Saving the best almost to the end, we visit the remarkable Pitt Rivers Museum. Not widely known, - but one of the unmissable treasures of Oxford.
Today Holywell Street is a pleasant, quiet street of 17th century houses.
Like Broad Street, it was established as the result of expansion of the city after the Black Death, built on open ground outside the city walls.
Bath Place, on the right, is a narrow winding lane which leads to the city walls, the Turf tavern, and eventually New College lane.
By this stage Merton college was established, but New College was the first Oxford college to be built to a coherent plan, based on a monastic model, between 1380 and 1386.
William Wykeham was a rich man, and the college was large, spacious, magnificent, and well endowed. In Oxford, and elsewhere, college architecture continued to be based on the New college model.
The hall, cloisters and chapel are particularly notable. The misericords are still in place in the chapel. The college quadrangle retains much of the original atmosphere - even though a third story was added in 1671.
In the garden is a grassy mound, built to provide an elevated view over the gardens.
New college also Contains the best remaining parts of the city wall.
The church was built around 1160. It is not normally open to the public, but the churchyard is accessible, and contains graves of Kenneth Graham and Kenneth Tynan.
The tower has a sundial.
Returning to the end of Holywell Street, at its corner with Longwall street is a brick garage, now converted into flats.
This where Morris built the prototype "Bull-nose Morris".
Production was subsequently carried out at Cowley.
Morris ran the manufacturing business while a colleague ran the garage.
Later the colleague started to build sports cars, still using the name "Morris Garage's (MG).
Magdalen was founded in 1458, by Bishop Waynflete of Winchester, on land outside the city walls.
It follows the model established by New College, but in more extensive grounds, which include a deer park.
The walls went up in 1467, most of the buildings between 1474 and 1480.
The bell tower was constructed in 1492. Choristers sing from the top of the tower at 6 am every May 1st.
Opposite Magdalen college is the Botanic Garden.
The garden was founded, as the "Physic garden" in 1621 on the site of the jewish cemetery.
The first gardener was Jacob Bobart, whose son (also Jacob Bobart) became professor of botany.
Near the Lily pond is a yew tree planted by the elder Jacob Bobart.
| There is a remarkable description of the younger Jacob and his wife in an Oxford guidebook dated 1720: |
| "I was greatly shocked by the hideous features and generally villainous appearance of this good and honest man. His wife, a filthy old hag, was with him, and although she may be the ugliest of her sex he is certainly the more repulsive of the two. An unusually pointed and very long nose, little eyes set deep in the head, a twisted mouth almost without upper lip, a great deep scar in one cheek, and the whole face and hands bloack and coarse as those of the poorest gardener or farm labourer. His clothing and especially his hat were also very bad. Such is the aspect of the professor who would most naturally be taken for the gardener" |
There are three classical arches in the garden, built by Nicholas Stone. This is one of the smaller ones. The largest, at the entrance, contains statues of Charles I, Charles II, and Stone himself (or the Earl of Danby who founded the garden).
Outside the garden is a rose garden and small monument commemorating the production of pennicillin in Oxford.
Alexander Fleming had discovered a mould that killed bacteria, and as the second world war broke out, a team at Oxford, led by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain, began to try an isolate and purify penicillin. The results were tested on an Oxford policeman, and were shown to work, although insufficent had beenprepared to cure the man, and he died. Subsequently mass production transferred to America, and sufficient was produced in time for the Normandy landings. Fleming, Florey and Chain won the Nobel prize for medicine in 1945.
There is a plaque to James Sadler on the wall running alongside Deadman's walk and Christchurch meadow.
"The King of the Balloon" flew from Oxford to Woodeaton, 6 miles away, in 1748, and from Birmingham to Boston in 1811. Almost succeeeded in crossing the Irish sea in 1812.
Sadler is buried in the churchyard of St Peter in the East.
Good view back to Magdalen tower, and remains of town walls.
Merton Walk and view to cathedral.
Charles Dodgson lived in rooms at the North West corner of Tom Quad, overlooking St Aldgate's. He had a photographic studio on the roof.
Alice Liddell's father was Dean of Christchurch college, and lived in a house on the north-east corner of Tom Quad.
Across St Algates is a small, stone shop, which is said to be the model for the "Sheep shop" in Alice through the Looking Glass.
It is now known as the "Alice Shop".
She was in a little dark shop, leaning with her elbows on the counter, and opposite to her was a
old Sheep, sitting in an arm-chair knitting, and every now and then leaving off to look at her through a great pair of spectacles.
`What is it you want to buy?' the Sheep said at last, looking up for a moment from her knitting. `I don't QUITE know yet,' Alice said, very gently. I should like to look all round me first, if I might.' From Alice through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll |
In the book, the accompanying illustration by Tenniel is said to be based on this shop, but with the image reversed.
