Oxford has such a long and varied history you would expect to buy several lengthy books to read it all.

But clergyman David Meara has condensed more than 1,000 years of development, intrigue, arguments and much more into a concise 96 pages.

All right, you don’t get all the intricate details, but there is enough to get a good grasp of how the city has developed over the centuries.

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He tells me: “When I looked along the shelves of Blackwells, I realised that although there are numerous books about the university, architecture, guided walks, Alice in Wonderland and Inspector Morse, there was a gap in the general history of the city.

“The university has tended to take centre stage and the town a back seat. My book gives an overview, very much aimed at the general reader, the visitor and the interested local resident.”

Mr Meara launched the book at Christ Church Cathedral, an appropriate setting - King’s daughter Frideswide founded a nunnery in nearby meadows in the early eighth century.

A settlement grew up around her shrine on the cathedral site and it was a good place for cattle to cross, hence the name Ox-Ford.

The book records the subsequent founding of the university, the growth of a flourishing medieval market town with a mayor, bailiffs and corporation, rivalry between the town and university, which sometimes descended into violence, and fluctuations in the town’s fortunes through the Reformation.

We are then taken through the Civil War, the creation of a beautiful and venerable city in the 17th and 18th centuries and the growth of the Oxford Movement, the religious revival in the 19th century.

(Image: Oxford Mail) The start of the 20th century was dominated by William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, who created the motor industry at Cowley and brought great prosperity to the city.

Finally, we see the decline of the motor industry, the growth of education as the major employer, attempts to tackle traffic congestion, mass tourism and the city’s development as a major technology hub, creating the first effective Covid vaccine.

At the end of each chapter, Mr Meara adds pen portraits of those who have contributed to the city’s history.

There are numerous pictures in the book, some from the once-extensive Oxford Mail library, including above the Lord Mayor, Bill Fagg, and the Warden of New College, Sir William Hayter, leading the ancient ceremony of inspecting the city walls, and Lord Nuffield below.

The book sums up the city, like the university, as ancient and arcane, yet also modern and progressive, and ends in optimistic mood for the future.

“With its precious concentration of beautiful buildings, economic vibrancy, entrepreneurial spirit, academic excellence and rich mythology, it surely has the resources to enable it to flourish into the third millennium.”

Mr Meara is a former Archdeacon of London and now a member of the clergy team at St Mary’s Church, Kidlington.

Oxford, A Potted History, is published by Amberley Publishing and available from bookshops at £15.99:

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.