Peter is a countryman born and bred and since his retirement he has walked the Berkshire Downs and devoted much of his time to the Blewbury Village Society Environment Group. The Blewburton Hill Project was Peter’s idea and he has worked unceasingly to bring it all together.

His chapter was Horses on the Downs

The horse has been man’s friend, companion and power source from the earliest times.
The village of Blewbury lies in the Vale of the White Horse and horses have featured in the life of the village from ancient times onwards. Breeding for shape, size and agility according to man’s needs. Riding on horseback was the mode of transport for centuries but horses also pulled carts, wagons and carriages. They took men to war and boarded boats across the channel from before the time of the Battle of Hastings. Today, huge numbers of horses are used in leisure pursuits and in racing.

The Domesday Book: Blewbury Hundred

The shocking and distressing times revealed in the Domesday Book are clearly and concisely interpreted by Peter Cockrell. What is the Blewbury Hundred? Let him explain.

A Domesday Book record, in Latin, concerning property in Aston Tirrold

Image © Courtesy of The Dragon School Oxford and Alecto Historical Editions

After “1066 and all that” - the Norman Conquest - life was grim in the villages under Blewburton Hill. The heartless, cruel invader, William the Conqueror,demanded servitude and more and more taxes. The Domesday Book allowed no-one to escape. Tax collecting was made easy through the takeover of the previous administrative system of the Shires of the now deposed Saxon kings. Remarkably Blewbury, now owned by a Norman count, prospered; reassuringly it depended on no slaves. The Astons did less well and employed twelve slaves, but like Blewbury, Aston Upthorpe at least had one church.