WHEN Debbie Dance set off for the launch of the new book series Oxford Heritage Walks, she made the mistake of strolling there with the two people responsible for this new treasure chest of information.
While walking through central Oxford, author Dr Malcolm Graham and illustrator Edith Gollnast can rarely resist pausing to admire, discuss and explain the wonders of Oxford’s architecture and hidden history.
Mrs Dance, the director of Oxford Preservation Trust, was late for the launch at Blackwell’s bookshop, but the pair had shown exactly why she had enlisted them to produce Oxford Heritage Walks.
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The second book in the series, On Foot From Broad Street, has just been published, following on from On Foot From Oxford Castle to St Giles’, which appeared last November.
She said: “We had been talking about doing a series of heritage walk books for years.
“Malcolm has built up such a wealth of knowledge about Oxford. But where is it? It’s all in his head. Similarly Edith has spent 35 years in conservation, working with Oxford’s historic buildings.
“As an artist she sees things the rest of us don’t see. There are many books about Oxford but nothing like this series. The books capture the history of the streets, describing what is there, but also what is no longer there, what has gone.”
The new book begins at the western end of Broad Street outside the Fisher Buildings of Balliol College.
Typically, Malcolm goes right back to the 12th century to explain how the Broad came into existence, being first recorded as Horsemonger Street because its width had encouraged the sale of horses.
Ironically, one of Europe’s architectural gems echoes the shape of the ditch outside the town wall, with Broad Street previously named Canditch, with the present name only established in 1751.
But the story is also bang up to date. There is an illustration of Antony Gormley’s nude man sculpture on the Thomas Wood building, while there is a description of the New Bodleian’s transformation into the Weston Library, with the official opening still months away.
Ms Gollnast said: “The new book contains 52 drawings, of which 43 are new. I have known Oxford since 1974 and did a lot of research in my former job.
“But there is always something new to draw.
“There are so many points of interest, some quite small.”
On Foot From Broad Street by Malcolm Graham, illustrated by Edith Gollnast, is available from Blackwell’s priced £9.99
DRAWINGS INCLUDED IN ON FOOT FROM BROAD STREET
Radcliffe Square glimpsed from the passage to Bodleian Library Schools Quadrangle. The square is widely viewed as the true heart of the university with the Radcliffe Camera, the first round library in the world.
The two heads from All Souls’ iron gates facing Radcliffe Square. There is a superb view of the college’s twin towers through the gates, dating from 1734.
The cast iron pump found in the shadow of St Mary the Virgin Church, in High Street, The pump was installed in the early 19th century, which would have served the parish before many houses had piped water.
The lamp and sign above the entrance to the Mitre. The Mitre, first recorded in about 1310, became an important coaching inn. The south front, dating from 1630, was heightened in the late 18th century.
Ducker’s shop front, 6 Turl Street, has been the shop and workshop of Ducker & Son, the shoemakers since 1867. Ducker’s are said to have made shoes for the German First World War fighter ace Baron von Richthofen.
The Bridge of Sighs, one of Oxford’s most famous tourist landmarks, linking Hertford College sites on either side of New College Lane. It was given its name because of its similarity to the Ponte dei Sospiri in Venice.
Brasenose Lane running into Radcliffe Square. This narrow pedestrian thoroughfare retains the central gutter once common in all streets.
Hayman’s fish shop, in the Covered Market. Down the years many of the shops and stalls have been amalgamated to form larger units.
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