On 4th July 1862 Charles Dodgson and Robinson Duckworth took Alice Liddell and her sisters on a boat trip. They started at Salter's boatyard, and took over two hours to row to Godstow. On the journey Charles Dodgson told the girls the stories which became Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the looking glass.
From under the bridge it is supposed to be possible to see the remians of an earlier bridge.
Beyond Folly bridge, on the right is Isis House, described by Pevsner as "a bit of a joke". Dating from 1849 and decorated with raised bricks and statues.
"Some of my best friends are accountants". This astonishing house was designed for, and built by and accountant. Which just goes to show.....
At the time there were a number of other radical plans for redevelopment of Oxford, including demolishing much of the Jericho area, and building a bypass across Christchurch meadow.
Thankfully the others did not happen. Regrettably this one did, but perhaps we are lucky that it remains as a reminder of the damage that can be done by unenlightened development.
Discussion continues about future development in this area.
We will skirt the shopping centre, by turning left after the church, down a narrow lane into Turn Again Lane.
Here there is a row of preserved houses.
Before 1960 this was an area of low quality housing which was demolished to improve the road system, and bring industry and shopping into the town centre.
Improbably, this is supposedly sometimes mistaken for the castle by "American tourists", but in fact it was built in 1840-1 in a "Norman" style.
Back into Paradise Street.
The main remaining elements of the castle are the "motte" or mound, and St George's tower pictured here.
The castle was built in 1071 by Rober D'Oilly, a Norman knight, to consolidate his power as representative of King William, five years after the conquest - in which he had fought. The defensive perimeter of the castle encompassed today's prison, and county hall. St George's chapel, of which only the crypt remains, lay inside the castle, next to St Georges' tower.
During the anarchy of King Stehpen's reign, Queen Matilda was hiding in the castle as it was beseiged by Stephen.
Because it was winter the Queen managed to escape, acros the frozen river Thames, camouflaged against the snow in white clothes.
To the left, in St Thomas street is the only brewery in the city.
The earliest documented brewhouse in Oxford was built at Queens College in 1336 although the two great Abbeys of Rewley and Oseney were brewing long before that. The monks of Oseney abbey built a brewhouse in 1452 as a source of income. It was later converted into a maltings and became part of the Brewery in 1763. It continued to supply malt to the Brewery until 1956. When King Henry VIII carried out the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1546 Thomas Linke built a brewhouse which was run by various different families until the Tawneys took over the lease in 1740. Over the next 50 years the Tawney's expanded the brewhouse and began to buy pubs. The Tawney's developed business partnerships and family relationships with the Morrell family, who had been brewers in London and Wallingford since the 17th century. In 1800 the brewery was established under the Morrell name. It continued to epand. In 1925 Hall's brewery closed, leaving Morrell's as the only Oxford brewery. The present buildings date largely from 1892-6. The architect can only have been chosen despite his name - H.G. Drinkwater.
Morrells run guided tours of the brewery.
The first house in Fisher row was built in the late 18th century for the chief brewer - Edward Tawney.
A canal linking Oxford to Coventry was first proposed in 1768.
Oxford was already linked to London via the Thames, and by connecting with the canal network in the midlands and north a continuous network would join London with the great industrial centres of the north west.
Parliament authorised its construction the following year, by allowing up to £20,000 to be raised. In practice it took 21 years, and two further parliamentary bills to authorise more investment before the 77 mile long canal opened in 1790.
As its original promoters intended, the Oxford Canal became a major transport route. It prospered, despite increasing competition with the coming of the railways, and the opening of more direct, and hence faster canal routes.
As a relatively early canal it was built on the "contour principle", following the curves of the landscape rather than cutting and filling for a shorter route. As a result it is particularly attractive and popular for cruising. Today it remains busy with recreational activity.
| The canal was supported by Oxford clergy and academics, who could see the benefit of cheap coal from the midlands. Fearing that it would corrupt students, the university was not as supportive of the railway, which eventually took over from the canal. They ensured that the station was out of the city centre, and had the following clause written into the railway enabling act. | "The vice chancellor, the proctors,... and heads of colleges and halls, and the marshalls of said university... shall, at or about the times of trains or carriages upon the said railway starting or arriving, and at all other reasonable times, have free access to every depot or station... and to every booking office, ticket office, or place for passengers... and shall then and there be entitled to demand and take and have, without any reasonable delay.. such information as it may be in the power of any officer or servant of the company to give with reference to any passenger... who shall be a member of the said university or suspected of being such. If the said vice chancellor shall notify to the proper officers book-keeper or servant of the said company that any person or persons about to travel in or upon the said railway is a member of the university... to decline to take such member of the university as a passenger on the railway, the proper officer shall immediately thereupon and for the space of 24 hours... refuse to convey such a member of the said university... not withstanding such member may have paid his fare." |
Soon, the canal towpath leads us to a footbridge, which we cross, and enter the back streets of residential areas in north Oxford.
