Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 13 : Oxford round walk
Port Meadow, the river, canal & colleges
| Length | 15.2km (9.4 miles), 4 hours 40 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow as much of the day and evening as possible - a minimum of 8 hours. |
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| OS Landranger Map | No.164. Oxford is 90km (56 miles) to the west of London. |
| Toughness | 1 out 10. |
| Features | The route is easy and entirely level, but it can be muddy along the River Cherwell. It starts as a walk along the River Isis to Binsey, a favourite walk for the poet Hopkins (the 'wind-wandering, weed-winding bank'), who lamented the felling of aspens along the towpath here in his 1879 poem Binsey Poplars 'the sweet especial rural scene'). You can take a dip here if you want. Passing the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, you come to the Trout Inn at Wolvercote and take in a bit of Port Meadow before coming to the suggested lunchtime pub, the Plough Inn. |
| Shortening the walk | There are buses about every 20 minutes from near the lunchtime pub back into Oxford. Or, at point [4] in the book's walk directions, by turning right towards the city centre, you could avoid the walk along the River Cherwell. At any point in the circuit through the Oxford Colleges, you could give up and make for the tearoom. |
| History |
The Saxons fording the Thames with their oxen gave this place the name 'Oxen-ford'. Robert d'Oilly took over Oxford in 1066, creating a Norman stronghold. Possibly the first college to be founded was Merton, in 1264, although there had been a university for at least a century before this. A tavern argument between townspeople and scholars resulted in a 1354 massacre, in which 14 inns or halls were ransacked and a number of chaplains scalped. Christ Church College in Oxford was Charles I's headquarters during the Civil War, with New College cloisters used as a gunpowder store. In the sixteenth century, Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer were burnt at the stake in Broad Street. Gates at Balliol College still show scorch marks from the flames, and there is a memorial to these Protestant martyrs in St Giles. The men's colleges started admitting women in 1974. There are too many places to visit in one day, but you might like to stop in at the Pitt Rivers Museum, which offers free entrance to 4.30pm (closed Sundays) and contains shrunken heads and artefacts from around the world. Also free is entrance to St Johns College and its fine garden (open to 5pm daily). Admission to Christ Church College costs £3 (open to about 5pm daily), but you can get in free any day of the week by attending evensong at 6pm. |
| Lunch | The suggested lunchtime stop is the Plough Inn tel 01865 556 969), Wolvercote Green. This has bar food, a restaurant (which used to be a morgue), a library room, comfortable sofas and armchairs. It serves food from midday to 2pm daily, and in large portions (groups of more than eight people should book). It is less touristy than the almost equally attractive alternative, 15 minutes earlier in the walk, the Trout Inn tel 01865 302 071) in Wolvercote, which has rushing waters, a dilapidated wooden bridge and some peacocks - including a white one; it serves food all day every day. |
| Saturday Walkers Club | The Saturday Walkers Club do this walk each April. |
| Warning | This text was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
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Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
