The school outing
Some time in the 1930s these four charabancs assembled at Church Corner for a school outing for about 80 children. Some of the youngsters are wearing coats and woolly hats so it must have been winter. Do any of our older villagers remember where they were off to? Please let us know your thoughts.
Articles from the "Life" uploadedMore articles previously published in Steeple Aston Life have been uploaded to the Articles page on this website. They cover many facets of the history of our villages, so if you missed them the first time........click here.
Old photographs in your album?
Family portraits are often included in albums of old photographs kindly donated to SAVA's growing archive. This year's Spring Talk in the Village Hall on Sunday April 17th at 4.00pm will be on the subject of "Photography around 1900". Watch this space for more details about one of our popular annual events. |
House Gazetteer now available
A full listing of every building in Steeple and Middle Aston has been compiled, with further notes added by visitors to SAVA’s exhibition "The Development of Steeple and Middle Aston". It is available for viewing or download by clicking here.
If you know of any buildings missing from this list, or dwellings incorrectly named, please let us know. Similarly, if you have further information on dates or can respond to any of the question marks, this would be gratefully received. Wells and pumps in Steeple Aston
Before Christmas we asked readers to let us know the locations of any wells in the village. Many did so, and our thanks to them. Click here to view the map of wells and pumps in the village centre that were marked on the 1900 Ordnance Survey map . Many of the ones you told us about are marked, but still more have disappeared since the map was made. Let us know by clicking here if you find any unreported sources of ground water in the village, in or out of use.
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House detectives in Steeple Aston
Observant villagers may have noticed over the last few months a few possibly familiar-looking people entering houses in the village and coming out an hour later excitedly talking about loose tenons, parapets and chamfered beams. SAVA has been fortunate in having Paul Clark, a historic buildings expert from the Oxfordshire Buildings Record, join a small group that has been researching house history in Steeple Aston.
So far, we have inspected and produced short reports on about ten houses, kindly made available for an hour or two by owners keen to understand more about their homes.
Things are not always what they seem: some houses show clear evidence that their origins go back perhaps 100 years prior to the date their owners had assumed. For example, it was common in the C18th for houses to be refronted in order to match current fashions for symmetry, larger windows and often additional bedrooms. Concealed behind the Georgian front elevation though can be a C17th dwelling with construction timber jointed and arranged in a way that had died out 100 years later. Several houses we have seen in the village were originally thatched and had steeper pitches than they now have, but close inspection reveals the story. It can sometimes be linked to changes of ownership in the written records associated with the dwelling.
If you would like us to arrange a visit, please contact SAVA (see the "Contact Us" tab)
So far, we have inspected and produced short reports on about ten houses, kindly made available for an hour or two by owners keen to understand more about their homes.
Things are not always what they seem: some houses show clear evidence that their origins go back perhaps 100 years prior to the date their owners had assumed. For example, it was common in the C18th for houses to be refronted in order to match current fashions for symmetry, larger windows and often additional bedrooms. Concealed behind the Georgian front elevation though can be a C17th dwelling with construction timber jointed and arranged in a way that had died out 100 years later. Several houses we have seen in the village were originally thatched and had steeper pitches than they now have, but close inspection reveals the story. It can sometimes be linked to changes of ownership in the written records associated with the dwelling.
If you would like us to arrange a visit, please contact SAVA (see the "Contact Us" tab)