We are now in a suburb of victorian terraced houses known as "Jericho".
Notorious for poor quality housing in Victorian times, some speculate that the name Jericho comes from "Jerry building", or the biblical story that the walls came tumbling down.
In fact the name goes back at least as far as 1650, when the Jericho Tavern (now the Philanderer and Firkin in Walton Street) was built. Jericho was the name used for lodgings outside the city gates where travellers could rest if they arrived after the gates were locked.
Jericho grew with the arrival of industry in the early 19th century - first the canal (1790), then Lucy's ironworks (1825) and the Oxford University Press (1826).
The area was recorded as a slum in Thomas Hardy's novel "Jude the Obscure". Today it is a popular residential area, close to the city centre, with a strong charcter, and an interesting variety of shops and restaurants.
The footbridge brings us into Canal Street and, to the right, St Barnabas church
St Barnabas Church was built in the 1860's, funded by Thomas Combe who was the manager of the University press in Jericho, and a zealous proponent of the anglo-catholic movement.
He and his wife were concerned for the spiritual welfare of the new community which was developing around the university press. The land was donated by William Ward, a leader in the Oxford movement.
St Barnabas retains strong anglo-catholic traditions.
The architect was Sir Arthur Blomfield. He was instructed to keep the exterior simple, which he clearly did. The structure is based on a romanesque basilica with a striking campanile added later. Apart from keeping down the cost of construction this model also emphasises the historical links to the early church which were an important element in anglo-catholic thinking. While the construction is very simple, the interior is richly decorated.
From Canal Street we work our way through back streets to the main road - Walton Street.
The walk continues to the right, down Walton street, but first, we take a short diversion left, for another of Oxford's little known treats.
Just beyond Juxon street, on the left, is a rickety and insignificant gateway, which leads down a gravel path to St Sepulchre's cemetery.
The cemetery was founded in 1849 to provide additional space for burials after a series of cholera epidemics. It is surrounded by buildings on every side: houses on three sides, Lucy's Iron foundry (founded 1865) to the north. It has no associated church, and even locally is not widely known.
The only moderately famous names to be buried here are Benjamin Jowet, the master of Balliol college from 1870, and Thomas Combe the manager of the Oxford University Press, and benefactor of St Barnabas. It has not been used since the 1950's, and retains its victorian atmosphere.
With a newly constructed seating area at its centre it provides a good place for quiet rest and contemplation, before we move on.
Returning to Walton Street, we turn right and continue towards the centre of Oxford.
On the right, the Phoenix Picture house. Originally the North Oxford Kinema occupied this site in 1913, with an auditorium capable of seating 498 people. Subsequently named the Scala, New Scala, Studios 1 and 2, Studio X, and now the Phoenix.
Now operated by City Screen, but still owned by St John's, the front was remodelled in 1998.
By 1826, the Oxford University press had grown too large for the Clarendon building, and built these new premises in 1826-30.
Originally they housed the printing presses, but now all offices.
At the end of Keble road we begin a loop round the University Parks, the river and Norham Gardens. For a rapid end to the walk ignore this, and turn to the right. Picking up this description at Keble College below.
To continue along the full walk, cross Parks Road, and almost opposite, (slightly to the left) take the entry to University parks.
The parks were used for artillery practive when Charles I was quartered in Oxford during the Civil war.
Progress anti-clockwise around the park, keeping furthest to the right edge for the longest walk, nearer to the centre for the cricket pitch and cricket pavilion.
On reaching the river, turn left, and follow the riverside path.
At the north end of the park turn left again, but look for a small alley way leading into Norham Gardens.
It is sometimes claimed that demand for this housing grew when the university allowed dons and fellows to marry. However, these suburbs were begun earlier, in the 1860's, to meet the increasing demand from the growing prosperous middle classes of Oxford. They were designed individually, but using the fashionable neo-gothic style, with generous space to support servants as well as families and guests.
This area came to symbolise the epitome of the refined middle class: civilised, cultured, with their own "North Oxford" accent.
Today most of the larger houses are converted into flats, language schools etc.
Norham Gardens leads back to Parks road, which we follow south towards the centre of Oxford.
Beyond Norham Gardens lies an early residential arera, this time built in a classical style.
Under increasing pressure from scientific discovery and the free churches, a number of reforming movements emerged in the Church of England during the 19th century.
