The

Charlbury Society

LAND -- LIFE -- HISTORY

Welcome to the Charlbury Society's website.

We thank our members for supporting the Society over the last successful season. Our final talk of the 2025-2026 series took place in June and over the summer, the committee will be busy putting together a new programme of events starting with our annual drinks party on Thursday 3rd September.

We look forward to welcoming members and friends.

Details of our new season of talks will be updated on this website as soon as details are confirmed.

We would love to have one or two new trustees on our committee to help us agree and arrange our future programme and to consider the direction in which the Society could develop. It would be a chance to contribute ideas, be part of a pleasant team and support something worthwhile, without a heavy time commitment. Let us know if you would like more details or to have an informal chat.

Talks 2026-2027

October 2026

Memorial Hall

7 January 2027

Zoom

3 April 2027

Memorial Hall

5 November 2026

Memorial Hall

4 February 2027

Zoom

13 May 2027

Memorial Hall

3 December 2026

Zoom

4 March 2027

Memorial Hall

Membership

Membership of the Society is open to all at £10 per person and runs from September to June; it includes our annual party and all talks.

Guests to individual talks are also welcome for £3.00 fee.

Please contact memsec.charlsoc@gmail.com

Charlbury Society Outings

We aim to organise an outing at least once a year. Previous visits are featured below.

October 2025, Burford. The principal theme of our tour of Burford was the importance of the town in the wool trade that brought prosperity to the region during the medieval and Tudor periods. Its strategic location along key trade routes and its position by the River Windrush made Burford an ideal market town for the purchase of Cotswold wool, highly prized across Europe for its quality. The wealth generated from the wool trade is still evident today in the buildings such as the Tolsey, the meeting place of wool buyers, where the guided tour began and the parish church of St John the Baptist, funded by wealthy wool merchants, where it finished.

August 2024, Bloxham. The National Lottery-funded Heritage Group of the ‘Building our Future’ project at St Mary's Church Bloxham had recently established a team of guides to provide tours, bringing to life its history, art and architecture. We enjoyed a fascinating afternoon being guided around the church and churchyard - followed by tea and cake.

It is a church that many of us pass regularly, but could not have imagined the treasures it contains.

October 2023, Oxford. We organised and subsidised an Oxford guided walk for our members with a specialist who shared the places where J.R.R.Tolkien and C.S. Lewis lived and worked. It was an enthralling and fact-filled tour and we resolved to arrange similar walks in the future.