Music Meadow

A footbridge and a railway bridge.

This photo shows the driving theory test centre at 58 St Aldates, OX1 1ST, it being on the 3rd floor. One has to pass the theory test before taking the practical driving test.

This notice is by the entrance to the driving theory test centre at 58 St Aldates. It mentions under 1, Driving Test Centre-Pearson Professional Centres.

Class 66 No. 66079 hauls a long container train northwards from Oxford Station. The train is about to cross Castle Mill Stream Bridge and pass under Walton Well Road bridge. The route of the old LNWR line into Oxford Rewley Road Station is across the bridge in the left foreground. Beyond this are new train stabling roads under construction.

This information board is in Bridge Street off Speedwell Street and has the following wording: Archaeology Around Westgate 19th-20th century St Ebbe's: the Lost Suburb of St Ebbe's First column Westgate Oxford is situated within the Parish of St Ebbe's. This area has gone through many significant changes in the last 500 years. Map 1) After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, the majority of the grand stone-built friary structures that had been the home, church and workplace to the Augustinian Blackfriar and Franciscan Greyfriar communities, and dominated the area for nearly 300 years, were quickly demolished. The control exerted by these institutions on the waterways, and their use of their meadows and gardens ceased and the area gave way to natural flood- meadow and summer grazing pasture crossed by a number of tree-lined streams. Map 2) (2&3) In the 1640s St Ebbe's was on the front line of the English Civil War- a large ditch and bank fortification crossed the area to defend the low-lying southern approach to Oxford, which was a Royalist stronghold for Charles II and his army. The defensive ditch and the head of an iron weapon called a halberd were found near this spot. Drawing 3) Second Column Map 4) (4) During the latter part of the 1700s, a Mr Bricknell owned much of the land; he ran a Tan Yard (which made leather from animal hides) next to the Trill Mill Stream near the site of Little Gate. At that time some of the area was cultivated as market gardens and orchards (Paradise and Pensons Gardens). The odd building from the medieval friaries still survived, and a few large residential houses occupied the higher and drier ground nearer to the town. (5,6&7) In 1819 a Gas Works was built which grew to dominate the area until its demolition in the 1960s. The following year the meadows started to be sold off in small plots along new streets to accommodate Oxford's rapidly growing population. Narrow terraced streets of brick and stone houses, interspersed with small shops and pubs, were constructed by speculative house builders between c.1820-1860s. These early developments did not have a proper water supply or decent drainage and this resulted in an outbreak of cholera in the mid 1800s. Subsequently the Trill Mill stream that ran through the suburb was culverted and new drainage was built to improve sanitation. The health of the residents hugely improved as a result, but issues remained into the 1930s. Map 2) Third Column Photo 5) Photo 7) Map 8) (8) From the 1840s increasing amounts of freight were transported on the new railways and unused wharfs and waterways were infilled. By the late 1900s, the area was predominantly residential but there was also a large laundry, St Ebbe's School, the Rectory (still in Paradise Square), a Methodist Chapel, a children's play area and a public swimming baths was built within a flowing section of the Thames. Fourth Column Photo 6) Photo 7) Map 8) The parish attracted a mixture of working class tenants as well as the slightly better off and contained houses suited to many on the borderline of middle and working class. Although the residents of 'the friaries' (as the area had become known) were very proud of their homes, by the early-mid 1900s the area was considered by the local authority to be run down, and plans for redevelopment were put forward as early as 1938. However, World War II intervened after which new plans for redevelopment were put forward. Eventually the community of some 700 households were moved out to make way for the original Westgate Shopping Centre, which was demolished in 2015.

When this pony was kept in Kemerton in the Vale of Evesham shoeing was done by the blacksmith at his forge. Moving to Oxford, the farrier brought his van to the horse.

