On Friday evening June 21st we take a short trip to Lighthorne for our first summer outing of 2024.
Meet at 6.00pm, Lighthorne Village Hall, CV350AY. Cost £5.00 (can be collected on the day)
The forecast is for a fine day and we look forward to an enjoyable evening led by our member Colin Such, who until recently resided in Lighthorne and has amassed a mine of information about its history and characters.
Evening tour of LIGHTHORNE VILLAGE

Lighthorne is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086 as “Listecorne”. An interpretation of this as “the light/ bright thorn bush”, has been challenged by Peter Hinman who proposed “hidden valley” or “stream valley” as more likely.
Once owned by the Earls of Warwick the village later became part of the Compton Verney estate owned by the Lord Willoughby de Broke.

The church tower was built
in the 1770s by Kineton
mason Samuel Eglington,
who had been employed on
the new house at Compton
Verney. The main body of
the church is 19th century,
but there is some early glass
incorporated into the windows.
The earliest of the 4 bells is 15th century, one is 17th century and two are 19th century.
The village has many attractive historic features, and we will be guided expertly around these historic sites by Colin Such, the Lighthorne History Society archivist and K&DLHG committee member and archivist.

FRIDAY JULY 19th Afternoon guided tour of STANWAY HOUSE

Cost £20.00 (book in advance, numbers limited)
Stanway House and gardens in Gloucestershire are about 30 miles from Kineton. The house dates from the late 16th – early 17th century, and
the gardens have been continually enhanced by successive generations of the Tracy family and their descendants.

The spectacular 91 metre high fountain – the highest gravity fed spout in the world – being one of the latest additions opened in 2004.
The house has stairs and level changes etc which make it unsuitable for people with mobility issues. The fountain and garden are fully accessible, Meet 2.00 pm Stanway House entrance. GL54 5PQ

NB this is not a coach trip, to avoid unnecessary car trips please consider car sharing

FRIDAY AUGUST 16th Afternoon guided visit to STRATFORD GUILD CHAPEL Cost £5.00

Stratford’s Guild of the Holy Cross was an essential element in the medieval life of the town. The Guild built the almshouses, the Guild Hall, the grammar school and the Guild Chapel.

The chapel we now see was built in the 15th century, and has undergone many changes of use in the last half century. It contains internationally important wall paintings, which were covered with whitewash less than a century after they were created. The event was recorded by John Shakespeare, the playwright’s father, in his role as Alderman of the Corporation.
Meet 2.00pm in the chapel.

The Community Archive
Colin and Carol have continued cataloguing the material in the archive. We have taken delivery of 10 archive quality archive storage boxes donated by the Warwickshire County Record Office through the good offices of Colin. Here is a find from a collection of unlabelled photographs:
Tales from the Archive from Carol
I was looking through a small suitcase of someone’s old family photos in the Archive recently. Amongst the mostly loose photos was a small, slightly battered album, and on one of the pages I spotted a photo of ….. my father!
It was one of four snaps on a page labelled “Weston Park Nr Shipston on Stour”, featuring a Girl Guide camp in perhaps the early 1920s. To be fair, I already had an analogue copy of the same photo, but this one, although only a 2″ x 3″ snapshot, turned out to be of better quality once I’d scanned and enhanced it.
At the time Dad was a young gardener at Weston Park (between Cherington and Long Compton), and features in the photo in the back row, on the right. The other two older men were also gardeners, and the girls at the front were Girl Guides. I was told by my aunt in the 1980s that the Guides were from Birmingham, and the other gardeners used to tease Dad by sending him on spurious errands into the depths of the Guides’ camping area.
The name “Baldwin” is written on the back of some of the loose photos. Now I wonder whose album it was, and how they were connected with the Girl Guide camp?

Carol Clark

Forthcoming K&DLHG events

Date	Speaker	Title
21 June (eve)	Colin Such 6pm	Guided tour of Lighthorne village
19 July (afternoon)	Guided Outing 2pm	Visit to Stanway House
16 August	Guided Outing 2pm	Guided tour of Guild Chapel, Stratford
20 September	Maggie Wood	Mr Gaydon of Brailes, stories told through a collection of smocks
18 October	David Morse	A Dive into Leamington’s Photographic Archive
15 November	Roger Butler	William James – Stratford’s Pioneering Railway Engineer
13 December	Paul Thompson	Io Saturnalia
17 Jan. 2025	Alex Harvey	Immersive Tech to Explore Medieval Tunnels in Warwick and Elsewhere
21 Feb. 2025	William Deakin	History of the Hunt in Kineton
21 Mar. 2025	AGM & Martin Sinot-Smith	37th AGM followed by Daily Life in Tudor Times

Other Organisations’ Events

Warwickshire Local History Society Summer outings.

