History of Woodstock and the Woodstock Branch

The branch was formed on 15 June 1921 and is the oldest in the County of Oxfordshire. Early meetings were held in The Assembly Rooms at the Kings Arms Hotel in Oxford Street. Over the years the branch has met at various public houses and, approximately 23 years ago, moved to the Woodstock Social Club. The branch has since gone from strength to strength and now has 176 members, almost a third of whom attend monthly meetings. Sadly many of our stalwart members have died but we have managed to recruit some younger members and have thus kept up our numbers.

The branch has a good relationship with the Marlborough School. Two boys volunteer each year to maintain the war graves in the local cemetery. Some older branch members have sat in on lessons to relate their war experiences to the pupils and to answer their questions. Each November on the Wednesday preceding Remembrance Sunday, the branch and Women's Section join in morning assembly for a service of Remembrance. Standards from local branches and Oxfordshire County are on parade. The pupils write and read poems.

Woodstock is home to Blenheim Palace which was built for John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his great victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. The Palace, designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, is one of the largest and finest private houses in the country.

The branch president has always been a Duke of Marlborough and the present one (the 11th Duke of Marlborough) is our third president.

Woodstock means a "stockaded settlement in a wood".  In about AD 1100 Henry I rebuiilt the Manor and surrounded the park with seven miles of stone walling, stocking it with lions, leopards, camels and all manor or wild beasts. Woodstock was granted Royal Charters in 1453, 1664 and lastly in 1886 by Queen Victoria. These guaranteed the right of the people of Woodstock to manage their own affairs, a right which was changed to Parish level in 1974.

Woodstock has always been a market town and remained one until 1933. At the accession of Queen Victoria it still had half a dozen annual fairs, the most important being early in October when cheese was the principal commodity offered. The October fair still remains but the business is now roundabouts and coconut shies. The cobbled car parking area in front of the Town Hall, which was built in the 18th century, was made into a paved area in 2001. In 2010 it celebrated Woodstock@900