Winslow

A fascinating collection of photographs captures the essence of Winslow's history, showcasing its transformation and the lives of its residents over the years.

This unique collection of over 150 old photographs of Winslow has been compiled largely from the collection of local historian Terry Foley, a former Mayor of Winslow. His own photographs are supplemented by many postcards loaned by friends in the town. Other images are supplied by the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies in Aylesbury. The photographs are accompanied by authoritative captions based on Terry’s extensive interviews with older members of the community and the research of Julian Hunt, the former Local Studies Librarian for Buckinghamshire, who also lives in Winslow.

The history of this small market town is traced from the eighth century, when it was granted by Offa, King of Mercia, as an endowment for St Albans Abbey, to more recent centuries when Winslow society was dominated by the Lowndes family, builders of Winslow Hall. The authors include photographs of old farmhouses in Sheep Street and Horn Street, and of the historic Market Square, where cattle were sold until the end of the nineteenth century.

They explain how the rural landscape was transformed following the enclosure acts of the mid-eighteenth century, and how the northern part of the town developed with the building of the workhouse in 1827 and the opening of the railway in 1850. This evocative collection of Winslow photographs shows residents at work and play, and will give pleasure to those old enough to remember many of the scenes portrayed and to those young enough to be intrigued by the history of the town.