Oxford and Its Story

up in connection with it were probably grouped on the slope by the northern enclosure wall of the nunnery, and were themselves bounded on the north by the road

h century. It led down to the old fords over the shallows which once intersected the meadows of South Hincksey, and gave, as s

rked hereabouts by the Shire Ditch. Crossing the bridge to the Berkshire shore, the road, wherein you may still trace the piers of the old Grand Pont "linked with many a bridge," leads up to Hincksey. T

, book in hand, a certain student, so the story runs, was met by a ferocious wild boar, which he overcame by thrusting his Aristotle down the beast's throat. The boar, having no taste for such logic, was choked by it, and hi

s Head in

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estis in

aput apr

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e originated i

own as the Four Ways, Quadrifurcus, corrupted into Carfax. And Carfax was the second of the chief elements in the formation of Oxford. For at this point, as if to mark its importance in the history of the town, was erected S. Martin's Church, which has always been the city church, and in the churchyard of

gdon

way to Stratford used to stop at the Crown Inn, a house then situated near the Cross in the Cornmarket, is said to have stood sponsor in the old church to Sir William Davenant in 1606. John Davenant, father of the poet and landlord of the Inn, was Mayor of Oxford. His wife was a very beautiful woman. Scandal reported that Shake

hold, and there is reason to believe that at the beginning of the tenth century Oxford was provided with a fortress. In the year

and King Edward took possession of London and Oxfor

s for their defence. They fortified, for instance, Tamworth and Warwick and Runcorn, and at each of these places the common feature of fortification is a conical mound of earth. Take a tram from Carfax to the railway station, and stop at the County Courts

re, is now covered over for the greater part of its course; whilst the main stream, after passing beneath the road some seventy yards outside South Gate, gave off another stream running due south, parallel with the road to Folly Bridge, but itself evidently continued its own course across Merton Fields by the side of what is now Broad Walk, and finally found its way into the Cherwell. And besides this stream, which ran under S. Frideswide's enclosure, there were, on the east, the minor streams which now enclose the Magdalen Walks. But what Oxford needed to strengthen her was some wall or fosse along the line occupied afterwards by the

e ?thelweard, the King's son, breathed his last; one was the scene of another dastardly murder of Danes, when Eadric (1015) ensnared Sigeferth and Morkere into his chamber, and there slew them. And here it was, according to Henry of Huntingdon, that Kin

arket

ll make thee on account of thy great deserts higher than all the tall men of England.' And he ordered him to be

shrines of Winchester, or chaffering in their market-place, or judging and law-making in their husting, their merchant-guild regulating trade, their reeve gathering his King's dues of tax or honey, or marshalling his troop of burghers for the King's wars, their boats floating down the Thames towards London and paying the toll of a hundred herrings in Lent-tide to the Abbot of Abingdon by the way. For the river was the highway, and toll was levied on it. In Edward the Confessor's time, in return for the right

arold died. At Oxford again when the Northumbrian rebels, slaying and burning, had reached it (1065), the gemot was held which, in renouncing Tostig, cam

les, by which William made good his hold upon England, strongholds for his Norman friends, prisons for rebelliou

e was besieged. They have been misled by the error of a transcriber. Savile printed Urbem Oxoniam, for Exoniam, in his edition of "William of Malmesbury," and the mischief was do

e 243 houses that pay geld, and besides these there are 478 houses unoccupied and ruined (tam vast? et destruct?) so that they can pay no geld. The king has twenty wall mansions, which were Earl Algar's in the time of King Edward, paying both then and now fourteen shillings less twopence; and one mansion paying sixpence, belonging to Shipton; another paying fourpence, belonging to Bloxham; a third paying thirty pence, belonging to Risborough; and two o

ny siege by the Normans and not mainly to harsh treatment at their hands, but to the ravaging and burning of that rebelliou

n account of poverty; and he has eight mansions unoccupied and thirty acres of meadow near the wall and a mill of ten shilli

