Our Oxford: 50 Years, 50 Stories

Our Oxford: 50 Years, 50 Stories

1 May – 23 July*
Monday – Saturday | 10am – 5pm

In this exhibition, the Museum of Oxford have been working with Oxford’s communities to share fifty new stories about the amazing heritage of our city. Beneath its famous dreaming spires, Oxford is home to a rich tapestry of community networks. This exhibition is a celebration of all voices, bringing together diverse community stories, memories, and experiences to create a vibrant community-woven archive that represents Oxford in 2025.

* This exhibition will remain open beyond the festival dates, until 3 January 2026

Saturday 3 May | 2pm – 4pm
Walk: Oxford’s Rebels and Radicals

Oxford University is well known as a bastion of tradition, but how much do you know about the city’s radical past and present? Uncover our city’s secret radical and rebellious history – including ‘Town vs Gown’ riots, fiercely independent medieval women, and the locals who kicked fascists out of the city – on this alternative city walking tour led by local guide, Jess Worth.
Book tickets for this event here.

Wednesday 14 May | 1pm – 2pm
Talk: Lost in the Woods: The story of Slade Camp

Uncover the fascinating story of Slade Camp and the memories of those who built a community on the edge of Shotover in the aftermath of WWII. The neighbourhood flourished with the woods becoming a playground for the children who lived there. The last residents left the camp in the early 1970s, but the history of the place and people who lived there mirrors the development of modern-day Oxford and tells us much about social and cultural changes in the city. With local historian Maurice East.
Book tickets for this event here.

Saturday 17 May | 1pm – 2pm
Stories of Oxford tours: A History of Oxford in 6 Objects

Always wanted to know about our city? Come and listen to the Museum of Oxford guide take you from Saxon times to the present day, to explain our history, including the city origins, the city and the University, the English Civil War, literary Oxford, scientific Oxford and industrial Oxford.
Book tickets for this event here.

Wednesday 21 May | 2pm – 3.30pm
Walk: The Lost Shops of Oxford

Do you remember Woolworths, or Gills or Russell Acott? This tour will include: the ‘shambles’ of medieval Oxford; the lost Jewish quarter of St Aldates; the covered market; coaching inns; grand tearooms; the controversial destruction of a famous hotel; and much more!
Book tickets for this event here.

Saturday 31 May | 2pm – 3.30pm
Walk: Shakespeare and Oxford

What was Oxford like during Shakespeare’s lifetime? Led by historian Dr Elizabeth Sandis, this is a Shakespeare-themed journey through Elizabethan and Jacobean Oxford. The tour includes entrance to the Painted Room – an almost ‘secret’ gem in Oxford, which will be opened especially for us by the Oxford Preservation Trust.
Book tickets for this event here.

Wednesday 18 June | 2pm – 3.30pm
Walk: Pre-Raphaelite Adventures in Oxford

Step back in time to the Oxford of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a 19th-century artistic movement known for its veneration of detail, elegance, and aesthetics. You’ll see where Jane Burden, embroiderer and muse, once lived at ‘Hell’s Passage’; the Oxford Union, home to Pre-Raphaelite murals and a noteworthy debacle involving Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Magdalen College Tower and the story of a particular May Morning; amongst other anecdotes.
Book tickets for this event here.