April 30 – Oxford, England. Today we're reenergized and headed back to the P&R and the bus to Oxford. D wants to tour the old prison and it's very near where you get off the bus.
The prison tour is called Oxford Unlocked. Your guide is dressed and speaks like an actual character from the prison days. Ours was a former inmate but there's also a policeman, woman inmate, town's person, jailor and some I'm sure I didn't see.
The building has quite a history. Originally Saint George's Church was on this site. Later it became a fortified castle and eventually a prison. When they built forts in the 1200s they dug a moat and piled the dirt from the boat into a large mound which became part of the fortification. The Keep of Durham Castle was atop such a mound. They have a model just inside the where the tour starts showing the fortress before it became a prison.
Our guide, talking as the former inmate, gave us a history of the prison and his case in particular. He was eventually hung in the prison yard. The model and introduction are done in the base of the only surviving tower from the castle, fort or jail. It is also one of the only remaining parts of Saint George's church. Our first order of business after the introduction was to climb the tower for a look around the area. From the top you can see several of the colleges and church spires around the town. Plus you can see the building that was the castle, then the prison and now a high-class hotel. Prince to Prison to Posh, not a bad cycle.
The mound of moat dirt is still there. In fact, it's a very vertical city park. There's a path up that makes several circles of the mound before reaching the top. Around the top they've planted some trees in put in some benches. Probably a nice place to be on a warm summer day. You're certainly high enough to get the benefit from any breezes in the area, plus the view is nice. The mound is only a bit shorter than the tower.
The tower, the crypt and the mound are the only remaining parts of the original castle. The tower and crypt were part of the castle's church which was built in 1074. The church was functioning into the 1790s when it was demolished to build additional prison buildings. It was only fitting when we descended the tower and went directly down into the crypt. The remains have all been removed to alternative interment but the space remains as it was. It's rumored to be haunted if you believe in that sort of thing.
From the crypt we headed above ground to tour the cell block that's part of the exhibition. The walls are very thick and made from stone and brick. Not much chance to dig through that. Like prisons everywhere it was subject to overcrowding although some prisoners with status were allowed some comforts, books, writing paper etc. One woman's cell was furnished with a chair & tea table complete with china tea service. It also had a small armoire and a curtain that could be pulled for privacy. The tea service included two cups. I'm not sure who she was allowed to entertain.
In one cell they had the 'winding box' on display. The box was fitted with a crank type handle and the convicts were made to turn it. The tension could be adjusted to make it easy or very hard to turn. They had to make a certain number of revolutions when assigned to turn it. If you were well behaved you got as easy tension. If you were a pain they make it very hard. If you didn't complete the required number of turns you were punished, whipping, solitary or something on that order.
Located at the end of the cell block was a guard's station, a small desk built onto the wall with a stool and some cabinets and hooks to hand your coat, lantern and keys. They had some cards on the desk and an overturned liquor bottle on one of the shelves to imply that the duty was both boring and stressful. It would not have been a comfortable place to be living or working.
When we had done our tour we wanted to catch the Green Hop on Hop off bus. The red ones have taped narration; the green ones have live narration. When we walked out to the street a green bus was parked right across the street. We bought out tickets from the driver and were off on a circuit of Oxford. One of the places I never seem to get a picture of is the original Morris' Garage where the MG was born. The HOHO bus covers the city pretty well.
After the tour around the city we got off on Queen Street and went into The Mitre for lunch. It's in an old building and the restaurant has lots of little rooms and short stairs between them. We had a little room all to ourselves. The food was good. Almost every place I've ever eaten in Oxford has been at least good and most better than that.
After we ate D wanted to do some shopping so I spent the time walking past the colleges on Queen Street. Brasenose College has frontage on Queen St. as does University College, Queen's College and the Oxford University Examination School. Every student takes their exams in the Examination School. It's easy to arrange because you only have one test per class and that's the final. The only question at finals time is which grade you will pass with. During the term your tutor has been working with you one-on-one to assure that you know the topic at least well enough to pass, if not excel. If you don't keep up they have you 'rusticated' or 'sent down'. In plain English they expel you from the university. It was in a lab at University College that Robert Boyle formulated Boyle's Law.
It was another great day in Oxford. Tomorrow we head for Southampton to get ready for the QM2 and the trip back to the states.
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