A walk from south to central Oxfordby Andrew Hodges |  Oxford images |
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| Following the ancient road from the south you cross the river at Folly Bridge. The river has changed its course, but this cannot be far from the original ford. In crossing the river you are also leaving the Saxon kingdom of Wessex for that of Mercia. Taking flood and damp in their stride, these houses (left) are set on an island in the river. Continuing a little way along the river, you find another route into the centre for walkers and cyclists, who can use the former industrial railway bridge (right) which used to serve the gas works. | |
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| This cycle route takes you to the area of St Ebbes which used to be the industrial area by the railway, canal and brewery. Council planning has turned it into a nondescript jumble of ring roads and car parks. Paradise Street, shown here, has some of the few surviving buildings. Left-hand photo: the gabled building on the right is the Jolly Farmers pub which is one of the two gay pubs in the city. It faces the Night Shelter, temporary hostel for the many men who sleep rough in Oxford. The right-hand photo shows the Paradise Street Business Centre, where I had a stained glass window made in 1989, and behind it the back of the prison, now empty, and the remains of Oxford Castle. | |
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 | Oxford is dominated by traffic congestion. In the photo above, a Park and Ride bus is crossing Carfax. It approaches a notice saying, rather perversely, DRIVERS BEWARE PEDESTRIANS. Carfax is an ancient crossing of routes from west to east, north to south. (Oxford is itself neither south nor north, west nor east; it is in the middle of England but not in the Midlands.) Carfax is always being dug up. Recently I read in Robert Graves's book The Greek myths the legend that King Lud of pre-Roman Britain buried two piglets in a stone chest at this spot. So perhaps one day they will be found by a pneumatic drill, but it doesn't sound a likely story. In 1999, Cornmarket Street (left) was barred to all daytime vehicles. In the distance you see Christ Church, possibly the most snobbish of the colleges, and in the foreground you see something else. |
Photographs by Andrew Hodges, April 2000
Note added October 2000: In April I was quite ready to believe this news of a racist attack. It turned out to be an urban myth. Oxford rests on mythology and it hard to separate fact from fiction. Perhaps I should stick to my no-bullshit maths.
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