and the mill referred to is no doubt that known as

le from east to west, and a quarter of a mile south to north. We may think of the gravel

fax, and fairs must have been held there, though we

mansions were compelled to repair, was probably a vallum of earth faced with stone, protec

ut the existing fortificat

A good idea of them and the general scheme of the fortifications may be obtained by a visit to the fragment of the city wall which yet remains within the precincts of New College. The Slype, as it is called, forms a most picturesque approach to New College Gardens, and the old-bastioned wall forms part of the boundary between the New College property and Holywell Street. It is inde

in excellent taste by Mr E. P. Warren. From this point the wall ran on to Merton, and thence to Christ Church. The south wall of t

nd Ramparts i

treet) are here and there stones of the city wall, if not remnants of the walling. At the extreme en

y W

traces in "The Friars" indicate its course, and the indications are clear enough by New Inn Hall Street, Ship Inn Yard and Bullock's Alley. Cornmarket Street was crossed by S. Michael's Church, where stood the north gate. The gate house of

was derived by Wood from Candida Fossa, a ditch with a clear stream running along it. Wood's etymology is not convincing. Mr Hurst has suggested a more likely derivation in Camp Ditch. A

ad of Exeter. The wall passed in a diagonal line across the quadrangle south of the Clarendon Building, turned northwards in Cat's Street, and ran up to the octagonal Chapel of Our Lady by Smith Gate. The remains of this little chapel, with a

of Ou

d so completed the circuit of the town. A reference

nt and order, he came over to the conquest of England in the train of William the Bastard and in the company of Roger D'Ivry, his sworn brother, to whom, as the chronicler tells us, he was "iconfederyd and ibownde by faith and sacrament." Oxfordshire was committed to his charge by the Conquer

RALPH AGAS (1578): FROM THE E

arriage with a daughter of Wiggod of Wallingford, who had been cupbearer to Edward the Confessor; but money was needed for the great fortress

stle. S. George's tower, for so it was called because it was joined to the chapel of S. George's College within the precincts, was upon the line of the enceinte. The walls are eight feet four inches thick at the bottom, though not more than four feet at the top. The doorway, which is some twelve feet from the ground, was on the level of the vallum or wall of fortification, and gave access

u will obtain a magnificent view of Oxford, of Iffley and Sandford Lock, Shotover

ach the mound you go within the gaol, and pass by a pathetic little row of murderers' graves, sanded heaps, distin

presses it, the work about the city, but greatly strengthened the Castle. But in the following year (1651), when the Scots invaded England, he, for some r

y I. had forced the barons to swear to elect his daughter Matilda as his successor. But they elected Stephen of Blois, grandson of the Conqueror, whose chief claim to the Crown, from their point of view, was his weak character. In a Parliament at Oxford (1135) he granted a charter with large liberties to the Church, but his weakness and prodigality soon gave the barons opportunities of revolt. Released from the stern control of Henry they began to fortify their castles; in sel

rd C

ileges, and her determination to hold Stephen a prisoner, strengthened the hand of her opponents. They were roused to rene

emed certain that Matilda must fall into his hands. Her capture would be the signal for the collapse of the rebellion. But just as the end seemed inevitable, Matilda managed to escape in marvellous wise. There had been a heavy fall of snow; so far as the eye could see from the Castle towers the earth was hidden beneath a thick white pall. The river was frozen fast. The difficulty of distinguishing a white object on this white background, and the opportunity of crossing the frozen river by other means than th

shortly afterwards surrendered to

a new church sprang into existence. It was dedicated to S. Nicholas, and afterwards to S. Thomas a Becket. Of the orig

occupies the same site; its foundations may preserve some of the same masonry

nd S. Martin's; and, shrinking from the expense that would have been involved, and the outcry that would have been raised, if he had cleared the high central point of the town, he was content to modify and strengthen the old fort. But as the descent of Queen Street from Carfax threatened the Castle, if the town were taken, there was no regular communication made between the Castle and the town. A wooden drawbridge across the deep ditches that defended the Castle led to the town, somewhere near Castle Street. This would be destroyed in time of danger. No other entr

