HUNDREDS of visitors have flocked to a new one-stop ‘shop’ telling the history of Cowley and the residents who helped make it the workhorse of Oxford.

A temporary history exhibition has been created in an empty shop at the Templars Square Shopping Centre allowing residents a glimpse of Cowley’s car-making past and the chance to discover more about their own family’s heritage.

More than 310 people visited the exhibition on its first full day on Wednesday.

Residents are also being asked to bring in their own photos, diaries, stories and memorabilia of the area to help create a ‘living scrapbook’ on the Internet.

The exhibition, which features more than 1,000 photos covering the last 100 years of Cowley has been put together by Oxfordshire County Council, Fusion Arts and the Ark T centre.

The council’s history services manager Carl Boardman said: “It does seem to have been very popular. Everyone’s heard of Oxford, but the contribution of Cowley to the city frequently gets ignored.

“Cowley has the best ethnic mix in the whole of Oxfordshire and it’s the place that really started industry in the county.

“After the arrival of the car plants in the early 20th century Cowley became absolutely vital and it’s the engine that keeps Oxford going.

“Oxford can sit around being knowledgeable and academic, but it needs to stand on a firm base with industry, income and employment – and that’s what Cowley has always created.

“It’s important in today’s rootless society that people are given a reason to believe they have a home and are part of a community steeped in history.”

The project received £47,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Tara Stewart, artistic director at Fusion Arts, said the exhibition looked at the community of Cowley as well as the past 100 years which saw the area transformed from agricultural origins to an industrial suburb.

She said the diversity of the area was moulded by three main waves of immigration from the Welsh car workers at the start of the 20th century to more recent Asian and Eastern European immigration.

The official launch of the shop take places today with art workshops from 11am and a talk by Alan Simpson of the Oxfordshire Family History Society at 2pm.

The exhibition will be open throughout June, Tuesdays to Saturdays, between 10.30am and 4pm.