Oxford Revealed

Walking Tours of the City and University

I'm Guy Collins and I would be delighted to show you around Oxford and introduce you to the fascinating cast of characters that have shaped its development. My walks cover 1,000 years of history from the founding of the mediaeval colleges through the Civil War and the growth of the modern city and university.

I offer informative and entertaining walking tours of Oxford in English or French. My standard walk lasts 2 hours but can be adapted to your needs.

INTRODUCTION TO OXFORD

Join me on a two-hour walking tour through the heart of Oxford and its university as we explore the people and places that have defined its history. We'll see remains of the city's Saxon and Norman heritage, wander among the mediaeval colleges and view iconic university buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries such as the Sheldonian Theatre and Radcliffe Camera. Visits to colleges such as All Souls, Merton, Trinity and Magdalen can be arranged, and the walk will take you into the quadrangles, chapels and gardens that lie hidden from the street.

Monthly

Sundays 14:00

£25 / head

LITERARY OXFORD

Opened book and stacks of old books on wooden desk in old library. Ancient books historica

Oxford has been associated with many writers and poets down the centuries, from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde, Percy Shelley, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Graham Greene, J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, V.S. Naipaul, John Le Carre, Lewis Carroll and John Betjeman. Our walk will take us to the colleges where they studied and taught, the pubs where they drank and the lecture halls where they established their reputations.

Monthly

Fridays 14:00

£25 / head

MUSICAL OXFORD

Cello player or cellist performing in an orchestra background isolated with copy space.jpg

This tour explores Oxford's rich musical heritage, visiting chapels where choirs have been singing for hundreds of years. We will also visit an important display of historical musical instruments at the Ashmolean. The tour is timed to start or finish in such a way that participants can also attend a late morning concert, lunchtime recital or choral evensong, to experience at first hand the glory of the city's music.

Monthly

Sundays 14:00

£25 / head

ARCHITECTURAL OXFORD

Oxford's architectural heritage spans almost 1,000 years, from Saxon towers to mediaeval college buildings, Tudor dining halls and classical chapels. Sir Christopher Wren left his mark on the city with the Sheldonian Theatre and Tom Tower at Christ Church, while his pupil Nicholas Hawksmoor radically influenced the design of the Radcliffe Square area, including All Souls. Victorian architects like Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, William Butterfield and Thomas Graham Jackson restored and rebuilt colleges while in more recent years major architectural projects have been completed at public buildings such as the Weston Library and Ashmolean Museum, as well as the University Science Area and Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.

Monthly

14:00

From £15

CIVIL WAR OXFORD

Oxford was King Charles I's base during four years of the civil war, from 1642-1646. This tour explores the colleges and sites that royalists used during this most tumultuous period of English history, as well as Oxford Castle, which played such a pivotal role as a jail during the siege of the city.

Monthly

14:

From £15

TOLKIEN & C.S. LEWIS

This tour explores the Oxford of J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the giants of twentieth-century English literature, and C.S. Lewis, who was renowned a writer both of religious books and children's fiction, as well as acting as Tolkien's literary confidant and fellow founder of the Inkling literary circle. Their collaboration from the 1920s through to the post-war period resulted in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Lewis's Narnia stories, as well as many other works of associated fiction.

Monthly

14:00

From £15

POLITICAL OXFORD

Oxford had produced no fewer than 30 of the United Kingdom's prime ministers and is renowned as a training ground for politicians and those seeking to enter the higher ranks of government. The Bodleian Library holds the prime ministerial papers of as many as seven prime ministers, including Disraeli, Asquith and Macmillan while the Oxford Union has an international reputation as a hotbed of parliamentary-style debate. Many senior politicians have also gone on to run colleges and the university itself. The tour takes in the colleges where they studied and debated and when possible includes a visit to the Oxford Union itself.

Monthly

14:00

From £15

SCIENCE & OXFORD

Oxford has been attracted scientists since its early days, from Roger Bacon and Robert Hooke to astronomer Edmund Halley, mathematician Andrew Wiley, penicillin developer Howard Florey and Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dorothy Hodgkin. The tour takes in the major scientific sites of the university and relates them to how the various subjects have been taught and researched down the centuries.

Monthly

14:00

From £15

TUDOR & STUART OXFORD

The Tudor period was one of turmoil and violence for Oxford, but also of enormous creativity. Colleges such as Christ Church, St. John's, Trinity and Corpus Christi were founded, but the great abbey at Oseney was also destroyed as Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and broke with the Pope in Rome. Protestants and Catholics were burned at the stake and books from the university library were destroyed as a succession of monarchs sought to impose their version of the Reformation on the Church of England. Under the Stuarts Oxford suffered during the Civil War, but rebounded during the Restoration. The tour will visit the main sites of the period and take you inside colleges where possible.

Monthly

Wednesdays 14:00

£25 / head

MEDIEVAL OXFORD

The University of Oxford's origins date from the early medieval period, with the founding of the first colleges in the mid-13th century and the development of others through the 1300s and 1400s. Some of the original buildings remain and others have been transformed and renovated over the years. The tour will visit many of these older sites and show how the influence of monarchs, the Church and powerful benefactors shaped the development of the university.

Monthly

14:00

From £15

About Me

"Not all those who wander are lost"

J. R. R. Tolkien

I would be delighted to show you around Oxford and introduce you to the fascinating cast of characters that have shaped its development.

My walks cover 1,000 years of history from the founding of the mediaeval colleges through the Civil War and the growth of the modern city and university.

From King Charles I to George Frideric Handel, Oscar Wilde, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Albert Einstein and Boris Johnson, monarchs, writers, composers, artists, scientists and politicians have left their mark on this extraordinary city where they lived, studied, worked or visited.

Apart from general tours, I offer specialist visits on art, architecture, literature, music or politics and will adapt to your requirements.

Tours are available in English & French.

I am a Green Badge guide for Oxford, accredited with the Institute of Tourist Guiding.

I am a member of the Oxford Guild of Tour Guides, the professional association for the city.

HOW CAN TOURS BE BOOKED?

Select the tour you would like and check availability dates on the calendar. Then email me through the contact form and I will reply to you within 24 hours.
WHERE DO THEY START FROM?

Usually tours will start from the pavement in front of the Weston Library on Broad Street.
HOW OFTEN DO TOURS RUN?

Typically each tour will be offered to the public once a month, but private bookings can be made any time.
WHAT DO THEY COST?

The price of the tours is typically £15 per person, plus any entrance costs to colleges or other buildings we will visit. Individual tour costs are posted on the relevant pages.
WHAT SUBJECTS DO THEY COVER?

The tours cover history, literature, architecture, music, politics and religion, with specialist tours on various periods of history such as the Saxons and Normans, the mediaeval period, the Tudors, the Civil War and Georgian and Victorian Oxford. Twentieth-century Oxford is also offered.
CAN BOOKINGS BE CHANGED OR CANCELLED?

Yes, up to 24 hours before the start of the tour.

Oxford Revealed

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About Me

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