Quakers in Tadley and Baughurst

During the Civil War Baughurst saw local skirmishes and suffered from plundering.  After this it became one of the biggest and wealthiest Quaker centres in Southern England.  Following a visit in 1657 to Basingstoke by George Fox, the Quaker founder, James Potter of Baughurst went to prison for […]

Tadley horse thrown overboard !

Blue Gown (1865) was a sweet-tempered, compact, short-legged,  bay colt that won the Derby in 1868. It was owned and  bred by Sir Joseph Hawley of  Hawley House in Tadley,  He sold the horse in  1869 to a French syndicate for 5,000 guineas.  Blue Gown  returned to England, […]

Battle of the Somme – 8 pm Wed Feb 17th 2021

The Battle of the Somme: the blackest day in the history of the British Army Online talk by Phil Wood The first day of the battle remains the worst day in the history of the British Army, when it suffered 57,470 casulties, around 20,000 of whom were killed. After a series of attacks and counter...

TADS Quiz

For those of you that missed it, here is this year’s TADS quiz. Grab a pencil and paper… there are four rounds : Each section has 10 questions worth 1 point each, Click for answers at the end of each round ! Round 1 – General History 1.  […]

The Windsor Chair – TADS online talk Wed 8pm 20th Jan 2021

FREE ACCESS FOR TADS MEMBERS Members receive link by email 5 days before talk  “The remarkable story of our National chair”, an online talk by Stuart Linford This classic design was created in the Thames valley at the beginning of the 18th Century.  Windsor chairs are a large […]

Poisons for Medicine

TADS Zoom Talk on 18th November 2020 Poisons for Medicine  By Graham Harrison Who would use poisons as medicine? Well the Victorians certainly did as Graham told us in his amusing and interesting talk, seemingly in large quantities. But before we chuckle too much, we must not forget […]

USAAF dedication to the people of Tadley

On 6 June 1997 a plaque, dedicated to the people of Tadley, hosts to the USAAF during WW II, was erected at Blake’s Lane, on the south wall of the Toucan Travel building. This plaque was initiated and designed by Gordon Timmins, MOD police dog handler and local […]

Tadley and the Parliament Fart

Henry Ludlow (1577 – 1639) who lived locally in Tadley Place, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons [1] between 1601 and 1611.    During the Speaker’s address Henry let out a resounding fart. The House erupted in laughter. And then, so it seems, […]

Tadley folklore – Did Tarzan ever visit Tadley?

As a local history society we are interested in local folklore that includes oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and even jokes passed down through the generations.  Family stories have been an interesting source of  local history information over the years, When we hear a new one we  […]

Underground Architecture

  The image above is Sudbury Town Tube Station London. London Underground Piccadilly Line station designed by Charles Holden in a modern European style. 1931. The Grade II* listed building was described by Pevsner as “an outstanding example of how satisfying such unpretentious buildings can be, purely through […]

Never had it so good

On  16th Sep 2020 Colin Oakes gave an online talk entitled “Never had it so good”   Colin Oakes is an archaeologist and a London guide who has significant knowledge of London’s history and  superb delivery skills. In the past he has talked about Dickens’ Childhood, The London […]

Jane Austen and the Military – Recent Online Talk

Tadley and District History Society provides monthly external talks on history related topics at 8 pm on the third Wednesday of the month.  This months online talk on Aug 19th 2020 was  by Rupert Mathews. Rupert had come up with what might seem a very strange slant on […]

“Putting Tadley on the map: from Gough to Google.” By John Leighfield

Recent online meeting  17th June 2020 We were  very pleased to have John Percival Leighfield CBE provide our June  talk.  He has a passion for maps since his schooldays and discussed, in a highly illustrated talk, how maps have developed from the 14th century until the present day. […]

Medieval Tadley Ring

Medieval gold ring with a blue stone dating to the late C13th-early C14th This medieval gold ring with a blue stone dating to the late C13th-early C14th was found in Tadley (location unknown). The slender highly decorated hoop is divided into many facets creating lozenge fields into which […]

The Roman Portway

Contents Introduction Ivan D Margary’s’ Roman Roads in Britain’ was published in 1955. Maps of Portway Roman Roads in Britain by Thomas Codrington Are Portway locations on the OS maps correct? Reading University at Silchester Alex Flahive  The Old Road LIDAR References Introduction The Portway is a 58 km […]