The Bathford Local History Society was formed in 1976 as a community project to investigate, record and preserve the history of the parish of Bathford. The society had a committee which met on a regular basis for co-ordinating aspects of this work and holding talks on topics arising from it. There were four chairman of the committee during the 50 years: Godfrey F Laurence (subsequently became President), Fae Hall (subsequently became President), Peter Staples and Peter Martin. A retired Naval Commander, Alan Craig, was the most prolific researcher and gave many talks on his work. In 1985 Godfrey Laurence published his own research in the book, "Bathford Past and Present". An extensive revision of the book with colour pictures, diagrams and additional information was compiled by David A. Howells in 2010.
The society's name was changed to The Bathford Society in 1992 to reflect the extension of its activities to include local planning issues affecting Bathford Parish such as the proposed Batheaston Bypass.
The website was launched in 2007 with the aim of making this historical information more accessible to members of the society and to the public at large via the internet. The website was conceived and managed by Peter Staples and over the following 19 years many of the documents which had been held in the society's record room were transcribed into electronic format by David A. Howells and others and added to the website. The History Projects Index and Index of Photographs and Pictures list many of these.
In response to enquiries about ancestors known to have lived in the parish, the census records for Bathford for the periods 1841 to 1911 were transcribed to spreadsheets and added to the website. Links to these and various other local directories are listed on History - Public Records.
Sources and Acknowledgements lists names and research sources for many of the society's history projects.
Following the closure of the society in April 2026, the website has been archived and is managed by the Bath Record Office.