This information board is in Old Greyfriars Street and has the following wording: First Column Westgate Archaeological Excavations 1967 - 1976 When the first Westgate Centre was built a programme of archaeological excavation was organised by the Oxford Archaeological Excavation Committee supported by Oxford City Council, under the direction of Tom Hassall OBE. The work revealed the remains of long-lost medieval houses and streets, part of the massive ditch around the eastern gatehouse, or barbican, into Oxford Castle and a length of the large defensive stone wall that encircled the town. The substantial stone foundations of a large church belonging to the Greyfriars a Franciscan Order, along with human burials were also revealed. Two Images 2015-2016 A second major excavation was undertaken in advance of construction works for the Westgate Centre. The team consisted of up to 50 archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology working under the direction of Ben Ford. The discoveries were the largest exposure of medieval stone building remains yet seen in Oxford attracting over 10,000 visitors. Photo Second Column Large Photo The excavations focussed on the buildings to the south of the Greyfriars church - these buildings, which had been dismantled during Henry VIII's Reformation in the 1500s, included structures interpreted as the kitchen, a dining hall, the main cloister with cloister walk, plus a large courtyard surrounded by dormitories, a wash house and lavatories - supplied by a stone-lined water conduit - plus an infirmary and chapel all enclosed within a massive precinct wall. The Trill Mill Stream, which flowed along the southern edge of this precinct, had a wharf and a watermill on it. Over 30,000 artefacts were recovered, including rare wooden and leather objects which had been preserved in anaerobic conditions created by the high water-table. This site at the edge of the Oxford promontory, where higher dry ground meets the lower wet ground of the Thames floodplain. Underneath the friary the earlier landscape of the Thames was studied, this showed that the valley floor was originally 4-5 metres below current ground level. This landscape was crossed by multiple channels and dotted with gravel islands which then over time were buried under alluvial silts - a process that started in the Middle Bronze Age (around 3,200 years ago) and still continues today in Oxford's hinterlands. Two photos Third Column Large photo Small photo Image Archaeology Trail Learn more about the archaeology at Westgate by following our trail - look for the archaeology logo on our Wayfinding totems and more information on our archaeology boards. Collect your map from the Great Experience Desk and mark off the discoveries as you go. You can also see the unearthed priory cloister tiles mounted on the wall above the lifts in Middle Square a few steps away.

This information board has been erected by the Canal & River Trust and is located by the Oxford Canal in Hythe Bridge Street. It has the following wording on the left side: Welcome to the Oxford Canal This beautiful canal was once used to transport coal from Coventry. Today it's a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the busy city. Take a walk, hop on a bike or simply find a quiet spot and watch the boats pass by. However you choose to explore this relaxing space, the more time you spend here the happier and healthier you can feel. Search 'local canal' and find out more. On the right is a map showing the canal in Oxford city centre.

B4495 near John Radcliffe Hospital.

The junction of Ambleside Drive with Eden Drive, part of an estate developed in the 1950s where all the street names have a Lake District connection.

Part of an estate developed in the 1950s where all the street names have a Lake District connection.

The Google street view car driving away from the traffic lights along Hedley Way in Headington

Two 'voi' e-scooters parked near Pembroke College in Oxford. There is another parking bay around the corner on Littlegate Street.

The Saïd Business School is the successor to the Oxford School of Management Studies, part of the University of Oxford. It is named after Wafic Saïd, a Syrian-Saudi-Canadian financier, businessman and philanthropist who, controversially at the time, donated £20 million in 1996. This building on Park End Street was designed by Edward Jones and Sir Jeremy Dixon and opened in 2001. At one time it was the site of Oxford's Rewley Road station (although the building was latterly used as a tyre fitting centre) which in turn had been built on the site of Rewley Abbey, a Cistercian monastery.

Platform 5 is a café and wine bar situated within part of the Royal Oxford Hotel building, built in 1934 by the Great Western Railway. The signage emphasises the railway connection, apeing the early British Railways design introduced in 1948. Surprisingly although this style, which used different colours for the six regions, was superseded in 1965, it is still widely recognised as representing railways. To be pedantic, as the Great Western Railway became the Western Region the signs should perhaps be chocolate brown, rather than the maroon of the London Midland Region.

Describing itself as an 'arts centre, restaurant and bar', the Jam Factory occupies the former premises of Frank Cooper's Oxford marmalade. Production was concentrated here, close to the centre of the city, between 1903 and 1958. The Frank Cooper brand still exists but the famous marmalade is no longer produced in Oxford. The Jam Factory business first opened in 2006.