Historians will be able to delve back into the history of an Oxfordshire village after 80 years of reports and correspondence belonging to Wolvercote Commoners’ Committee were handed over to the Oxfordshire Records Office.

The committee, which this year celebrates its 80th anniversary, is responsible for managing common land in Wolvercote. The organisation was formed in 1929, when Wolvercote first became a part of Oxford city, and has since defended the rights of Commoners who have the right to graze animals on Wolvercote Common. As recently as 1993, the committee successfully resisted an attempt to take the commons into the ownership of Oxford City Council.

The records include correspondence with the Duke of Marlborough, records of which householders kept how many of which sort of animals on Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common, the sale of part of the common to the Great Western Railway during the Second World War.

Ecologists will also find the record of use as the archive contains the results of regular surveys of plants and flowers growing on the commons carried out by the committee The archives have been collated by Wolvercote residents Theresa Lismore and her husband Peter.

Secretary of the Commoners’ Commitee Andrew Burchardt said: “This is a win-win situation: the WCC benefits because our archive will be professionally cared for and indexed - and the public will have free access to archives of unique interest.”