Book onto a walking tour to find out about the hidden secrets, significant buildings and the people that made the city. Led by local historians Liz Woolley, Mark Davies and Maurice East. Themes will reveal a side of Oxford often overlooked including waterways, its industrial past, leisure and entertainment as well as famous literary connections and a local perspective on historic ‘Town and Gown’ differences.
Circular walks of 90 minutes on Wednesdays at 2.30pm starting from the Museum of Oxford.
Full details and dates below.
Tickets cost £10 per tour and are available from the MOX Gift Shop or buy online (booking fee applies).
Canal, Castle and Chapel Walk, 17 May, 19 July
A 90-minute linear walk with local historian, author, and former long-term canalboat resident Mark Davies, encompassing Oxford’s Saxon-origin castle and adjacent suburb of St Thomas: the historical hub of the city’s brewing industry and the domicile of generations of Oxford’s important and sometimes controversial boating families. A subterranean stream; some extraordinary Victorian railway engineering; Oxford’s current residential boating community, and the story of an innovative floating chapel will all feature in a walk which will conclude near the 1790 terminus of the Oxford Canal, one of Britain’s first four trunk canals.
Leisure and entertainment in Victorian and Edwardian Oxford, 24 May, 21 June
In the mid-nineteenth century changes in employment practices and rising real wages meant that ordinary working people found themselves, usually for the first time, with leisure time and with spare money to spend on recreation. All sorts of establishments arose to fulfil the new demand for entertainment, many of them aimed at keeping people out of the pub. Join local historian Liz Woolley to find out where and how Oxford citizens spent their free time, and how the middle classes attempted to impose ‘rational recreation’ on their working-class contemporaries.
Industry and commerce in Victorian and Edwardian Oxford, 31 May, 12 July
In the later Victorian period rapid increases in population, rises in real wages, and the advent of the mass media fuelled a growing demand for manufactured goods, in Oxford as elsewhere. Join local historian Liz Woolley on a walk around the city centre to find out how activities like brewing, clothing manufacture, and bookbinding developed here, and to look at buildings which remind us of Oxford’s perhaps surprising industrial and commercial heritage.
‘Vex in the City’ walking tour, 7 June, 28 June, 26 July
Offbeat stories of how Oxford was made. Join local historian Maurice East on a 90 minute journey around the city to find out about Oxford’s turbulent past including Town vs Gown, troublesome transport and conflicts & curiosities. Discover fascinating hidden histories of another Oxford. All from a local’s perspective.
The Real Alice in Wonderland Walk, 14 June
A circular walk around beautiful Christ Church Meadow with local historian and author Mark Davies, a trustee of the Lewis Carroll Society. The route will follow waterside paths familiar to the real Alice (the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church) and Lewis Carroll to highlight in particular the all-important role of the River Thames in the creation of the Alice books. With reference to relevant local history and geography, as well as other classics of fantasy literature, the walk will reveal some of the real people, places, and events which inspired some of the characters and episodes. The walk does NOT include entrance to the buildings of Christ Church itself.
The majority of the route is suitable for wheelchair users, with the exception of the final (less informative) section where participants can carry on to the Museum, where numerous relevant objects are on display.
River Thames and Christ Church Meadow Walk, 5 July
A circular walk around beautiful Christ Church Meadow with local historian and author Mark Davies, exploring the historical, geographical, and literary associations of a riverside location which has remained essentially unaltered for centuries. Topics will include the Civil War; the origins of the Oxford–Cambridge Boat Races and inter-college rowing rivalries; Oxford’s ancient municipal boundaries; the earliest British men and women to fly; Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ and other classics of fantasy fiction; Britain’s oldest Botanic Garden; and cricket (made interesting!) and drownings (made poignant).
The majority of the route is suitable for wheelchair users, with the exception of the final (less informative) section where participants can carry on to the Museum, where numerous relevant objects are on display.