Berinsfield is six miles south of Oxford City and as a village has a short, but very active history, and one important to the post-war years of World War II as the first new village to be built on virgin land for over two hundred years. At the Millennium we were only 42 years old, but our history does not start there, even the events after World War I are important and fit into the bigger picture of world history. If we study the land on which Berinsfield was built its history goes back much further. Discoveries of man which date back to Palaeolithic times which were made together with Roman and Anglo Saxon artefacts, which have been concealed by the land but resurrected as the village has re-established as a new community in the 20th Century.
As a new village we had a troubled start. Many mistakes were made by those in authority, the press found it easy to put us down. Even our name was contentious. These mistakes and contentious issues have drawn the residents together to fight for a fair deal. As a new village we have been the "trail blazer" time and time again and as a community we have grown stronger and more mature. This brief history was going to be called "Even Our Name Was Contentious", but the more research we carried out the more we found out - so here is a brief look at "the history we didn¹t know we had". Here is a brief look at our local history and some of the events, which have brought us to this point and prepared us for our future. This book has been made possible with the help of the sponsorship of South Oxfordshire District Council's Millennium Grant and the Millennium Lottery Grant.
Researched and Written by Marc G.Hiles & Cathy Keogh
Edited by Isobel Hiles, Pamela Brenen, Christopher Hiles & Ratna Summers
We would like to give particular thanks to the following organisations:
- Ashmolean Museum
- Sue Lisk - SMR
- The Staff of the Westgate library for Local Studies
We would like to give thanks to the people who have liveded and still live in Berinsfield and others who have contributed to this history.
- Charlie Brown
- Ian Brown
- Natalie Coffey
- Eddie Connell
- Mr Garlick
- John & Rita Greenaway
- Leslie Edward Greenaway (Gammie)
- Jim Hotaling
- Christopher Law
- Mr Bernard Moore of Chalgrove
- Veronica & Terry Todd
- Colin Winterbourne