Oxford's History of Execution and Murder: A Self-Guided Tour

Overview

On this self-guided walking tour, you'll uncover centuries of executions, riots, and murders that shaped this seemingly genteel city. You'll also hear how religious persecution, medieval street violence, and courtroom curses left their mark on streets still walked today. The tour starts close to where three Protestant bishops – Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer – were burned at the stake on the orders of Queen Mary I. You'll pass the History of Science Museum, now on the site of the world's first public museum, where fresh corpses from the town gallows were once delivered for dissection. Winding through Brasenose Lane and along Cornmarket Street, you'll hear about a fatal midnight brawl between tailors and drapers, the city's extraordinary medieval murder rate, and the 1355 St Scholastica's Day Riot, which lasted three days and left dozens dead. The tour ends at Oxford Castle, where a condemned servant named Anne Greene was hanged in 1650 – and somehow survived.