Explore an Oxford suburb of extraordinary diversity – artistic, literary, religious and architectural – with local historian, former Jericho canalboat resident and Chair of the Jericho Living Heritage Trust, Mark Davies.

This 90-minute tour will reveal the transformation over 200 years of the open fields known as ‘Twentiacre’ and Great & Little Bear Meadows into the compact streets of today. Bordered by the Oxford University Press and the ironworks known as Lucy’s, plus the Oxford Canal, Jericho is a neighbourhood like no other.

Jericho has been the inspiration authors such as: Thomas Hardy, Sir John Betjeman, Colin Dexter (creator of ‘Inspector Morse’), and Sir Philip Pullman; it has nurtured the fledging Pre-Raphaelite art movement; it has provided a musical stepping stone for, most notably, Radiohead; and it has accommodated a rich mix of artisanal trades and services.

As part of the tour, you will see: the original parish church and its High Anglican successor, the remarkable (and in some respects controversial) St Barnabas’ Church; the University Press; St Sepulchre’s Cemetery, the resting place of Oxford citizens both famous and humble; an 18th-century meteorological station; the sites of the former ironworks, a boatbuilding yard and an ancient well in Walton Manor; the Oxford Canal, and some of the pubs – current or former – for which Jericho was once infamous, one of which gave the suburb its name.

Tickets cost £15 and are available to purchase online or at the Museum shop.

Please note that the meeting point for this walk is outside the Blavatnik School of Government, 120 Walton Street, OX2 6GG. Please arrive 5 minutes before the start of the walk and check with the guide.