Patrick Comerford
Dead Man’s Walk (or Deadman’s Walk) is a footpath that runs east–west in central Oxford, immediately to the south of Merton College and just outside the old city wall, with Corpus Christi College at the west end.
I had walked the length of Broad Walk and Dead Man’s Walk shortly before Christmas, beginning at Christ Church, and ending up at the TS Eliot Theatre at Merton College, Oxford, Rose Lane Gardens, and the site of Oxford’s mediaeval Jewish cemetery.
Dead Man’s Walk has its unusual name because it connected the Jewish quarter around Blue Boar Street in Oxford with the Jewish cemetery just outside the East Gate. This was the route for Jewish funeral corteges in the 12th and 13th century, and its layout and direction kept Jewish funerals outside the boundaries of the city.
Although Oxford’s mediaeval Jewish population was small, it was important, and its presence is an indication of the importance of Oxford in the Norman and Angevin eras, both its economic importance and its connectedness with the wider, cross-channel world of high politics.
That mediaeval Jewish presence in Oxford is also a reminder that by 12th century standards Oxford was a cosmopolitan place with diverse languages and communities.
To the north Dead Man’s Walk, Grove Walk connects Dead Man’s Walk with Merton Street through a gateway. Immediately to the south is Merton Field with Merton Walk connecting to the wide tree-lined Broad Walk, which runs parallel with Dead Man’s Walk. Beyond that is Christ Church Meadow.
Broad Walk was laid out in mid-17th century, using material dug out to lower the height of Tom Quad inside Christ Church. It became a relatively narrow avenue of elm trees, enjoyed as a promenade by members of the college and city.
When the trees along Broad Walk died in the 1970s as a result of Dutch Elm Disease, the walk was replanted as a wider pathway with alternating London and Oriental Planes. This was decorative, but it meant the original avenue character of the area was partly lost. As a result, there is a long-term plan to restore the narrow elm avenue using modern disease-resistant elm trees.
The open area in front of the Meadow Building was once part of the avenue, and then included trees planted by Dean Liddell’s family (including Alice) and members of the Danish royal family.
Merton Field was home in the 17th century to timber yards and victualling houses. But by the late 19th century it became a playing field for Christ Church Cathedral School. Apart from a brief spell as allotments in World War I, the field has continued to be used by the school ever since.
The walkway itself appears to be the route of mediaeval Jewish funeral processions. A procession would begin at the synagogue, near to where Tom Tower now stands.
From there, the Jewish funeral would make its way towards the Jewish burial ground, which is now the site of the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, which was established in 1621 and is Britain’s oldest botanic garden.
The bastion at the sharp bend in Deadman’s Walk in Christ Church Meadow marks the point where the eastern wall of the town met the southern wall. The last section of the east wall is no more, but the south wall gets off to a good start, running westwards and marking the boundary of Corpus Christi College.
A section of the south wall once had an unnamed gate and then did a short detour to the south to include St Frideswide’s Priory. The wall would then have returned to its original line and meeting St Aldate’s opposite Brewer Street. When Christ Church was founded in 1546 it straddled the wall, and the part that remains is in a private part of the college and cannot be seen.
A plaque near the east end of Dead Man’s Walk marks the first hot air balloon ascent in Britain. James Sadler (1753-1828) ascended from Merton Field on 4 October 1784, to a height of 3,600 ft above the landscape of Oxfordshire, and landed safely six miles away in Woodeaton.
Colonel Francis Windebank, a royalist colonel, was executed by firing squad in 1645 against the length of town wall that borders Merton College. He had been court-martialled and shot for failing to defend Bletchingdon Park, near Oxford.
His execution has given rise to stories that his ghost has been seen walking along Dead Man’s Walk. But, it is said, his ghost is only seen from the knees up – because the ground level of the walk has been raised over almost four centuries.
Dead Man’s Walk remains a reminder of Jewish life and death in mediaeval Oxford before all Jews were expelled from England in 1290. There are few remaining signs of 12th and 13th century Jewish life in Oxford, apart from plaques on the wall of the Town Hall.
But, apart from Dead Man’s Walk, there are other signs of Jewish death in 12th and 13th century in Oxford, including memorial stones in the Rose Garden and the entrance to the University Botanic Gardens, and in Magdalen College. They are difficult to see unless you look carefully for them, and I shall return again to describe them another week.
Shabat Shalom
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