Home
Projects
HS2
Events
Membership
Publications
Newsletter
Records of Bucks
Library
Active Archaeology Group
Buckinghamshire Local History Network
Historic Buildings Group
Contact
Links


The Buckinghamshire Local History Network:
local history and archaeology societies

CLICK ON THE NAME OF THE SOCIETY OR ORGANISATION TO ACCESS THEIR WEBSITE

Archaeology

Archaeology in Marlow

Aims to investigate and discover the archaeology and pre-history of Marlow Town and its surrounding parishes. Everyone is welcome to join and members enjoy practical archaeology, research, fieldwork, training courses, talks and visits.

Bletchley Archaeological & Historical Society (BAHS)

To promote the study of archaeology, architecture and history in Bletchley and district; to protect and preserve buildings, sites, records and objects of historic interest; to conduct and promote research into local history. The society organises monthly lectures, outings and an occasional local history project.

Chess Valley Archaeological & Historical Society (CVAHS)

Researches the past of Chesham, Amersham and the surrounding Chiltern Region. A programme of events includes an Archaeology Field Group, a Records Group and a lecture and meetings programme.

Leighton Buzzard and District Archaeological & Historical Society (LBDAHS)

Focuses on the local landscape, with research into how human activity has changed this and the impact that local people and industries have made. Aims to research and record local history and prehistory to build up a multi-layered record of the district. Holds talks, workshops to develop skills, work parties for excavations and surveys.
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Marlow Archaeology

Organises talks and visits to archaeological sites, investigations combining documentary research and fieldwork including accurate contour surveys, fieldwalking, geophysical surveys and excavation. Training sessions for beginners.
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Olney Archaeological Society

Organises meetings, visits and other activities of archaeological and related interest by a programme of lectures or illustrated talks mainly relating to archaeology but sometimes of general historical interest. Two per month between September and May. Visits are to digs, museums, castles, stately homes among others. Annual lunch held in January.

Wolverton and District Archaeological and Historical Society

Researches the history of Wolverton and surrounding areas, holds meetings on historical subjects, visits and walks around local towns. Also keeps an eye on listed buildings and scheduled monuments and related planning applications.

Family history

Buckinghamshire Family History Society (BFHS)

Founded in 1976, a group of family historians who help each other with research, historians who either have ancestors from Buckinghamshire or live there (or both).

Buckinghamshire Genealogical Society

Founded in 1992 to assist members living outside the county with Buckinghamshire research, and to help those living within the county with all aspects of their family history. Monthly meetings held in Aylesbury.
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Garden history

Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust

The trust's members work to research and record historic parks and gardens in Buckinghamshire, both those still in existence and those known only through their archaeology. The trust organises visits and talks, and publishes The Bucks Gardener.
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Heritage

Buckingham Canal Society

Exists to promote the restoration and reopening of the canal between Cosgrove and Buckingham. Activities include surveying, preserving and protecting what remains of the canal, including clearing a dry stretch of the canal and raising funds to re-water this section as a demonstration.

Castlethorpe Village

Aims to record local memories of Castlethorpe, setting down the village's past for generations which will follow. Bringing together the records collected to show the personal and cultural achievements of its people. More modern records and photographs show how the village continues to change and develop.

High Wycombe Society

Aims to bring together those who care about the town of High Wycombe – its past, present and future. The society holds three open days a year at Pann Mill and public meetings at The Riverside in St Mary Street. We prtoduce a quarterly newsletter, with back issues freely available in our archive, which is on our website For enquiries please email info@highwycombesociety.org.uk
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Milton Keynes Heritage Association

Formed in 1994 by local heritage groups and museums to encourage and develop co-operation and co-ordination between organisations with an interest in heritage in Milton Keynes, North Buckinghamshire and South Northamptonshire. Now has around 40 member organisations, from Buckingham in the west, Olney in the east, Towcester in the north and Woburn Sands in the south.

New Bradwell Heritage Group

Formed in September 2005 to put the history of New Bradwell on the map. New Bradwell was developed by the railways to house workers moving into the area to work at Wolverton Railway Works. Aims to gather information on New Bradwell's development, as well as memories from people who grew up in the village or moved into the area.

