Miscellaneous inscriptions

The Oxford Preservation Trust

South Park

At the foot of Headington Hill, opposite the junction with Karston Road is a twelve-foot-high pillar made and engraved by the distinguished carver, designer and typographer Eric Gill (1882-1940). The inscription on the pillar reads:

This park: was acquired by the Oxford Preservation Trust through the liberality of the Pilgrim Trust and David and Joanna Randall-XcIver 1932.

Several other examples of the work of Eric Gill are to be found in Oxford, notably in St John's College where he sculpted the statue of St John over the gatehouse in the Front Quad, and in New College Chapel where he did the lettering on the memorial for the fallen of the First World War.

The Colin and Olive Walker Field, Kennington, is marked by a stone near the towpath of the River Thames, on which there is a small metal plate with the legend:

In 1972 this field was acquired through the beneficence of Mr. & Mrs. Colin and Olive Walker of Pitt House, Chudleigh, Devon.

The stone is best approached from Kennington by the public footpath at the side of The Tandem public house, which crosses the railway by the footbridge.

War Memorial Fields. The Kennington War Memorial Field has already been referred to on page 19. Another war memorial field in Godstow Road, Wolvercote is marked by a stone in the wall just east of the car- park of the Trout Inn:

This land was acquired by the Oxford Preservation Trust in 1934 through a gift of Philip Leslie Agnew in l11e.l11Dry of his son Ewan Siegfried Agnew, New College, Oxford, 1912-1914. Pro patria

Iffley Mill and Iffley Lock

At the foot of the public footpath leading from Kill Lane to Iffley Lock lies a millstone, above which, set into the wall, is an inscription:

The millstone from Iffley Mill which stood here for .many centuries and was destroyed by fire on Kay 201908.

The opening of Iffley Lock has been referred to in the biographical account of Lord Desborough on page 69. The new lock replaced an older one which is described on a stone set into the ground on the Iffley village side of the present lock. A metal plate bears the crest of the Thames Conservancy and the inscription:

The original pound lock: at Iffley which was built and in use by 1632 was one of the first three pound locks on the ThaJ1Jes. The others were at Sandford and on the Swift Ditch*. The present Iffley lock was built in 1923 at Abingdon

Twin cities

Since the Second World War, the City of Oxford has established and maintained strong links with Bonn in West Germany and with Leiden in Holland.

The Oxford-Bonn Link is commemorated on a large stone slab set into the ground in what is now known as Bonn Square:

The Lord Kayor of the City of Oxford, Councillor Xrs Olive Gibbs, and Chairman of the Bonn City Council, Herr Stadtverordneter Reiner Schreiber naJ1Jed this Square on 5 October 1974.

The Oxford-Leiden Link is commemorated less conspicuously on a bench outside the Town Hall, and in the name of Leiden Road in the Wood Farm area of Headington.

A link with USA

The benefactions bestowed on Oriel College by Cecil Rhodes are noted on page 79. A more recent gift to the college is recorded on the wall of the first floor of No.8 Oriel Street, where there is a plaque with the inscription:

Restored 1984 through a gift from William Nelson Turpin, Georgia and Oriel 1947, and Nancy Bissell Turpin. Named in honour of the President of the United States 1977-1981.

Three trees

Near the deer-park behind the Cloister Quadrangle of Magdalen College is a large plane tree at the foot of which is a stone with a metal plaque bearing the inscription:

This tree planted in 1801 is a SCiOD of the hybrid plane first raised in the Botanic Garden in 1666.

In Pullen's Lane, Headington, near the junction with Cuckoo Lane, is a stone set into the brick boundary-wall of Headington School:

Near this spot stood the fall1ous elll1 planted by The Rev. Josiah Pullen about 1680 and lr.DOWIl as Joe Pullen's Tree, destroyed by fire OD 13 October 1909.

Josiah Pullen was Vicar of St Peter-in-the-East (now the library of St Edmund Hall) where he is buried. There is portrait of him in the Bodleian Library, of which Hertford College has a copy. His elm tree marked the destination of a brisk daily walk which it was his custom to take from the city. Pullen and his tree are referred to in Thomas Hearne's Diary for 22 February 1724, and some account of Pullen's life is given in a small book Between the ~ite Gates (1975) by Dr H. X. Harris who is himself now commemorated on an inscribed stone set into the wall opposite Pullen's stone:

The li.llle and plane trees planted nearby were planted by his wife and family in memory of Dr H. X. Harris of Vell1bley, Middlesex, and The Barn, Pullens Lane. Beloved physician. 1894-1976.

