Oxford’s literary heritage
Steve McKenna journeys through Oxford’s impressive and inspirational literary heritage.
The soothing, operatic tones of BBC Radio 3 greet me as I open the door to a suite that oozes old-fashioned elegance. Glancing around, I spot a Roman bust, framed paintings of rural idylls, elaborate ceiling lights, vintage wooden desks, hooded lampshades, a chest of drawers, a comfy couch and upholstered chairs. Oh, and a great big bed. There are also two flat-screen TVs and a view of what is said to be the oldest museum in Britain.
Facing the Ashmolean Museum, the Randolph Hotel — my dapper home for the night — is an Oxford icon. For many tourists, it’s a must-visit landmark, even if they don’t stay here.
Some come for afternoon tea and a nose around the Randolph’s winding stairways, public spaces and aisles, which are filled with Gothic-style stained-glass windows and opulent vases and antiques. Others prefer to lounge in the hotel’s Morse Bar, named after the fictional Oxford detective created by Colin Dexter. Both Dexter (in real life) and Morse (in the book and on TV, played by the late John Thaw) have whiled away hours in the bar’s warm, cosy environs.
My latest trip to Oxford sees me endeavouring to learn more about the city’s impressive literary heritage — which stretches far beyond Inspector Morse. I’m particularly interested in a certain Charles Dodgson. Born in Cheshire in 1832, he spent most of his life studying and teaching at Oxford’s Christ Church College. When writing, he used his pen name: Lewis Carroll.
There is extra focus on Carroll and Oxford in 2015 as it’s the 150th anniversary of the publication of his most famous work — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
It was while out rowing on Oxford’s River Thames that Carroll conjured up his weird and wonderful stories. He would take the children of his friend and boss, the dean of Christ Church, Henry Liddell, out for trips and used to keep them entertained with fantastical nuggets. One of the Liddell girls was called Alice.
“If it wasn't for Oxford’s waterways, there probably would be no Alice in Wonderland,” says Mark Davies, a local social historian whose own book, Alice in Waterland, looks at the essential role played by the Thames — and Oxford — in the story’s creation.
Packed with souvenirs, Alice's Shop is a treat for Lewis Carroll fans. Picture: Steve McKenna
I join one of Davies’ tailor-made Alice in Oxford walking tours, which offer an absorbingly photogenic insight into how this City of Dreaming Spires inspired not just Carroll and Dexter, but a raft of other notable authors, from C.S. Lewis to Philip Pullman.
We meet at Alice’s Shop on St Aldate’s. Said to be where Alice Liddell would buy sweets in her youth, the shop appeared in Through the Looking-Glass, Carroll’s 1871 sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Today, it buzzes with Alice aficionados, who browse and buy souvenirs such as clocks, cards, lockets, pendants and tea towels branded with characters such as the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and Alice herself.
There are cups labelled “Drink Me!” And earrings shaped like the White Rabbit’s pocket watch. The flurry of foreign languages inside this snug cubbyhole — from Japanese to Portuguese — hints at Alice’s global appeal.
Crossing St Aldate’s, our tour group enters the magnificent grounds of Christ Church College. The grandest component of Oxford’s world-famous university, Christ Church has many illustrious alumni, including 13 British prime ministers and countless big names from the arts and sciences, including Albert Einstein and W.H. Auden.
Ambling along, we pass the college’s blooming beds of flowers, rugby fields, meadows, wooded avenues and grandiose honey-shaded buildings (including the Great Hall, which starred as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies and whose stained-glass windows depict characters from Carroll’s Wonderland).
Davies points out where Dodgson first met the Liddell children. A keen amateur photographer, he was snapping Christ Church cathedral on his new-fangled Thomas Ottewill Registered Double Folding camera when a six-year-old Alice and her two sisters asked to be photographed.
You can stroll by the tree-lined waterways of Oxford, as Carroll and Alice Liddell did. Picture: Steve McKenna
Dodgson agreed, heralding the start of a fruitful friendship with the children; one that had the approval of the dean, his wife and the kids’ governess, Mary Prickett — the inspiration, some say, for the “thorny” Red Queen from Wonderland.
