Events and Excursions

Excursions
Our first excursion of the year will be in April with a guided tour of the Examination Halls in Oxford. This will be followed by a trip to Harcourt Hill with Malcolm Graham in May, in June there will be a tour of Chipping Norton with Sean Callery and a look at two 'St Peter' chapels with Julian Munby, and in July a walk around the St Thomas area of Oxford with Liz Woolley. In August Alastair Lack will being taking us around Woodstock, and Beverley and Michael Lear will be discussing trees and gardens in Oxford. Our final excursion of the season will be to Jericho where Geoffrey Tyack will lead a walk. If you have any queries, please contact Holly Kilpatrick, Excursions Organiser



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Outings are usually guided walks within public open space with, in a few cases, access into a church or other public building, and this element may have to be omitted if access is not available at the time. The number of places for each outing is limited but we will keep a reserve list in case of cancellations.

All excursions are free of charge to members; refreshments, if offered, will be paid for by the member usually on the day. Each member must make a separate booking as we have a limited number of places for each excursion. If a member would like to bring a friend, please give the friend's name but use the member's email address so we can allocate the booking correctly.

These excursions are only for OAHS members but if you would like to join OAHS, please see our Joining Details Page

To see any bookings you have already made, please log in to view your membership details and scroll down to Event Bookings where you can see all bookings you have made.

If you need to cancel, please email

Confirmation and joining details will be sent by email. Please watch for announcements on the website, and make sure that we have your email address - you can check the details we hold for you by logging in. There will not be any paper booking forms.

If you have any queries please contact the Excursion Secretary:

Disability Policy
Members with limited mobility must contact the Excursions Secretary, email: excursions@oahs.org.uk) before booking an excursion to discuss whether special access arrangements can be made to buildings or locations. The Society will do its best to accommodate special needs, but reserves the right to refuse access to its events where, in the judgement of the Committee, the safety of an individual or of other participants is put at risk.

Guided tour of Examination Schools


Date: 29 April 2026
Time: 12 noon
Leader: James Tibbert
Location: Examination Schools, Oxford
Cost: Free
No of Places: 30
Closing Date for Bookings: 25 April 2026


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It is a rare treat to be given a guided tour of Thomas Jackson’s famous Grade 11 High Street building, erected between 1876 and 1882. It’s main purpose remains the housing of the university’s examinations but it is also used as a conference centre. However, during the two World Wars its purpose was very different and much evidence still remains of this aspect of it’s history. Our tour guide will be administrator, James Tibbert and the duration will be one hour.
Image: Steve Cadman / CC BY-SA 2.0


Guided tour of Harcourt Hill


Date: 11 May 2026
Time: 14.15
Leader: Malcolm Graham
Location: Harcourt Hill
Cost: Free
No of Places: 20
Closing Date for Bookings: 07 May 2026


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This walk takes in Raleigh Park, Vernon Avenue, Harcourt Field and a footpath that leads round to the track beyond Harcourt Hill. Inevitably this excursion involves a hill climb and some rough terrain and there is a chance of mud and brambles. Please dress accordingly. 2026 is the centenary of the opening of Raleigh Park so this walk will celebrate that.

The walk will commence at the 4B bus stop in Westminster Way opposite Raleigh Park Road and currently there is a bus from Osney which arrives at the bus stop at 2:10pm. There is also some legal parking in nearby streets.
Image: Raleigh Park, Andy Gunn, BBOWT


Tour of Chipping Norton


Date: 05 June 2026
Time: 11.00
Leader: Sean Callery
Location: Chipping Norton
Cost: Free
No of Places: 18
Closing Date for Bookings: 01 June 2026


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“Chippy” as locals call it, was born at the foot of the valley as a Saxon settlement. The Normans built a fortification whose earthworks (the bailey) were once topped by a wooden castle (the motte.) They then started a market on the hill above from 1223 and the town climbed upwards to serve it. Join Blue Badge guide, Sean Callery for a one and a half hour walking tour of this interesting Cotswolds town.

