This totally unique 90-minute historical walking tour will treat you to an entertaining part of Oxford’s history that is rarely mentioned on traditional walking tours. Walking through city centre locations including Christ Church Meadow and Oxford High Street, you will see the history of the first ever aerial flight by an English man, James Sadler, come to life in the green spaces and bustling streets of Oxford city centre, almost 240 years to the day that Sadler took flight.

Sadler’s fascinating story – one time pastry cook, naval chemist, laboratory technician and hot-air balloonist – will be revealed as you tour locations in the city associated with his eventful life. Find out how this ‘King of All Balloons’, who designed engines, guns and ‘Philosophical Fireworks’, was disparaged by Oxford University academics and ultimately died impoverished.

You will also discover the story of the first English woman ever to fly and the first British woman to fly solo, Margaret Graham. Find out about her hot-air balloon flight from Oxford and the many ballooning accidents she was involved in across her colourful career.

As part of the tour, you will see: Christ Church Meadow; the sites of famous experiments by Sadler; a view into the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, the site of the first manned balloon launches; Sadler’s family pastry shop on the High Street; Sadler’s final resting place – plus more historic Oxford locations.

Join a tour of Oxford’s First Men and Women to Fly to discover a side of Oxford’s history you won’t find anywhere else.

Meeting point: Museum of Oxford Shop (located inside the Oxford Town Hall). Please arrive 5 minutes before the start of the walk and check in at the Museum Shop with our friendly front of house team.

Tickets cost £10 and are available to purchase online (booking fee applies) or at the Museum shop. Please note that this walk is suitable for ages 16+.

Please note that this tour does not include entrance into any University of Oxford buildings.

Meet your tour guide: Mark Davies

Mark Davies is James Sadler’s biographer and an Oxford local historian, public speaker, and guide. His biography of James Sadler’s life, King of All Balloons, was published in 2015, and is available to purchase from the Museum of Oxford Shop. His other publications include the social and cultural importance of the city’s waterways (A Towpath Walk in Oxford; Alice in Waterland; Alice’s Oxford on Foot; What a Liberty!) and historical crime (Stories of Oxford Castle; The Abingdon Waterturnpike Murder). Until 2020 he had lived on an Oxford residential narrowboat for nearly 30 years, and is the Chair of the Jericho (Oxford) Living Heritage Trust. He is also a trustee of the Lewis Carroll Society, a member of the Society of Authors, and on the committee of the Alliance of Literary Societies.