Benson
Benson maps (2 available)
Map of Oxfordshire
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Personalised maps
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Benson books (11 available)
Benson memories
Read and share memories of Benson and Oxfordshire inspired by Frith photos
Old caravan field near Benson?
My husband was at RAF Benson in 1969. We got married in November, but could not find any accommodation around the airfield. In desperation we rented a tiny caravan in a farmer's field south of the airfield. There was no running water and the one outside tap tended to freeze in winter. The few caravans were managed by an elderly couple - the old lady I remember vividly, as she had long straggly grey hair and always wore the same outfit: big baggy sweater over a kilt over blue jeans and wellingtons! To get to Benson you came out of the caravan field, turned left and at the end of this lane was a pub, ...read more here
Contributed by Jeanette Clarke
Memories of Benson
My memories of Benson started in 1946/7 when we moved to Sunnyside, which in those days did not have the recreation field. Nor did the village have street lighting apart from a couple in the High Street, one of which was on the wall of Franklin's Farm. The shops in those days were Slaughters Stores, High Street & Chamberlains Stores, Castle Square. There were 2 butchers in High Street (Wm. Lee & the other I can't remember the name), Stan Blisset had the hairdressers next to Slaughters Stores. Tom Shotton was the postmaster. Bill Aldridge ran the greengrocers shop, opposite Crown Hotel, and was later taken over by Wm Turner. Gurneys Garage was a small unit in Chapel Lane. My stepfather, ...read more here
Contributed by John WEBB
Oxfordshire memories
Old caravan field near Benson?
My husband was at RAF Benson in 1969. We got married in November, but could not find any accommodation around the airfield. In desperation we rented a tiny caravan in a farmer's field south of the airfield. There was no running water and the one outside tap tended to freeze in winter. The few caravans were managed by an elderly couple - the old lady I remember vividly, as she had long straggly grey hair and always wore the same outfit: big baggy sweater over a kilt over blue jeans and wellingtons! To get to Benson you came out of the caravan field, turned left and at the end of this lane was a pub, ...read more here
A memory of Benson contributed by Jeanette Clarke
Memories of Benson
My memories of Benson started in 1946/7 when we moved to Sunnyside, which in those days did not have the recreation field. Nor did the village have street lighting apart from a couple in the High Street, one of which was on the wall of Franklin's Farm. The shops in those days were Slaughters Stores, High Street & Chamberlains Stores, Castle Square. There were 2 butchers in High Street (Wm. Lee & the other I can't remember the name), Stan Blisset had the hairdressers next to Slaughters Stores. Tom Shotton was the postmaster. Bill Aldridge ran the greengrocers shop, opposite Crown Hotel, and was later taken over by Wm Turner. Gurneys Garage was a small unit in Chapel Lane. My stepfather, ...read more here
A memory of Benson contributed by John WEBB
Extracts From Benson & Oxfordshire books
High Street c1965
Famous for its RAF station, Benson
grew during the turnpike and coaching
era. The village became well known
for several popular coaching inns, the
Georgian Castle, the White Hart and
the Crown, which is seen on the right.
A spitfire based at Benson spotted the
‘Bismarck’ near Bergen in 1941.
An extract from from"Oxfordshire Photographic Memories".
Brook Street c1955
Bensington is Benson’s proper name; it
was once an ancient British city. A battle
was fought here in 572 AD between the
West Saxons and the Britons. In 775 AD
the Mercians defeated Cynewulf, King of
Wessex in this area.
An extract from from"Oxfordshire 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.
An extract from from"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 today
apart from the two gables
of No 3, a 15th-century
house, partly hidden by
the horse-less cart.
An extract from from"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 nowadays to see
that quiet stream as the main navigation channel, rather than the
Thames itself, but so indeed it was for centuries. This view shows
Burford Bridge.
An extract from from"Abingdon Photographic Memories".