Saturday 29th June. Roman Mancetter. At the Roman Mancetter Centre and St Peter’s Church, Mancetter 2.00 – 5.00pm.
Hear about Mancetter’s role as a town of front line strategic importance during the early years of the Roman invasion and then the history of the medieval town and guild, all within the beautifully maintained late medieval church of St Peter.
Price: £11 WLHS and associate members, £13 non members, including
afternoon tea/coffee and cake.
The event and venue are fully accessible. Free parking available. There
are 50 places on this trip. Bookings close on 15th June. mancetter-poster-1.pdf (warwickshirehistory.org.uk)

Saturday 6th July. Holy Trinity Church, Sutton Coldfield. 2.00 –
5.00pm
Learn about the history of Holy Trinity Church from its founding in
1250 with its rich heritage of stained glass, memorials, unique woodwork and glorious painted ceilings.
Price: £11 WLHS and associate members, £13 non members, including
afternoon tea/coffee and cake.
The event and venue are accessible. Limited free parking; we recommend public transport for this event (the railway station is a short walk). There are 60 places on this trip. Bookings close on 22nd June.
sutton-coldfield-poster-1.pdf (warwickshirehistory.org.uk)

Saturday 20th July. Guided tours of Harbury. Tours start at 9.15am,
12.20pm and 5.30pm
Take a guided tour of the historic village of Harbury with volunteers
from the Harbury Heritage Centre and learn about the history of the
village. Then visit the Harbury Heritage Centre for refreshments and a
chance to browse the historical documents in their collection, including
photographs and maps.
Price: £7.70 WLHS and associate members, £9.70 non members,
including tea/coffee and refreshments.
The event and venue are accessible. Free parking available (including a separate area for people with mobility needs). There are 60 places on this trip (20 on each tour). Bookings close on 6th July.
For more information including how to book please download the Booking Form.
harbury-poster.pdf (warwickshirehistory.org.uk)
As Associate Members, members of the K&DLH are eligible for the WLHS rate.

Please look up the Warwickshire Local History Society’s Other Societies’ Events page for a list of
other meetings of local history interest. You can access it here: Other Events (warwickshirehistory.org.uk)

British Association for Local History. The Kineton Group is a Member of BALH and they run lectures and talks which are open to our members. www.balh.org.uk for upcoming talks available virtually.

Don’t forget to check our own website at: Kineton and District Local History Group.

Membership.
Membership for 2024 is £15. Visitor entrance is £3.00 per meeting.
If you would like to become a Member of the group, our 2024 membership year starts in January. If you attend 5 or more of the 9 meetings we hold every year then Membership is the best option!
With our bank now charging for payments by cheque or cash, we would urge those who can to please pay by BACS to our bank business account:
name: Kineton and District Local History Group,
sort code: 40-43-19;
acc. no. 71281992. Please include your full name so we can correctly attribute your payment.
Members note that if you pay by cheque make it payable to:
Kineton and District Local History Group, and send or delivered to:
Alec Hitchman,
The Hills Farm,
Pillerton Hersey,
WARKS, CV35 0QQ
Cash payments can be made at any meeting.
For queries contact Alec on alec.hitchman@btinternet.com

KDLHG Committee

President:	Dr Robert Bearman MBE
Chairman	Rosemary Collier
Vice-Chairman	Roger Gaunt
Secretary	Gill Stewart
Treasurer	Alec Hitchman
Outings Secretary	David Freke
Programme Secretary	Claire Roberts
Membership & PR	Pamela Redgrave Carol Clarke Colin Such Ilona Sekacz
Archive Data Manager	Carol Clarke
Archivist	Colin Such Ilona Sekacz

The committee met on 11th June in the Community Archive Room. The Village hall has been booked for the 2025-6 programme. The possibility of obtaining a grant from Council Infrastructure Levy was discussed and an approach to the Parish Council agreed. The Treasurer reported that our current financial situation is satisfactory, and that the raffle has raised useful funds, the wine less so. It was agreed to discontinue offering wine but when we recommence evening talks in September to continue starting at 7.00pm with tea and coffee before the talks. Good progress was being made in the archive, with the shelving and filing cabinets installed. Suggestions for talks and outing venues in 2025-6 were invited. Efforts to get our message to the wider community continue. The next committee meeting will be on 18th September in the Community Archive Room at 7.00pm