Princes Risborough Area Heritage Society

Formed in 1987 as a meeting place for all interested in the history of the town and its neighbouring communities. Aims are to support conservation of the historical environment, to gather and protect items relating to local history, to share that knowledge through talks, walks and publications.

Stoke Goldington Association

The historical association of a small village on the furthest northern edge of Buckinghamshire, which has compiled a comprehensive archive on the life and history of the village. The association meets in The Village Reading Rooms on the last Wednesday of each month (excepting July and December), with presentations on a variety of local and countryside subjects and reports on projects.

Two Villages Archive Trust (Milton Keynes & Broughton)

A voluntary organisation collecting archive material: documents, maps, photographs and oral reminiscence about the two villages. Its activities encourage the people of a large new urban development to put down roots in their local community, with regular meetings to share research and specialist speakers, small exhibitions, and family research.

Wing Heritage Group

Aims to provide the people of Wing with an insight into the village's history. Organises walks, talks, displays and sometimes archaeological digs. If you're interested or would like to join the group, email wingheritage@gmail.com
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

History in general

Buckinghamshire Historical Association

Runs monthly talks on a wide variety of historical subjects – local, national and international – at the Friends Meeting House on Rickfords Hill in Aylesbury.

Local history

Hanslope and District Historical Society

Focusing on the history of Hanslope, a village to the north of Milton Keynes, the society has assembled a comprehensive website and holds regular monthly meetings on a wide variety of local history subjects.

Newport Pagnell Historical Society

Founded in 1984, by its own fund raising efforts the society purchased and refurbished Chandos Hall as a museum and the society's headquarters. Members who meet twice a month and are active in the preservation of historical buildings.

Olney and District Historical Society

Focusing on Olney, a village in the far north-east of Buckinghamshire, the society has put together a website covering various aspects of its life and history. The society also runs monthly meetings on local history and a summer outing.

Sherington Historical Society

'A group of like-minded villagers (or virtual villagers) who did not want the history of the village to disappear with its aging residents' and created a village archive. Aims to foster interest in the history of Sherington, to provide meetings and displays, and 'promote an awareness that today's happenings are the historical records of tomorrow'.

Slough History Online

A local history archive for Buckinghamshire's most southerly town, including newspapers, articles, photographs, stories and memories.

Winslow History Project

Aims to explore the history of Winslow and make this information accessible. The Winslow History website offers photographs, transcribed documents and short articles about the history of Winslow from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 20th century.
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Museums

Buckinghamshire County Museum

The museum, in Church Street, Aylesbury, looks after a large collection of objects gathered from all around Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes over the past 100 years – from archaeology to art, from costume and coins to wildlife, plants and geology. We have lots of information linked to these collections, an important resource about people and places. The museum also cares for the Embroiderers Guild collection and hosts the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which records archaeological finds across the county.

Haddenham Museum Trust

The museum, which is in the Old School Room behind the Methodist Church in the High Street, is open free on Tuesdays 10am to 12 noon and Sundays 2pm to 4.30pm, but closed in January and February. Displays at the museum tell the history of the village, while there are also books about the village, photograph albums and DVDs containing film clips going back almost a century. The museum is run entitrely by volunteers. The trust also publishes ‘The Haddenham Chronicles’.
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Tring and District Local History and Museum Society

The society maintains a small museum which is open on Fridays and Saturdays and is voluntarily run. Six meetings are held each year on Wednesday evenings. Enquiries please email savage.shelley@gmail.com
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Supporting organisations

Buckinghamshire County Archaeology Service

Aims to ensure the county's heritage is protected, managed and promoted effectively through the County Council Planning system and to manage and maintain the Historic Environment Record, where all historic sites, buildings and finds within the county are recorded. For enquiries please email archaeology@buckscc.gov.uk
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.

Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies

We collect, preserve and make accessible the documentary heritage of Buckinghamshire, as well as running exhibitions and a Buckinghamshire History Fair in the Autumn each year. If you have a question about local history or would like to join our mailing list, please email us at archives@buckscc.gov.uk
•  Displayed at 2018 Conference.