The Great Western Reaches Harbury - Roland Raffell - Feb 2026
With the coming of the Great Western Railway and its Oxford to Birmingham branch line – the planning and work of the famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel ...
Violent, Quarrelsome or Riotous Conduct - Roland Raffell - Jan 2026
After the season of festive celebration and sometimes excess, reflection on the drinking habits of previous centuries reveals similar anti-social behaviour under the influence ...
Southam in 1920 - Bernard Cadogan - Dec 2025
Recently St James’ Church have been spring cleaning their admin offices and as a result have offered the Heritage Collection numerous copies of the Southam Rural Deanery Magazine
George Potts, Fraudster - Roland Raffell - Nov 2025
On January 3, 1898, Inspector Thomas Hawkes travelled from Southam to Cardiff Docks to arrest George Potts, who had disembarked from the ship ‘Claverdon’ which had arrived ...
Southam School: the Early Days - Richard Clarke - Oct 2025
The need for a secondary school in Southam was acknowledged at least as early as 1936, when Headmaster Mr GW Linley announced to a school assembly that ...
200 Years of Railway History Bypass Southam - Roland Raffell - Sept 2025
On November 14, 1863, the Leamington Spa and Warwickshire Standard reported that the Daventry Railway Company had petitioned Parliament for a railway line commencing in Daventry and terminating ...
Early Motor-cycle Chase - Roland Raffell - Aug 2025
‘…I am satisfied you are an ingenious liar…’ So stated the Bicester magistrate before sentencing James Hayles, the accused in one of the earliest ...
Attempted Murder? - Roland Raffell - July 2025
Among the many more minor offences committed in Southam in the 1840s, one more serious crime stands out in the career of Inspector George Smallbones. This was reported ...
Two Convections for Inspector Smallbones - Roland Raffell - June 2025
In 1855, the final year of Inspector George Smallbones’ time in Southam, one of the few cases of passing counterfeit coins in the division was brought ...
Bendigo Mitchell, Highwayman: History or Myth - Roland Raffell - May 2025
There are numerous legends of highwaymen who terrorised travellers across the country, but were they all real, heinous criminals with little regard for their victims, or ...
A Quart of Ale (continued) - Roland Raffell - April 2025
In nineteenth century Southam it was recognised that there were ‘… drunkards who go in and get drunk week after week. They are known ...
A Pint of Ale - Roland Raffell - March 2025
‘For a Quart of Ale is a Dish for a King.’ (Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale IV: ii). For centuries, drinking ale has always been a ...
