• Oxford – a city of parsons and sausages

    I was delighted to discover the above recipe for Oxford Sausages from 1883. It is taken from the Victorian Recipe Book ‘Consult Me on How to Cook’, and more recently illustrated by Mollie Picken. The butcher looks a jolly fellow in his bowler hat, and blue stripey apron, garlands of sausages strung around his neck. The ingredients are pretty much the same as specified by the famous Mrs Beaton in her tome of ‘Household Management’ published in 1861 and announced as her ‘ideal sausage’. For this was the heyday of the Oxford Sausage. A time when an Oxford Alderman when asked in a Parliamentary committee whether there was anything manufactured in his city, had answered, “yes, parsons and sausages.”

    May 31, 2026
    Inside markets & outside fairs, Street Life, Trade and Industry

  • A call out for Oxford’s forgotten phone boxes

    Nestled into a corner on Catte Street across the way from Oxford’s famous ‘Bridge of Sighs’, stands an old red telephone box. It is in a sorry state. The door is locked. The paint peeling. Its contents long since carted away.  Most people pass it by without so much as a glance. Occasionally a tourist will stop to take a selfie, for they have read in the guidebooks that this is a monument to British telecommunications history, that the design has iconic status. But for me, standing here looking at its sad empty shell, this cherry-coloured cubicle with its distinctive domed roof brings back memories.

    April 25, 2026
    Street Life, Trade and Industry

  • Of dustcarts, pigs’ swill and white linen towels

    Albert Ernest Smith was born in 1903 and started work aged 13 for what was then known by the Orwellian title of The Cleansing Department, part of Oxford Corporation (now Oxford City Council). His first job was as a dustman, later driving a small van from which he serviced the central Oxford public lavatories.

    October 25, 2025
    Street Life

  • Chris Raworth, fairground model maker

    I was delighted to be invited to meet Chris Raworth at his workshop in Middle Barton, catching him just after he had assembled his set of gallopers. A tall man with a shock of white hair he can barely contain his excitement as he opens the door into a long garage lined with benches overflowing with mechanical parts and crammed with boxes painted with brightly coloured signwriting instantly recognisable as that of the fairground.

    August 30, 2025
    Arts and crafts, Feasts & festivities, Inside markets & outside fairs, Street Life

  • Cowley’s concrete mural

    Firm believers in art made for public spaces, they were also keen that their work was accessible, sensory, tactile, carving the polysterene moulds by hand using household tools like potato peelers and nutmeg graters to produce a variety of concrete finishes.

    March 1, 2025
    Street Life, Trade and Industry

  • From Cabbies Shelter to Najar’s Palace

    It’s extraordinary to see what is achieved in such a tight space – Masoud and his team navigating the area, taking orders, scooping, cutting, frying, filling, it’s like a tightly choreographed ballet.

    February 1, 2025
    Street Life

  • A night walk in old Oxford

    It’s at this time of year, after the clocks have gone back, and the evenings draw closer, that I like to don my coat and scarf and set off for…

    November 9, 2024
    Street Life