Charlbury Post Office has played an important role in the town for well over 100 years. In the past it employed many people who sorted and delivered mail round the town by bicycle. This photograph of the staff was taken around 1912 outside their office which at that time was located in a building next …
This beautiful brass clock face was made in Charlbury by Thomas Gilkes and probably dates to the 1770s. It is engraved with a simple foliate design and is signed ‘Gilkes, Charlbury’. Thomas Gilkes III (1736-1779) was descended from Thomas Gilkes of Sibford Gower, a well-known Quaker family. There were four generations of Gilkes clockmakers. Thomas …
The museum was pleased to purchase this amusing print from Sanders of Oxford with a bequest left to the museum. The print is from an engraving by Joseph Winkelman, who lived in ‘Heathfield’ in Browns Lane from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s. From the windows of his house he must have seen many traffic …
We are very lucky to have a keen detectorist living in Charlbury, Neil Pakenham-Walsh. In preparation for our current exhibition on the history of the Playing Close, Neil obtained permission from the Thomas Gifford Trust to search the Close to see what he could find, Along with a lot of modern ring pulls and other …
Our conservation cleaning team has undertaken specialist cleaning of museum objects during 2026. Key to this has been the purchase of a new ‘Conservac’ museum hoover thanks to a grant from the Charlbury Beer Festival awarded in November 2025. This has enabled our hard-working volunteers to safely remove dust and other dirt from objects which …
The Playing Close has been at the centre of Charlbury life for hundreds of years. But it wasn’t always the tranquil, green space that it is today. In the past it rang with the sounds of sawing and hammering, of sheep and horses brought to market there, and smelt strongly of dung and smoke. People …
After 75 years as part of the Charlbury Society, the Museum has now become a charity in its own right. We are now registered with the Charity Commission as a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation), run by a committee of volunteer Trustees. The Trustees are supported by other volunteers working behind the scenes and by a …
On Sunday 25th August 2025, as part of the Charlbury Arts Festival, the museum organised a walk and talk event exploring the history of the Playing Close. A pleasing number of people came to hear how the Close and surrounding houses have changed over the centuries. As early as 1447 this area was used …
Christopher Bartlett, and his wife Violetta, were famous honey producers who lived and worked in Charlbury. Before the first world war, at the age of 20, he already had over 2,000 hives. He married Violetta in 1901 in Witney and they moved to Sandford Mount in 1919. His whole family were involved in the business …
The revival in 1924 of the tradition of Beating the Bounds of the parish, not held for thirteen years, attracted a large number of people eager to take part. Men, women and children gathered in their best clothes for a happy day out. Yet very soon tragedy struck. As a punt loaded with children and …