urham, "half house of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot," they have served and were

serve God and also, as was needful at the time, impregnable to an enemy." The tower of S. Michael's at North Gate is a good example of this mingling of the sacred with the profane, and the architectural feature of it is that it combines the qualities o

on the west was the Castle. But the North Gate needed protection, and D'Oigli built the tower of S. Michael's to give it, spiritual and temporal both. At a later date there was erected a chapel, also

t? australi bo

Petrus regit a

South Gate too S. Mi

nd o'er the West S. P

projected from the wall, so this doorway opened on to a lower gallery which guarded the approach to the adjoining gateway. On the south side of the tower you will find traces of another doorway, the base of which was about twelve feet from the level of the ground. It is

e eight pilaster windows, it should be observed, of rude stone-work carved with the axe, present the plain, pierced arches, with mid-wall shafts, which preceded the splayed Norman window and arches with orders duly recessed. The church itself

ers, but, in the end, of churches also. The Chronicle

grievous sickness in which he continued many days impenitent, until one night he dreamed that he stood within the palace of a certain great King. And before a glorious lady who was seated upon a throne there knelt two of the monks whose names he knew and they said 'Lady, this is he who seizes the lands of your church.' After which words were uttered she turned herself with great indignation towards Robert and commanded him to be thrust out of doors and to be le

's Mead to this day; second, that the river was a much used highway in those and in much later times, ere money and Macadam, and a

of Abingdon but he also repaired at his own expense other parish churches that were in a ruined state both within and without the walls. A great bridge, also, was built by him on the North side of O

George in the Castle of Oxenford." This church stood adjacent to the Castle

ellers without the walls. The church was on the site of the present Church of S. Mary Magdalen; but no trace of the original work has been left by the early Victorian restore

Gate; and as for his restorations, they may have included the parish church, S. Martin's, and also S

he two turrets at the east end of the church. There were small openings in the

tle and S. Michael's. The plan of the original crypt of S. George's in the Castle shows that it had, in accordance with the general rule of eleventh-century work in this country, an apsidal termination. The crypt of S. Peter's, as built in D'

r's in

not notice the small doorways on either side and at the western end. Looking westward, you see work which carries you back to the days when S. Michael's and the Castle tower were being built. For the three western arches, two of them doorways now blocked up and the central one open, indicate a type of crypt which is generally held not to have been used later than the beginning of the twelfth century. The essential features of this type were that the vault of the crypt was raised some feet above the level of the floo

s of lizard-shaped animals. The chancel and the south doorway afford remarkably rich examples of the late Norman style. The fifteenth-century porch, with a room over it, somewhat hides, but has doubtless protected the latter. The early decorated tow

14 and again partially in 1869, nothing now remains save the stone-work of a very rich late

solely by virtue of the churches dedicated to him. But the corruption-S. Told's-S. Old's is found in thirteenth-century chartularies and in popular parlance to-day. This corruption is curious, and may be significant. S. Aldate's Church at Oxford lies just within the old South Gate of the town; the only other church of the same name lies just within the old North Gate of Gloucester. In an old map of Gloucester this latter church is called S

requented the neighbouring hall, Broadgates Hall, which became Pembroke College in 1624, when Thomas Tesdale endowed it and named it after Lord Pembroke the Chancellor, and King James assumed the honours of founder. In the library the refectory of the old hall survives. The rest of the front quadrangl

joyed good government and made rapid progress in population and wealth. Of these eight or ten new churches no trace remains of S. Mildred's, save the pathway across the old churchyard which survives in the modern Brasenose Lane; and the church dedicated to S. Eadward the martyr, which lay between S. Frideswide's and the High, has likewise disappeared; the exact sites of the church of S. Budoc, the Chapel of the Holy Trinity and of S. Michael at the South Gate, cannot be identified; the Chapel of S. Clement, on the other side of Magdale

