Cogenhoe & Whiston Heritage Society

Projects

The Cogenhoe Oral History Project was a major first for the Society and the book which was produced from it has been well received along with a CD of extracts from some of the interviews.
The project represented a lot of hard work from many people and interviewing, word-processing, script-writing and many other skills had to be learned. Over 50 people from many walks of life were interviewed and their memories recorded. Some were born here, others worked here and still more came to live here but all have, in one way or another, contributed to the history of the village.
Apart from the oral interviews, the book also drew on information from old photographs, maps and other documentary sources, as it looks at Cogenhoe life under a number of headings which include a description of the village at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the 20th centuries; two world wars; school and work; transport recreation; administration and many other aspects of village life. A Century of Change is, however, more than just a collection of facts and names.
There are many stories from the past including the dark affair of the Parish Council’s Rochester oil lamp; the passing over the village of the first aeroplane; a description of some of the Cogenhoe residents by a war-time evacuee; the shooting down of a German bomber; and what happened to the girls who didn’t wear an oak leaf on Oak Apple Day. The interviews have generated a large collection of transcriptions which have been collated and bound.
 

The society's project to produce the book of old photographs 'A Tale of Two Villages' has been successfully completed,  by the group set up initially to launch the successful photographic exhibition held in April 2008, when over 300 people came through the doors.
Many former residents of the two villages came from far afield to attend the exhibition in what was a nostalgic village reunion for many people. Villagers supplied many of the historic photographs from their own collections.
The book has been well received and can now be ordered through this website (see publications page).
The photographic archive that we now hold is extensive and the project group is turning its attention to a second exhibition to be held in the village hall in the autumn of 2010 and the group is also actively seeking more pictures from the past.
A second group is currently researching old maps of the villages and will be producing a report to be presented to the members during the new programme. The project will culminate in a new publication entitled An Historical Atlas Of Cogenhoe and Whiston.
The group is seeking any old maps of the area to assist with the project.