Radcot, Oxfordshire
Radcot photos
Displaying 1 of 1 old photos of Radcot. View all Radcot photos
Radcot maps
Historic maps of Radcot and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Radcot maps
Radcot books
Displaying 3 of 3 books about Radcot and the local area. View all Radcot books
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Radcot
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Oxfordshire memories
Although I have been to RAF Brize Norton a few times I have never actually seen the place with the name Brize Norton as each time I have on army duty and taking off on an RAF plane!
In the 1970s I flew with members of my regiment several times to Germany and Malta and RAF Brize Norton supplied the... [more]
Shared on 06 October 2008
My father was a bank manager in Faringdon in the 1970s and managed the accounts of the Pusey estate and the Hornby family, owners of the estate. On one occasion, during an annual fete, Dad was asked to act treasurer of the fete. He asked me to help him. On that day, two Puseys were in Pusey village.
My Pusey... [more]
Shared on 03 June 2008
I was born and grew up in Watchfield, which was originally about 100 houses. Rapid changes to the village occurred in the late 1930s when Beckett Estate was aquired for the army. Then came the airfield and REME workshops. In the early 1940s the village was flooded as a rapid thaw melted snow on the airfield and the water came down... [more]
Shared on 14 November 2009
Hi,
My father was stationed at Arnhem Camp in the 1960s, he was a paratrooper. The Paras at Watchfield were 16th Parachute Heavy Drop. I attended Watchfield Primary School and have fond memories of my time there, two teachers stand out in my mind, Mrs Late and Mr Biggs. In my day the village had a Jet petrol station and next... [more]
Shared on 16 August 2009
Paras at Watchfield in the 1950s
Yes, I lived on the Watchfield housing estate from 1952 to 1953. Large numbers of paras and their equipment were dropped regularly at the airfield. Trainees jumped from large silver barrage balloons, but experienced paras from aircraft, often dozens at a time. The equipment canisters, jeeps, etc., came down with colour-coded parachutes. It was famously one of the sites used in... [more]
Shared on 05 June 2009
Hi Alan, I can confirm that there was a military airodrome at Watchfield. I remember watching from a distance as learner paras jumped from a baloon basket. The baloon was let up to a great height and the men in the basket jumped out one by one.
Tony Stayne
Shared on 12 August 2008
2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment
My Father tells me that there was an airfield at Watchford and that the Paras used it as a drop zone in the 1950's. Taking off from Abindon, they would drop at Watchfield. My Father did his night drop here and said that the staff on the ground would leave the hanger doors open with the lights on so that the... [more]
Shared on 13 August 2006
In 1955 my husband who was in the American Air Force was stationed a Brize Norton, and we lived in a house which I think was called Brookfield in Uffington. I had my son Gerard at the John Radclife Hospital in Febuary 1955. I am Scottish and still live in Scotland. My son now lives in Buckinghampshire. My daughter and myself... [more]
Shared on 07 June 2009
Extracts From Radcot & Oxfordshire books
Displaying a selection of extracts from Frith books about Radcot, inspired by Frith photos.
Abingdon Photographic Memories
The Crown and Thistle Hotel, first mentioned in 1605, was a coaching inn, and one of the town's best known ones. It is still popular, and has the truncated remains of its inn courtyard within – we see it here from the yard end of the carriageway through the building. The further part of the yard in this view now has a roof supported on posts to give shelter to tables and chairs.
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Abingdon Photographic Memories
Skirting the modern shopping centre, our tour reaches Stert Street, which runs south towards the Market Place; in the 1890s, it was one of Abingdon's main shopping streets. On the right, W H Hooke's bookshop (now a jeweller's) is the start of the market place encroachment. We are looking towards St Nicholas's Church. Until 1883, only its tower was visible; then two pubs which jutted into the street, one on each side, were demolished for road improvement. Little survives on the left... [more]
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Abingdon Photographic Memories
The Fraternity of the Holy Cross built the two bridges, the causeway across Nag's Head Island, and then the long causeway that runs south for over a thousand yards across the flood plain to Culham, where they built a five-arched stone bridge between 1416 and 1422. Culham Bridge crossed the cut dug for Abbot Orderic in 1052 and known as the Swift Ditch. It is difficult... [more]
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