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 -
Vice Chairman - (Vacant)
Treasurer/Membership Secretary -
Secretary - Tel: 0118 940 3121
Programme Secretary - Helen Perry
Committee members:-
- David Ball
- Sarah Houghton
- Barbara Sears
- 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.

For more British History background, explore the BBC's Web Pages by clicking here:

Search the reports of meetings for particular topics of interest

If you no longer wish to receive emails from the Wargrave Local History Society, with information such as this, please email secretary@wargravehistory.org.uk to be removed from the circulation list.

Your contact information etc is held securely, used only for administering Wargrave Local History Society membership, or for sending information concerning local history. It will not be given to any other person or organisation without the explicit permission of the person to whom it relates.

Click this image for information about the wartime crash of a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress and the Dedication of the Memorial to its crew on 13th Nov 2014

The Society's fourth book was published on Saturday 29th June 2019
Price £2.50
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 2019 February 2019

March 2019 April 2019

May 2019 June 2019

July 2019 September 2019

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: Family £14 ; Individual £10 ;Concessions £9 ; Visitors are welcome - £3 per meeting

2019
April 9	Brian Armstrong	Leander Club This meeting took place at The Leander Club, which was formed in 1818. Brian recounted the main events of its 200 years history, and following that, Society members were given a tour of the Club.
May 14	Dr Stephanie Duensing, and Dr Ceri Boston	Wargrave Churchyard Excavations Stephanie was the archaeologist for the Wargrave Churchyard excavations in early 2018, whilst Ceri made the analysis of the bones that were discovered, and they will tell us something of their work and conclusions which can be drawn from the finds about mediaeval Wargravians.
June 16		Historic Village Walk
June 18	Thomas Forrester	'The Magic of the Auction ' An evening with the Auctioneer Thomas Forrester (formerly Thomas Plant).
July 10	Local History Visit	Selborne This year we visited the Gilbert White House (Gilbert White's 18th century book on the Natural History of Selborne is a classic) and gardens, and the adjacent Oates Museum (about the Victorian explorer Frank, and Lawrence's expedition to the south pole), followed by afternoon tea, of course.
September 10	Mark Puddy	History of the NHS The NHS was founded just over 70 years ago, and village doctor Mark explored an aspect of its history for us.
October 9	Linda Humphrey-Evans and /or Dr John Evans	Caversham Court and the Families Who Lived There Although now-a-days only the Thames-side gardens remain, the origins of Caversham Court date back to the 12th century. We will hear something of the history of the site, and also of the families who lived there.
November 12	Diana Coulter and Dr Brian O'Callaghan	Sonning: The History Explored Through 10 Buildings Diana, who has long been involved with the Sonning and Sonning Eye Society, will tell us of the story of our neighbouring parish by considering the history of 10 specific buildings.
December 10	Christmas Party	Christmas Party.
2020
January 14	Aldon Ferguson	The Role of Women at Danesfield and Phyllis Court in Photographic Interpretation in WWII. Danesfield was the centre of interpretation for all Allied aerial photography in Europe in WWII, and Aldon will share his research into some of the vital work that they carried out with us.
February 11	Catherine Sampson	Georgian Cooking Local historian Catherine is making a return visit, and this time she will give us an insight into the recipes used in the Georgian era.
March 10	A G M	The Annual General Meeting.