English Heritage
To mark 950 years since the Battle of Hastings, we've teamed up with illustrator and author Liz Pichon to create a modern day Bayeux Tapestry, showcasing the top ten moments from history since 1066.
We asked children to help us choose, and here's what they selected.
Posted 24th June 2021
Hornton
Church
Graveyard
Survey
The group started back in 2007 and we consider ourselves a very informal group, so please feel free to join us at any of our meetings or events. We discuss various topics of local history as well as organise trips, walks and talks with a variety of guest speakers.
Next Event: Stephen Barker - City of Oxford during the civil war
The Hornton History Group
Latest News
Murder Most Foul
For such a small village Hornton has had a surprisingly
colourful and varied crime history over the last millennium.
From petty theft, assault and drunkenness to murder,
we've seen it all over the centuries.
In the early 11th century, land here was held by
Tostig Godwine, Earl of Northumberland and Harold II's
youngest brother.
Tostig was banished by Edward the Confessor for various
crimes, including the murder of Orm Gamel, Lord of Kirby
and for “the accursed murder of the noble Northumbrian
the gens-Gospatric, whom Queen Eadgith commanded
to be craftily slain in the King's Court for the sake of her
brother Tostig; Gamel son of Orm, and Ulf, son of Dolphin
, whom Earl Tostig commanded to be slain craftily at York
the year before, as well as for the immensity of the tax which he had unjustly taken from all Northumbria.” That he was later pardoned is evident from entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and his ownership of lands - such as the Manor of Horley. Tostig died at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, just before the Battle of Hastings. Read more by clicking here...
WW2 EVACUEES
Escape to the Country
“ In 1940 I was seven years old; I was evacuated from London to Hornton, with my sister Audrey who was five. We arrived on Sumner’s coach, which stopped outside a little general store that had a lovely bow window…”