The Finch family

On the wall at the entrance to Finch Close, a recent development off Old Road, Headington (between Valentia Road and Highfield Avenue), is a round metal plaque:

Letitia Finch was allotted land in this vicinity in the Headington enclosure award of 1804. The Finch family lived at the house now lr.DOWIl as Ruskin Hall in Old Headington from 1660 to 1863.

Mensa

A round yellow plaque on the wall of 12 St John Street has the legend:

The International Society MENSA began here 1 October 1946.

MENSA describes its aim as 'to promote the association of intelligent people of all backgrounds and interests'.

Converted buildings

Examples of former schools and redundant churches having been taken over by the University are to be found in Chapters 2 and 4, but they are not the only ones to reveal uses to which buildings were formerly put:

-An inscription above the door of the Museum of Oxford {on the corner of St Aldates and Blue Boar Street) is a reminder that it was once the entrance to the former City Library:

-On the wall of the Old Fire Station in George Street is a stone carving

of a fireman's helmet and fire-hose, with the motto:

-George Street also housed the Corn Exchange near the old Fire Station, which still has its foundation stone:

This stone was laid on the 22nd day of October 1894 by Valter Gray Esq, JP, Mayor and Alderman. rhos. H. Kingerlee Esq, Sheriff.

-The old rectory of St Ebbe's in Paradise Square was originally designed in 1852-54 by G. E. Street who, as Diocesan architect, designed so many nineteenth-century rectories and churches in and around Oxford, including the church of SS Philip & James. The rectory was subsequently altered by another architect in 1868, and is now the office of the Environmental Health Department, but the words over the front door remain:

VIA CRUCIS, VIA SALUTIS 1868 {The way of the cross is the way of salvation)

Bridges

Rainbow Bridge near the Medley Boathouse at the south end of Port Meadow, built in the heyday of cast iron, bears an identical metal plaque on each parapet:

AD 1865

{The man who did the lettering must have been concentrating so hard on the spelling of the word 'shrievalty' that he got the word 'subscription' wrong).

Almost a century later, Donnington Bridge was built to provide an alternative route for traffic across the Thames, which would relieve pressure on Magdalen Bridge and Folly Bridge. A plaque facing the road on the north parapet railing has the inscription:

City of Oxford DONNINGTON BRIDGE opened by the Rt. Hon. Viscount Hailsham PC QC on 22nd October 1962. Chairman of the Highways Committee: Alderman Kinchin 1957-1962 City Engineer &Surveyor: J.Campbell Riddell B.Sc,X.I.C.E, X.I.Xun.E Consulting Engineers: R.Travers Xorgan & Partners Civil Engineering Contractors: The Cementation Company Ltd

Lord Hailsham's connections with Oxford include his having been (as Quintin Hogg) an undergraduate at Christ Church, a Fellow of All Souls (1931-38) and Member of Parliament for Oxford City (1938-50). His public life culminated in his being Lord Chancellor under the Heath administration (1970-74) and under the first two Thatcher administrations (1979-87)

(Reference to Magdalen Bridge will be found on pages 30 & 31.)

Levellers

In an age when the fashion is to extol rebels and mutineers while denigrating those who used to be regarded as loyal heroes, it is hardly surprising that Oxford should have a plaque to commemorate two mutineers in Cromwell's army who were executed in 1649. The plaque, on the corner of the Co-operative building overlooking Gloucester Green off George Street, was unveiled in June 1988 and was the brain-child of the Workers' Educational Association and the Oxford City Council:

To the memory of Private Biggs and Private Piggen executed like their Leveller colleagues at Burford by forces loyal to Cromwell. They were shot near this place for their part in the second mutiny of the Oxford garrison on 18th September 1649.

A more poignant reminder of the plight of one of the Levellers is to be found in Burford church where a group of them were imprisoned before the ringleaders were shot. On the leaden lip of the font are scratched the words ANTHONY SEDLEY 1649 PRISNER.