ew Magdalen and Trinity Cricket Grounds, is an early Victorian im

f S. Cross, these are all landmarks that recall the days when D'Oigli governed Oxford, and the servants of William surveyed E

in common a pasture without th

Town") Meadow is still set apart for its ancient purpose, that the rights of the freemen of Oxford to have free pasture therein have been safeguard

ncubine of Henry I. She, dwelling in the Castle, was wont to walk in the direction of what is now the Great

ront Pembr

at "these were no pyes, but so many poor souls in purgatory that do beg and make all this complaint for succour and relief; and they do direct their clamours to you, hoping that by your charity you would bestow something both worthy of their relief, as also for the welfare of yours and your posterity's souls, as your husband's uncle did in founding the College and Church of S. George." These words being finisht, she replied, "And is it so

as Tom Quad, its magnificent church, its schools and libraries, the oriel windows and high-pitched roofs of its water-side buildings, and the abbot's lodgings, spacious and fair, "Sir! to look upon them fills me with indignation!" Agas' map (1568) represents the abbey as still standing, but roofless; the fortifications in 1644 accounted for the greater part of what then remained. The mean surroundings of the railway station mark the site of the first Cathedral of Oxford. The Cemetery Chapel is on the site of the old nave. A few tiles and fragments of masonry, the foundations of the gateway and a piece of a building attached to the mill, are the only remains that will reward you for an unpleasant afternoon's exploration in this direction. Better, instead of trying so to make these dead stones live, to go to the Cathedral and there look at the window in the south choir aisle, which was buried during the Civil War and, thus preserved from the destructive Puritans, put up again at

and a solemn rite, when bells were baptized and anointed, exorcised and blessed by the bishop, so that they might have power to drive the devil out of the air, to calm tempests, to extinguish fire, and to recreate even the dead. They

the entrance from S. Aldate's into the

's statue is over the gateway), but the octagonal cupola which gives to it its characteristic ap

resono Bim Bo

in. in diameter, and weighing over

ius Oxoniensis ren

save on that night some years ago when the undergraduates of Christ Church cut the rope as a protest when they were not allowed

xceedingly picturesque old house[9] in S. Aldate's. Richly and quaintly carved, this old timber mansion is known as the Bisho

in St A

of prosperity and security which their coming gave to the land, in the sudden development of industry and wealth which the rule of the c

a town of wooden houses, in great part uninhabited, to a town of stone houses, with a castle and many churches of stone, is an indication

liar dress. Here the Great and Little Jewries extended along Fish Street (S. Old's) to the present Great Gate of Christ Church, and embraced a square of little streets, behind this line, which was isolated and exempt from the common responsibilities and obligations of the town. The church itself was powerless against the Synagogue, which rose in haughty rivalry beside the cloister of S. Frideswide. Little wonder if the Priory and Jewry were soon at deadly feud. In 1185 we find Prior Phillip complaining of a certain Deus-cum-crescat (Gedaliah) son of Mossey, who, presuming upon

ism, which incidentally provides a curious proof of the strong protection which the Jews enjoye

trod it underfoot. But even in presence of such an outrage, the terror of the Crown shielded the Jewry from any burst of popular indignation. The King condemned the Jews of Oxford to make a heavy silver crucifix for the Universi

f popular prejudice against them. Protected by the kings whose policy it was to allow none to plunde

n of popular hatred and envy during the Barons' war. Soon the persecution of the law fell upon these unhappy people. Statute after statute hemmed them in. They were forbidden to hold real property, to employ Christian servants, and to move through the streets without two tell-tale white tablets of wool on their breasts. Their trade, already crippled by the competition of bankers, w

