This website preserves the research and writing of the Somerton Village History Project — originally published at somertonoxon.co.uk and now collected here in permanent form.
Rosemary Arnold
To anyone who has known her, Rosemary Arnold is a highly intelligent, interesting, kind, funny village icon. Everyone knows her, and if you want to know something about Somerton — ask Rosemary. She managed the local library in Deddington for many years, brought the library van out to Somerton and the surrounding villages, and worked at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. She has lived for many years at Galahad, next door to the village hall.
Rosemary is known for starting up the Saturday morning coffee mornings for older villagers, the annual Christmas Bazaar, and above all for the Somerton Beetle Drives — an institution in their own right. The research and writing she contributed to the Somerton Village History Project forms the backbone of this site.
Alice Bowmaker
Alice Bowmaker is another of those people who can answer most things you would like to know about Somerton's history — and who has spent many years ensuring that knowledge is passed on rather than lost. A school teacher, highly intelligent and endlessly interesting, Alice has contributed greatly to the understanding of the village's past.
Among those who grew up in the village, Alice is remembered for taking groups of children to the church to clean the headstones, and for teaching them how to take rubbings of inscriptions — so that the names of the people lying there became legible again, not just to scholars but to anyone with paper and a crayon. That is, in miniature, what Alice has always done: made history accessible.
Della Paviour
Della Paviour grew up in Somerton and served as webmaster for the Somerton Village History Project website. She compiled and edited this book and site, drawing together material from the website archive, personal memories, and new research.
Other Contributors
Many people contributed to the original project, including Basil Eastwood (church guide and historical research), Jo Hawes (the Whall Window), Michaela Rees Jones (the School House), Shirley Grant and Neil Clare (the church bells), Sally Woodcock (hatchment conservation), Deborah Hayter (farmers essay, published with permission of Cake and Cockhorse, Vol. 19 No. 5, Spring 2014), John Webb (village hall and Barnes family), and David Ross (Britain Express visitor account).
Sources
The principal sources for this site are the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, J.C. Blomfield's History of the Deanery of Bicester (1888), the Somerton parish registers, the 1919 sale particulars of the Somerton Estate, the Oxfordshire Buildings Record report on Church End, and the memories of village residents recorded at the 2009 School Days meeting and in numerous forum contributions to the original website.