Are you interested in the history of Oxford and Oxfordshire? How local communities have arisen, developed and perhaps declined over time? Liz Woolley is a local historian specialising in aspects of the history of Oxford and Oxfordshire. She is particularly interested in the city’s “town” (as opposed to “gown”) history, and in the everyday lives of rural people across the county, chiefly during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Liz has lived in Oxford since 1984. She completed an MSc in English Local History (with Distinction) at the University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education in 2009, having gained a Diploma (also with Distinction) in the same subject in 2007. She is an experienced speaker, guide, researcher and writer who is keen to help individuals and groups to enjoy finding out about the history of their local area.
Local history publications and research interests
- “Industrial Architecture in Oxford, 1870 to 1914” Oxoniensia, Vol 75, forthcoming (May 2011).
- “‘Disreputable housing in a disreputable parish’?: Common Lodging-houses in St. Thomas’, Oxford, 1841 – 1901” Midland History, Vol 35, no 2, Autumn 2010.
- MSc thesis (2009):Disreputable Housing in a Disreputable Parish: Common Lodging-Houses in St Thomas’, Oxford, 1841-1901.
- MSc research (2008/09): Child labour in the industrial revolution, with particular emphasis on Oxfordshire;
The social history of architecture, 1870 to 1914, with particular emphasis on the industrial buildings of late Victorian and Edwardian Oxford. - “Osney: a Railway Enclave?” Oxfordshire Local History, Vol 8, no 3, Spring 2008.
- “In the Footsteps of the Past” Oxford Times, Limited Edition Magazine, February 2008.
- St Thomas the Martyr Parochial School: An Early Twentieth-century Model School in an Impoverished City Parish. OAHS essay prize winner 2007.
Click here to see Liz’s full CV.