Today we finally went to Oxford! It's not too far from Sam's and, although it was raining, we had a pleasant journey.
After parking in the town centre we went to Oxford Castle, which has its origins in Saxon times (the tower is reputedly of Saxon origin). The original castle was built as a mound in Norman times and was used, as most castles were, as fortification. From the earliest times the castle was used as a prison, right up until 1996!
Our guide, Cheryl, took us up to the top of the tower - 101 steps spiralling around quite dizzily with two stops. First stop was a cell, probably about 3m x 5m and which held 60 prisoners!! There were no facilities whatsoever and the prisoners had to lie in their own waste. They were hardly fed because food and drink had to be provided by the gaolers at their own expense, so it's easy to imagine they would provide as little as possible.
The second stop on our way to the top was to see the huge water tank from which was drawn any water the prisoners did eventually get. Although this room now has a roof, hundreds of years ago it didn't and so the water would have been full of bird droppings, dead birds etc.
We finally reached the top of the tower and the view over Oxford was incredible (although it was very cold and windy).
We went back down the stairs to see the more "modern" cells, which were slightly smaller but which held only(!) about 20 prisoners. Again, they were fed at the whim and expense of the gaoler. Later on, in more recent times, there would be three prisoners in each of these smaller cells - a little better, but not much. The beds were made of iron with very thin mattresses. There were several interesting items to see and we also had our mug shots taken on a special machine. What was interesting was that, as usual in the past, the crimes for which prisoners were incarcerated were relatively minor - a 12 year-old boy stole a loaf of bread and was sentenced to 4 months, for example, although there were people imprisoned (and then executed) for murder and treason.
Lastly we went down to the crypt, reputedly the most haunted place in Oxford (although we didn't see any evidence, I hasten to add!). It was here that probably the very first higher education in the world was given to a select few, before the University itself was opened in the 1300s.
Outside the castle were various craft stalls, with people making things in the old way. A man was making a reed seat on a stool, and a woman was making a basket - all very labour-intensive. Ron was particularly interested in the fletcher/archer, who was demonstrating various types of arrows, one of which was capable of going through the metal of a car door, through the car and out of the other door!
We had some lunch and then wandered around the town - we particularly noticed now many young people there were, obviously most of them students, and also the number of bicycles, either ridden or parked. I have enjoyed seeing, in various towns, beautiful hanging baskets on buildings and lamposts - mostly petunias and lobelia but all very colourful. I took a photo of the ones in Oxford.
