NEW historic discoveries were put on show by residents at the Oxford Road Fun Day earlier this month.

The leaflets, pop-up displays and literature formed part of the Revealing Reading's Hidden History project, started by Reading Museum last year, which connected residents in areas with high levels of crime to the heritage of their neighbourhoods.

Around 50 residents, from Dee Park, Oxford Road and Orts Road have spent the last six months exploring the museum's collections and delving into archives to research their area.

Brendan Carr, community engagement curator, said: "They were invited to look at material which is not normally on public display in the hope that these potted histories will give the true story of some neighbourhoods which have a tarnished reputation."

Residents traced the history back to the earliest prehistoric times through to present day and various interesting discoveries have been made along the way

Around 90million years ago the Dee Park area was covered in a warm, shallow tropical sea - home to plants called coccolithophores - and it is their fossilised remains that make up the chalk deposits beneath the layers of sandy clay, well known in the area.

There has also been a long tradition of community campaigning in Dee Park from the 1970s when a group of mothers opened the town's first purpose-built children's centre on the estate, to the 1980s when community members campaigned for the demolition of the Bison flats on Tay Road, which were considered unfit for habitation.

Leaflets tracing the findings will be available at Reading Museum and in libraries across the town.

Share your own memories of any of the areas by emailing alangley@berksmedia.co.uk