d to penetrate to the older world of research. The traces which they have left in Oxford, save in the indirect manner I have suggested, are not many. The rising ground, now almost levelled, between the Castle and Broken Hayes, on the outer edge of the Cas

dwelt. At Oxford their burial place was on the site where S. John's hospital was afte

r John Evelyn visiting it a few years later was shown the Sensitive Plant there for a great wonder. There also grew, he tells us, canes, olive trees, rhubarb, but n

landskip! where

a vegetabl

chilles learn

angry in the

ds, which bloom

her whilst they

les I. and II. were added later, the expense being defrayed out

ed also. To satisfy his love of hunting he had already (1114) constructed a palace and park at Woodstock. Within the stone walls of the enclosure there he nouri

"for the great pleasure of the seat and the sweetness and delectableness of the air," is indicated b

r-King found time to grant charters to the town, and he let t

eaumont. The one romance of his life i

ful excursions by road or river from Oxford

wide fields o

swallows haunt the

e, to play bowls or skittles here, to eat strawberries and cre

ks, too, Isis,

udent, witness

lk, my ramble

oyage, an un

und, or some

s and cream. Wh

usterer hou

ng day so

a paradise of ducks and geese, at one corner of which is a ruined chapel with a three-light perpendicular window. These are the

he growing city an important charter, confirmin

ime of King Henry, my grandfather. Besides I have granted them to be quit of toll and passenger tax, and every custom through all England and Normandy, by land, by water, by sea-coast, by land and by strand. And they are to have all oth

en, bailiffs, and chamberlains, whose titles were borrowed from the merchant guild, and with councilmen who were elected from the citizens at large. The Mayor was formally admitted to his office by the Barons of the Exchequer

In practice the chief members of the merchant guild would usually be also the chief members of the Court-leet. The business of the mercha

rous, flourishing and highly organised. Every trade from cordwainers to cooks, from tailors, weavers, and glovers to butcher

in All Saints' Church; the tailors in the same church, and they also founded a chantrey in S. Martin's. "A token of this foundation is a pair of tailor's shears painted

s Row, and they had a custom of revelli

he night dance and take a circuit throughout all the streets, accompanied by divers music

intained a light in Our Lady's Chapel at S. Frideswide's. Some of the regulations by which they bound themselves when they were

he rest of the society a dinner and pay for one pound of wax, and that being done, the said master and wardens with three other seniors of the craft should bring him to the chancellor upon their shoulders, before whom he was to take his oath to keep all the ordinations and statutes of the craft, and pay to Our Lady's box eightpence and the like sum to the chancellor. The same procedure must be observed by any foreigner that had not been prenticed in Oxford but desired to set up a shop to occupy as barber,

minute provisions. In the reign of Edward II. (1319) the mayor and bailiffs were commanded to "prevent confusion in the merchandising of strangers, and those who were not

shall stand between S. Thomas' Hall (Swan Inn) and S. Edward's Lane (Alfred Street). The sellers of hogs and pigs shall stand between the churches of S. Mary and All Saints; the ale sellers between S. Edward's Lane and the Chequer Inn; the sellers of earthen-pots and coals by the said lane of S. Edward on the north side of the High Street. The sellers of gloves and whitawyers (dresses of white leather) shall stand between All Saints' Church and the house on the west side of

free or of the guild. The tanners shall stand between Somner's Inn and Carfax; the sellers of cheese, milk, eggs, beans, new peas and butter from the

and Vintnery[11] lay to the south of S. Martin's; Fish Street extended to Folly Bridge, the Corn Market stretched away to North Gate, the stalls of the butchers ranged in their Butchers' Row along the road to the Castle (Queen's Street). As for th

constitutional liberty. In 1265, Simon de Montfort issued writs from Woodstock summoning the famous parliament to which towns sent members for the first time. Oxford no doubt was among the number, but the sheriff's returns are lost and it is not till 1295 that the names of two burgesses elected to represent her in the national council are recorded. The University did not obtain members until the first