OPT was saddened to hear the news of the death of Her Majesty the Queen. In order to show our respect and to honour the Queen’s contribution to our city’s heritage, the Trustees have agreed that...
Blogs
August - Oxford Opens its Doors
September weekends always seem a bit special after the summer holidays end and the term begins. This weekend Oxford will have a festival feel as the annual Oxford Open Doors returns to the City’s...
May - Oxford Preservation Trust is having a right royal time
At the beginning of this Platinum Jubilee year, a friend let me know about a two-acre field in Headington, sitting rather neglected and tired, which had recently come onto the open market. The...
March - Broad Meadow - The People's Quad
It has become an enjoyable annual event for me to join the Oxford Brookes urban design students for one of their sessions, to talk about Oxford’s streets, and in particular, Broad Street and the...
February - Archaeology, here, there, and everywhere
The discovery of the remains of St Mary’s College under the new student development for Brasenose College, off New Inn Hall Street, will no doubt draw crowds when it opens to the public on 19...
January - Solar Farms – coming soon to a field near you
Bar a pandemic, the major issue for our generation must be climate change, and with many new local politicians, blue has turned to green, and they are intent on action.
We welcome their...
November: Our proud little row of 17th century cottages is dwarfed by our neighbour at the Westgate
Our proud little row of 17th century cottages is dwarfed by our neighbour at the Westgate, the street much quieter than before, with fewer passers-by, other than the odd misled shopper who manages...
October: A Green Hill in the Centre of the City
I have two watercolours in my office, commissioned at the time of the redevelopment of the Oxford Castle Quarter nearly 20 years ago now. The first image was created to show what the area between...
August: Oxford Open Doors - a window onto real Oxford
A friend recently sent me a link to an article on a recently published book ‘Real Oxford’ and as I love an ‘Oxford’ book I headed to Blackwell’s for my copy. This is a very personal book and the...
July: Summer Gardens at Oxford
Gardens have been a constant in my life over the past month, not least as we recently hosted a wedding in our garden. The hours of planning and planting all came together on time to create the...
June: New housing deserves the very best of planning
For most people, remembering a time before the pandemic conjures up pictures of parties, people and a freedom to go where you please, a lost world, but one which will eventually return. I would...
May: A picture worth a thousand words
The Castle celebrates its 950th birthday this year 1071-2021 and whilst we might have delayed a bit, we are not going to miss out. We are getting everything ready and perfect for the Autumn...
April: Roadmap by any other name
In a city known across the world for its dictionary, and which even has its own Oxford comma, the use of words as a subject of conversation is hardly news. Over the past twelve months we have...
March: A glorious Summer ahead
Reinventing our Public Spaces in one of the best streets in Europe
I need to be in OPTs offices in the centre of town, on what unexpectedly turns into the most beautiful...
February: Oxford in a Box
When I begin a book I have a habit of turning to the acknowledgements page. I like to think about how a book has come about, who encouraged it, helped with the research, who was trusted to read...
December: Oxford's Changing Landscape
The fun in the run up to Christmas last year was somewhat curtailed for a different reason as I sat in in Osney Mead in the King’s Centre a converted industrial unit, too ugly for Oxford, a single...
October: Green spaces for all, forever
“Oxford is growing. Its growth may be guided but should not be grudged. The work of the Trust is not to hamper Oxford but to help it… Oxford is not a museum piece. It is a living thing...
September: Oxford Open Doors
With clear blue skies, and without the crowds, Oxford Open Doors 2020 was a great success. Over the...
August: Where will the tourists go?
It’s Tuesday lunchtime, and I am enjoying lunch in a friendly bubble at the Old Bank, with thanks to Dishy Rishy. We could have gone...
July: Oxford Meadows
As things ease, I am pleased to accept an invitation to meet with much-missed friends who live in South Hinksey, able to be outside to enjoy a summer’s evening, heading over at the end of a day in...
June: Oxford gets back to work
I have returned to the office and thinking forward as the entries come in for this year’s Oxford Preservation Trust ...
May: Oxford’s empty streets are still alive
Working from home is not an easy fit at OPT when we need to have a sense of what is happening on the ground in and around the city, keeping our eyes and ears open, meeting and talking with people...
April: From Shakespeare to South Park - an OPT legacy lives on
Thursday 23 April is Shakespeare’s Birthday, and we should gather in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour, surrounded by robed Oxford dignitaries across town and gown, ready to parade from the Town Hall to...
March: Oxford and your Health & Wellbeing
Our glorious City is a jewel in a sea of green, where town meets country, with its fingers of green running into and through it. All is heightened by this glorious weather, signs of spring with...
February: The Covered Market - A Place for Everyone
During the dark evenings of Winter, indoors is the only place to be and for me that means the theatre.
January: Our health and wellbeing, from the personal to the planet
It’s that time of year when, however cold, I like to be out of doors, something shared by our wonderful band of land volunteers who have joined us at the Wolvercote Lakes, Jarn Wild Garden and the...
December: Catching Oxford's Winter afternoon Light…
We wanted snow, not rain, at Christmas, pelting down to try to dampen our moods as well as our boots, with no time to stop and chat, as we dash from door to door huddled beneath umbrellas. And...
