Lecture – Nine Centuries of Stories of Oxford Castle

Taking place at Magdalen College Auditorium, 11am. Non-members welcome!

Local historian, guide and author Mark Davies has researched the varied history of Oxford Castle, founded in 1071, which played an immediate role in the struggle for the throne between the Empress Matilda and King Stephen.

It is not until the 17th and 18th centuries that the exploits of some of its more devious, daring, deluded or defamed prisoners can be told in any detail. From the Civil War onwards, these tales of hard labour, transportation, escape and execution reveal the extremes of human depravity and ingenuity – not forgetting the gaolers! Most striking among the latter is Daniel ‘Damnable’ Harris, also an engineer, builder, artist and architect, who exemplified a more enlightened late-18th century attitude to the treatment of prisoners, and whose legacy is with us still.