‘I left my heart in a jar in St John’s’
When Richard Rawlinson died in April 1755, he left instructions in his will that his heart ‘be taken out, enclosed in a silver cup with spirits and put into a black marble urn’.
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John Towle and his paper house
It’s the tale of John Towle, the Victorian mill owner turned architect who created this unconventional dwelling – a house of cards I suppose one might say, for it is constructed almost entirely from paper. Not the ‘huff and puff and blow your house down’ kind of paper production of ‘The Three Little Pigs’. But a residence that stood strong and upright from when it went up in 1844 until it was finally demolished in 1996. That’s an amazing lifespan for any building. Never mind one made of paper.
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Accident, suicide or murder: a Tudor Oxford mystery
But it was to see something else that I had taken shelter here last week as the rain lashed down on the brown cobbles outside. Tucked away behind the altar rail there is a little known memorial to one Amy Robsart.
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Fantastic fungi of Bagley Wood
On one of those blue skied autumnal days we’ve had recently I get a call from my friend, walking companion and Oxford Sausage nature correspondent, Beatrice Groves to say the…
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The miraculous story of Anne Greene
Despite its pretty 15th century Oxford shop front, most passers by will not give number 130 High Street a second glance. But down past an ancient oak gateway to the…
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Annora, anchoress
It is easy to miss Annora’s grave. For she is buried under a moss covered stone slab lying flat on the ground, close up against the south wall of the…
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Accident, suicide or murder: A Tudor Oxford mystery
The Oxford University Church of St Mary the Virgin is sometimes overlooked as a place to visit, standing as it does in competition with its more flamboyant neighbours in Radcliffe…
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Of Saints and Sanitary ware
One of the hidden secrets of Oxford is that although many of the University’s colleges now charge an entry fee, you can always claim to be visiting the chapel and…
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The miraculous story of Anne Greene
Despite its pretty 15th century Oxford shop front, most passers by will not give number 130 High Street a second glance. But down past an ancient oak gateway to the…