The tractarians, or Oxford movement, led by John Henry Newman, John Keble, and Pusey, began with John Keble's sermon: "National Apostasy" delivered at St Mary's church in July 1833, and ended with Newman's conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845.
Distinguished from the Broad Church movement, who sought a middle road between catholicism and the free churches, and from the Evangelical movement which emphasised personal faith based on the gospels, the tractarians stressed the direct line of descent from the apostles to the institutions of the contemporary established church. This conservative position was closely allied with the emphasis of the ecclesiological movement on ritual, architecture and decoration.
After Keble died a public subscription was raised to build a college "for diligent students living simply".
William Butterfield was chosen as the architect. "I set small store by popularity" - which he amply demonstrated by his choice of multi-coloured bricks, and an overall design variously described as "brutish", "dazzling", "startling", "impressive", "earnest", "exacting", "remarkable".
The most impressive component is the chapel, lavishly funded by the Gibbs family, who made their fortune importing guano as fertiliser.
Building of a University museum began in 1855 with the intention of bringing together the scattered university collections of zoological, entomological, palaeontological and mineral specimens.
Funding came from the university and private subscriptions, but proved insufficient to complete the decoration of the building to the extent intended by its promoter (Sir Henry Acland, Regius Professor of Medicine) and his friend John Ruskin.
Nevertheless it is regarded as one of the finest neo-gothic buildings in the country.
The columns are made from examles of different rocks found in the British isles.
Capitals and bases represent groups of animals and plants.
Fine decorative ironwork supports the glass roof that makes the central space so light and airy.
Apart from their scientific value the collections are also of historical interest, but for non-specialists, some tantalising exhibits to seek out include:
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I was happy enough to be present on the memorable occasion at Oxford when Mr Huxley bearded Bishop Wilberforce. There were so many of us that were eager to hear that we had to adjourn to the great library of the Museum. I can still hear the American accents of Dr Draper's opening address, when he asked `Air we a fortuitous concourse of atoms?' and his discourse I seem to remember somewhat dry.
Then the Bishop rose, and in a light scoffing tone, florid and he assured us there was nothing in the idea of evolution; rock -pigeons were what rock-pigeons had always been. Then, turning to his antagonist with a smiling insolence, he begged to know, was it through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey? On this Mr Huxley slowly and deliberately arose. A slight tall figure stern and pale, very quiet and very grave, he stood before us, and spoke those tremendous words - words which no one seems sure of now, nor I think, could remember just after they were spoken, for their meaning took away our breath, though it left us in no doubt as to what it was. He was not ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor; but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used great gifts to obscure the truth. No one doubted his meaning and the effect was tremendous. One lady fainted and had to carried out: I, for one, jumped out of my seat; and when in the evening we met at Dr Daubeney's, every one was eager to congratulate the hero of the day. I remember that some naive person wished it could come over again; and Mr Huxley, with the look on his face of the victor who feels the cost of victory, put us aside saying, `Once in a life-time is enough, if not too much.' Macmillan's Magazine, Oct 1998 |
Legend has it that the bishop asked Huxley whether he believed that he was descended from an ape on his father's side, or on his mother's side. Huxley replied that, if he had to choose between being descended from an ape or from a man who would use his great powers of rhetoric to crush an argument, we would prefer the former.
The accuracy of the historical details is questionable, but the importance of the story lies in symbolising a turning point in acceptance that scientific ideas should be assessed on scientific merit, not suppressed by established convention.
The Pitt Rivers Museum was founded 1884 when Lieutenant-General Pitt Rivers donated his collection of archaeology and ethography to the University. He originally intended that his collection should go to the science museum in South Kensington. He chose Oxford when this offer was refused because the authorities felt it should go to the British Museum.
The original collection consisted of around 18,000 items, but has since grown to over half a million, and continues to grow. It has been claimed that the museum contains more items per square foot than any other museum - and it certainly feels like it.
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The objects are arranged in sequence with a view to show ... the successive ideas by which the minds of men in a primitive condition of culture have progressed in the development of their arts from the simple to the complex, and from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous. ... Human ideas as represented by the various products of human industry, are capable of classification into genera, species and varieties in the same manner as the products of the vegetable and animal kingdoms ... If, therefore, we can obtain a sufficient number of objects to represent the succession of ideas, it will be found that they are capable of being arranged in museums upon a similar plan.
[Extract taken from Pitt Rivers's catalogue of the Bethnal Green displays first published in 1874] |
The museum is part of the University School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography. But it is not only a resource for studied human society and human culture, it also illustrates our changing ideas about museums.
Its human appeal, though, lies in demonstrating man's ingenuity in all its diversity.
Following parks road brings us past Trinity college.