November: An ever-changing Oxford
Strolling through the City streets, there is never a moment when a building isn’t changing, whether it is adding something into, or onto, the existing, or taking that away to make space for...
October: On foot or up high
I led a group of Historic England professionals from across the UK around Oxford recently, and that might not suggest the Westgate as the obvious ‘go to’ for me as Director of Oxford Preservation...
September: Oxford Open Doors - Reflections
As I begin to write, we are halfway through the Oxford Open Doors weekend and I can report at first hand the extraordinary numbers that, once again, have come to get behind closed doors to enjoy ...
August: Oxford Open Doors - Your Invitation to Explore the City
The lamppost banners are up, and last week saw boxfuls of the brochures arrive at the OPT office, ready to be distributed across the City and County, to libraries and...
July: Oxford Castle – a place with heritage and tourism at its heart
I have been delighted to attend two book launches which have included the Oxford Castle redevelopment in their pages of success stories. ...
June: Water Fountains – a new Oxford heritage
As the crowds gathered at Grandpont, close to the site of Oxford’s first station, in order to celebrate the coming of the railway to Oxford 175 years ago, the...
May: An Annual Trip to a Splendid Chapel
Last Sunday afternoon I went to sung Evensong in All Saints Chapel in Nuneham Park which is no longer in use but has a service once a year with the Dorchester...
April: The Language of Flowers at Shakespeare’s Painted Room
First the nodding daffodils climbing the sides of the Castle Mound, Oxford’s green lookout watching over the city, next the snakeshead fritillaries, fragile and intricate, abundant, but each...
March: A Plan for Broad Street
Experience Oxfordshire, Oxford’s excellent and expert tourism leaders, recently led a discussion on how town works with gown, attracting a mixed audience to reflect this. It was here...
February: Oxford Trees
The delicate pale pink blossom on the flowering plum outside my window lifts my spirits each morning on these winter days, now lasting too long as I await Spring knocking at the door. Yet this...
January: Design or no design?
Last year ended with the City Council’s Oxford Local Plan consultation guiding its development until 2036. January saw the continuation of Cherwell District’s plans which could see Oxford join up...
December: Shop Local this Christmas
Christmas shopping starts at the Covered Market and with the independent shops in the streets around the market from Broad Street, along the Turl, into the High and up to King Edward Street. ...
November: Oxford - The best of the old and the best of the new
With standing room only at this year’s OPT Awards 2018, which are intended to be all about the contribution to Oxford, to its public buildings, our streets and green spaces, I turn my thoughts on...
October: Can we have it all? The Oxford Local Plan
Oxford is a place of aspiration and dreams, and so to the draft Oxford Local Plan, which is out for public consultation 1 November – 13 December is important. It gives a vision...
September: Oxford & tourism – who gains?
When people ask about Oxford Open Doors I will often say it’s ‘your chance to be a tourist in your own city’ and as we head for the highest guest figures yet, at well over 30,000, we will...
July 2018: The LMS Swingbridge
As we all await news of the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway and the effect it will have on Oxford, whether north, south, east or west, I am drawn to earlier parallels and transport pressures from...
June 2018: Connecting people with nature
Too sunny to stay underground I get out at Green Park tube station and walk across London’s Royal Parks to Westminster for my meeting, reflecting on how many hundreds of people of all ages...
May 2018: Oxford Bridges in Context ...
Last week, a knock on the door of the OPT office in Turn Again Lane brought with it a huge parcel and a stunning architectural drawing of the Carfax Conduit, just too big to house elsewhere....
March 2018: Dreaming spires not Oxford Towers
When the snow came, many headed for the hills, to South Park or Boars Hill to toboggan and enjoy the Oxford views, perhaps taking them for granted, surviving across the years despite development...
Nov 2017: What get’s us out of bed in the morning?
Are we doing the best we can? Are we making a difference? Each day we ask ourselves if we are being true to the original vision of OPT and stop to think about what we are trying to achieve. ...
Oct 2017: Autumn in the OPT offices
‘Keeping the best of the old, and encouraging the best of the new’
40 in 40 – celebrating 40 years of the Oxford Preservation Trust Awards
From...
Getting Back to business after another success at this year’s Oxford Open Doors
We were delighted to see so many local people join us for our Oxford Open Doors weekend 9/10 September, when hidden spaces opened their doors to invite you in. 25,000 + people came and with over...
Hidden Oxford revealed through Oxford Open Doors!
If you are not yet a member of Oxford Preservation Trust (OPT), then there is no better time to join than now! This month sees the build up to the highlight of...
A jewel in a sea of green. July 2017 blog.
The OPT team were down at Hinksey Meadow recently celebrating National Meadows Day, enjoying the sunshine and sharing and celebrating in this wonderful piece of meadowland which people tell us has...
A jewel in a sea of green. June Blog.
Oxford Preservation Trust are passionate about protecting Oxford’s extraordinary and wonderful past and guiding its exciting future. Since 1927 we’ve been the custodians of land and buildings with...