While Carroll’s stories were other-worldly in nature, he would use familiar things and people as ingredients — and the fact that he never revealed the true inspirations behind his characters has sparked endless speculation.
Davies, whose research included mining the published diaries and memoirs of Carroll and Alice, tells us that the scene in the first Wonderland book where Alice plays croquet with the Queen of Hearts was possibly based on a real-life game that Alice Liddell enjoyed with the Prince and Princess of Wales, who were regular visitors to Oxford.
We follow a footpath between Merton College and Merton Field. Dubbed Dead Man’s Walk, it used to lead to a medieval Jewish cemetery, which later evolved into a rose garden. It nestles beside the city’s Botanic Garden which was founded in 1621 for the study of medicinal plants, and was a key location in Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. One of the garden’s benches has “Lyra + Will” carved into it in tribute to Pullman’s lead characters, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry.
This relaxing garden was a cherished hideaway for J.R.R. Tolkien. A professor at Oxford’s Pembroke College, Tolkien was a contemporary of C.S. Lewis, a tutor at Magdalen College (the cloistered buildings of which are thought to have influenced his Chronicles of Narnia tales). The two were part of the Inklings Society, which would meet at the Eagle and Child on St Giles’ Street (this pub is a few minutes’ walk from the Randolph Hotel).
Other literary figures to have studied or taught at Oxford include Graham Greene, T.S. Eliot, Philip Larkin, Evelyn Waugh, John Updike, Kingsley and Martin Amis, John le Carre, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Johnson, T.E. Lawrence and Val McDermid. An avid walker, Carroll would regularly stroll beside the Cherwell River, one of the tributaries of the Thames (which is also traditionally known as the River Isis in Oxford but not so much nowadays). We saunter along the Cherwell’s sun-dappled riverside trail, in the shadow of chestnut, maple and alder trees, and pass students reading books, penning notes and picnicking.
The Head of the River is a nice spot for food and drink. Picture: Steve McKenna
As birds chirp and tweet, and golden leaves are scrunched underfoot, it feels every inch the rural idyll — hard to believe we’re just a kilometre from Oxford’s lively centre, although, glancing across the meadows past the grazing cattle, we glimpse the city’s famous “dreaming spires”.
Our pleasant walk ends by Folly Bridge, the launch pad for the myriad meandering rowing trips-cum-picnic excursions that Carroll took Alice and her sisters on.
Several boat companies offer trips up and down the river, including Salter’s Steamers. Perched opposite the Head of the River pub — which is housed in a renovated boatyard — Salter’s dates back to 1858, the year, it is believed, that Carroll first met Alice.
I hop aboard a boat operated by nearby Oxford River Cruises — and can count myself extremely fortunate as it’s a lovely afternoon.
The back of my neck and arms are slowly toasted by the sun as we drift along, passing the odd kayaker, canoeist, rowing team and fellow pleasure cruisers. Skirting by tree-lined banks, which are hugged by chains of narrowboats, we see joggers, walkers and squirrels stretching their legs, and ducks, swans and geese fraternising and swaggering along.
The bucolic serenity — pierced, only mildly, by the gentle hum of our boat engine and the sound of the prow cutting through the water — lulls me into a trance, and before I know it, I’m in full daydream mode.
No worries, though. I’m not the first person to be away with the fairies in Oxford — and I certainly won’t be the last.
Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Britain, Oxford River Cruises and the Randolph Hotel.
FACT FILE
Trains for Oxford leave London Paddington every 10-20 minutes and take about an hour. firstgreatwestern.co.uk.
The elegant Randolph Hotel is a stone’s-throw from Trinity College. Bed, breakfast and dinner packages from £174 ($335). macdonaldhotels.co.uk.
Another swanky base in Oxford is the Malmaison, which occupies a former prison in the Oxford Castle complex. Bed and breakfast costs from about £209. malmaison.com.
Mark Davies’ guided walking tours are £40 per group for one hour, £70 for two hours, £100 for three. oxfordwaterwalks.co.uk.
Oxford River Cruises offers a selection of river-based adventures. oxfordrivercruises.com.
For more information, go to visitbritain.co.uk.
