Foreword and Acknowledgements

FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This volume was researched and written during 1999–2004 and 2007–11, alongside other publications in the VCH Oxfordshire series. Funding throughout that period came from Oxfordshire County Council (which until 2011 supported a County Editor and two Assistant Editors), and from the independent VCH Oxfordshire Trust (which funded two additional research posts to 2004 and one or equivalent during 2005–11). In 2011 the Trust became the principal funder in a reconfigured partnership with the County Council, whose continued support is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are due to all of the trustees both past and present, including the current Chairman Dr Kate Tiller and the Treasurer Mr Liam Tiller. Donors to the Trust are listed at the end of this volume. The History Faculty of the University of Oxford supported the research through discretionary annual grants and in numerous other ways, while office accommodation was provided by the Bodleian Library until 2010, and by Oxfordshire County Council thereafter. In addition, preliminary work on Kelmscott benefited from a one-year grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund during 2000–1 as part of a national VCH pilot project. The University of London, for which the VCH is published, records its thanks to all those bodies and individuals.

Of the staff involved in this volume Dr Virginia Bainbridge was funded by the Trust from 1999 to 2004, when she took up a post elsewhere. Dr Mark Page joined the Oxfordshire staff in 2005, co-funded by the County Council and the Trust. Dr Simon Townley continued as County Editor throughout. Architectural fieldwork was supported by Dr Carol Davidson Cragoe (former VCH Assistant Architectural Editor), and on a voluntary basis by David Clark of the Oxfordshire Buildings Record, whose generous and extensive help is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to Elizabeth Williamson (VCH Executive Editor), Jessica Davies (VCH Production Manager), Matthew Bristow (VCH Research Manager), and Dr Alan Thacker (VCH Consultant Editor).

The research for this volume incurred debts to numerous institutions and individuals. Thanks are due to the archivists and other staff of Oxfordshire Record Office and Oxfordshire Studies (now combined as Oxfordshire History Centre); Oxfordshire Historic Environment Record; the Bodleian Library; The National Archives; the British Library; the National Monuments Record; Berkshire, Lincolnshire, and West Sussex Record Offices; Christ Church, the Queen's College, and Trinity College, Oxford; Oxford University Archives; the Church of England Record Centre; the Society of Antiquaries of London; and the trustees of the Swinford Museum, Filkins. Others who gave invaluable help, advice, or information include Roger Ainslie, Gerry Austin, Diane Blackett, Professor John Blair, Paul Bracken, Mrs Gerry Chauveau, David Clark, Dave Cooper, Derek Cotterill, Lady Ann Cripps, Manjit Dale, Peter and Kym Ford, F. R. Goodenough DL, Peter Gray, John Heyworth, Theo Hodges, Miriam James, Celia Johnstone, Richard Martin, Lord de Mauley, Jane Milne, Shaun Morley, Mrs M. Ponsonby, Robin Stainer, John Steane, A. S. Till, Karen Todner, John Willmer, Jasper Winn, and Dorothy Wise. Work on Kelmscott benefited considerably from the Kelmscott Landscape Project overseen by the Society of Antiquaries from 1999 to 2007, with which the VCH was closely involved. Particular thanks are due to Tom Hassall (who chaired the project), Peter Salway, Louise Armstrong, Mary Hodges, Jake Nelson, and the late Jean Cook. Professor John Blair generously shared the findings of the important geophysical surveys and excavations carried out at Radcot during 2007–9, in advance of full publication, while Professor G. W. S. Barrow made available notes and drafts on Langford and its townships compiled by him for the VCH in the 1950s. Some of the sections on schools and charities draw in part on drafts by the late Mrs Nesta Selwyn, who worked for the VCH on a voluntary basis from the 1950s until 2004.

The maps were drawn by Cath D'Alton from drafts by VCH staff. The cost of the mapping and other illustrations was met by generous grants from the Greening Lamborn Trust and the W. A. Pantin Charitable Trust.