The Object of the Society is to provide a common meeting ground for the study and discussion of, and research into, history in general, and of the local area in particular.

President - The Lord Remnant
Chairman - Peter Halman
Vice Chairman - (Vacant)
Treasurer/Membership Secretary -
Secretary - Tel: 0118 940 3121
Programme Secretary - Helen Perry
Committee members:-
- David Ball
- Sandra Foster
- Lynda Mills
- Mary Owen
- Wendy Smith

We are happy to try and respond (in our own good time!) to requests for information about people and places in the history of Wargrave parish. Please email us at:

Please send any queries regarding this website to Email :

The Society supports the work of the Wargrave Heritage Trust

The Society is affiliated to the Berkshire Local History Association. and is a member of the British Association for Local History. We are also linked to the BBC's Legacies Local History Project

Search the reports of meetings for particular topics of interest

The Society's third book was published on Saturday 25th June 2012
Price £9.95
Read about and order our books here.

The Harriette Cooke Smith Photo Albums
In 2009, we acquired three albums of photographs which feature (inter alia) scenes of Wargrave from the 1870s belonging to Harriette Cooke Smith - see some images here.

We are always interested in adding to our collection of pictures, documents, books, maps etc relating to Wargrave, so if you have anything that you think may be of interest, please contact us.

Reports of Recent Meetings:

January 2012 February 2012

March 2012 April 2012

May 2012

Reports of previous meetings are held in an Archive

Meetings take place at 8 p.m. in
The Pavilion on the Recreation Ground
(Click for a map)

Subscriptions: Individual £9 ; Family £12 ; Concessions £8 ; Visitors are welcome - £3 per meeting

2012
April 10	John Coulson	The Crofton Beam Engines The water supply to the Kennet and Avon Canal is provided by the Crofton Beam Engines. They are the oldest surviving such engines still doing the task for which they were built - the one built by Boulton and Watt this year celebrating its 200th anniversary. John gave us an insight into their fascinating story.
May 8	Ann Armstrong	Life in the Land Army Ann told us about her experiences as a member of the Land Army during World War II
May 16	Ann Griffin	Historic Walk around Cookham
June 12	Ann Griffin	Cookham Paddock 2005 Excavation An archaeological excavation took place in 2005 of the paddock adjacent to Holy Trinity Church at Cookham, and Ann will tell us about the discoveries made there.
July 3	Local History Visit	Fawley Hill Railway and Museum This year Society members will visit the museum and railway of Sir William McAlpine, at Fawley Hill, for a private tour, followed by afternoon tea in the station.
September 11	Geoff and Val Beckett	Berkshire Lady Fliers Geoff and Val will present stories photographs and paintings of lady aviators in Berkshire .
October 9	Prof Ted Collins	Horses on and off the Farm Clive, author of the recent book on the subject, will tell us about the Nabobs of Berkshire - merchants of the East India Company who subsequently returned to Britain, and mostly settling in the Thames Valley, where they built large mansions - many of which still survive in Berkshire.
December 11	Christmas Party	Christmas Party
2013
January 8	Brian Armstrong	Experiences of a Rowing Coach Brian is a coach for the England Rowing team., and will tell us about his involvement with them - including the preparations for the 2012 Olympics .
February 12	Aldon Ferguson	Local Airfields Aldon is an aviation historian, and will enlighten us about local airfields in Berkshire - the not so well known as well as the well known ones .
March 12	A G M	The Annual General Meeting