and Reaction

Secular Concerns

Avoiding a Squire – The Crokers and their Foes, 1530-1670
The Great Civil War, 1642-1646
Passages in Village Life, 1640-1820
Enclosure: Winners and Losers
Duke of Buccleuch and Enclosure in Hook Norton

Religion

The Reformed Parish Church, 1538-1689
Baptists in Hook Norton
The Quakers
The Superior Parish Church, 1690-1840
Wesleyan Methodists

Victorian and Edwardian Transformations, 1830-1914

Introduction to Victorian and Edwardian Transformations     

Economic Developments

Agricultural Crisis and Industrial Salvation, 1850-1901
The Railway at Hook Norton
Ironstone Industry, 1887-1948
Hook Norton Brewery
Transformation of Village Life, 1870-1920

Religion

The Victorian Parish Church, 1840-1950
Wesleyan Methodists
Primitive Methodists
Strict Baptists

Welfare

Mental Health and Mad Houses, 1720-1854
Education – Early Years
Health and Disease
Looking After The Poor

Emigration Stories

Emigration from Hook Norton
William and Ann Richards, 1831
Dinah French, 1837 and 1848
Luke Phipps, 1850
Edward Salter & NZ 1858
The Gibbins Family, 1911
William Bloxham, 1912
William Theodore Darby Littleboy, 1919
Richard and Anna Goffe, 1929

Total War and Anxious Peace, 1914-1975

Introduction to Total War and Anxious Peace, 1914-1975

The Great Wars

In Memoriam, 1914-1918
[Hook Norton’s Second World War]

Memories

Scenes of Village Life: 1920-1970
The Nostalgic Verse of George Dumbleton
Dougie Marshall and Memories of Mid-Century
Joan Lawrence’s Pictures of Hook Norton

Education & Health

The Growth of our Health Services
Education Since 1900
Adult Education

Religious Life

St Peter’s Within Living Memory, 1930-2015
Wesleyan Methodists
Roman Catholics

THEMES

Religious Life

Introduction to Religious Life

THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH               

The Story of St Peter’s Church

Building the Parish Church 1000-1450
The Reformed Parish Church, 1538-1689
The Superior Parish Church, 1690-1840
The Victorian Parish Church, 1840-1950
St Peter’s Within Living Memory, 1930-2015

Features of St Peter’s Church

Vicars and Rectors, 1224-2015
St Peter’s Wall Paintings
Modern Developments

OTHER FAITHS

Baptists in Hook Norton
Quakers
Wesleyan Methodists
Primitive Methodists
Strict Baptists
Roman Catholics
Buddhists

Economic Life

Introduction to Economic Life

Community Farming
Enclosure: Winners and Losers
Agricultural Crisis and Industrial Salvation 1850-1901
Hook Norton Brewery
The Railway at Hook Norton
Ironstone Industry

Health, Education and Welfare

Introduction to Health, Education and Welfare

Health

Mental Health and Mad Houses, 1720-1854
Health and Disease
Growth of our Health Services

Education

Education – the Early Years
Education since 1900
Adult Education

Welfare

Looking After the Poor
Emigration from Hook Norton

APPENDICES

List of Appendices

    1. Rob Woolley: Hooky (1978 pamphlet)
    2. Margaret Dickins: June 29th 1774 – A Day in the Life of Hook Norton (1925) 
    3. Percy Hackling: Hook Norton Footpaths – Four Walks around the Village (about 1985)
    4. Dinah French: The Beginnings of Methodism in Hook Norton (1853)
    5. Gill White: Female Agricultural Employees in Hook Norton after 1945 (1994)

21/03/2023

Help us to help you – report any road problems you see.

The roads around Hook Norton are in a particularly poor state of repair at the moment. Help us to report these issues to the County Council by clicking the sign to the right, and see which problems have already been reported below.

RSS feed: Latest road problems in Hook Norton Latest road problems in Hook Norton

  • Pavement stones and path breaking down, 21st August August 21, 2026
    It started with one stone dislodging and is getting worse by the week - it is a much used pathway to get to the high street including mobility scooter and without fixing will become a bigger and bigger problem Nearest road to the pin placed on the map (automatically generated by OpenStreetMap): Queen Street, Cherwell […]
  • Shrub covering road, 21st August August 21, 2026
    I have reported this a couple of times already this shrub is covering part of Mobs Lane every time I drive up there the shrub brushes/scratches the car. It’s about time someone cut it back.!! Nearest road to the pin placed on the map (automatically generated by OpenStreetMap): Mobbs Lane, Cherwell Report on FixMyStreet

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