Buses to and from Chipping Norton travel regularly from Oxford Station via Summertown.

Image: Simon Burchell CC BY-SA 2.0


St Peter's Chapels


Date: 30 June 2026
Time:
Leader: Julian Munby
Location: Oxford
Cost: Free
No of Places: 18
Closing Date for Bookings: 25 June 2026


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Tour of the two St Peter's Chapels in Oxford (St Peter’s College Chapel and the Library of St Edmund Hall College, formerly the Church of St Peter in the East).

Full information of this excursion with Julian Munby is yet to be confirmed.

Image: St Peter in the East Seh1957 CC BY-SA 2.0


Guided tour of St Thomas area


Date: 23 July 2026
Time: 11.00
Leader: Liz Woolley
Location: St Thomas, Oxford
Cost: Free
No of Places: 20
Closing Date for Bookings: 18 June 2026


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"A tough but full-blooded area": The parish of St Thomas the Martyr, West Oxford

A two-hour hour guided walk around one of the most ancient and historic areas of the city with local historian, Liz Woolley. St Thomas's was among Oxford's earliest suburbs, first inhabited in Saxon times. In the twelfth century it stood on the direct route between the castle at the west gate of the city, and the great Augustinian Abbey of Osney (or Oseney) In later centuries St Thomas’s was home to Oxford’s brewing industry, to its boating and barge communities, and to those who built the railways. It had a reputation as one of the most lively – some might say disreputable – parishes of the city.

In the twentieth century St Thomas's was cleared, together with neighbouring St Ebbe's, and its close-knit community dispersed. However, in recent years this often overlooked area has found itself at the centre of Oxford’s ambitious West End Development scheme. Learn more about this fascinating parish, about the people who made it so rich both culturally and socially, and about the historic buildings which still survive here. The walk includes (by arrangement) a visit to St Thomas’s church, which is usually locked.
Image: Liz Woolley


Tour of Historic Woodstock


Date: 04 August 2026
Time: 13.45
Leader: Alastair Lack
Location: Woodstock
Cost: Free
No of Places: 18
Closing Date for Bookings: 02 July 2026


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Local historian, Alastair Lack will guide a 90 minute circular walk to include the museum garden, the Church of St Mary Magdalene and the Woodstock entrance to the former glove factory before turning into the Market Place for the fine Town Hall and the celebrated Bear Hotel. If time permits we might also view the almshouses founded by Sarah Churchill and the former Woodstock Station opposite. Buses run regularly into the town from Oxford and there is a paid car park south of the town centre.

Image: John Shortland


Gardens and trees walk in Oxford


Date: 08 August 2026
Time: 16.15
Leader: Beverley and Michael Lear
Location: Oxford
Cost: Free
No of Places: 20
Closing Date for Bookings: 03 August 2026


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Michael and Beverley Lear have over 40 years experience working on historic tree collections throughout the UK. Following on from last year's OAHS presentation at OxPast, in this tour they will guide you from St Giles to Park Town popping into University Parks en-route. Combining a knowledge of plant introduction, tree planting fashions, and tree growth, they will discuss the significance of trees in the urban landscape of central-north Oxford both past and present. With the trees before you and with historic images in hand, they will consider how old some of these trees are, and demonstrate that the planting of specific types of trees played an integral role in establishing the character and status of the North Oxford Victorian Suburb. This will be a slow walking tour with lots of stops and starts. It will finish back in St Giles with the possibility of a concluding chat in the Lamb & Flag.

Image: Lear Associates


A Jericho Walk


Date: 03 September 2026
Time: 16.30
Leader: Geoffrey Tyack
Location: Jericho, Oxford
Cost: Free
No of Places: 20
Closing Date for Bookings: 31 August 2026


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A late afternoon tour of the Jericho area of Oxford with our President, Geoffrey Tyack. Home to the Oxford University Press, Worcester College, St Paul's Church and the unusual Italianate Church of St Barnabas, Jericho nearly met the same fate as St Ebbes, which was demolished in the 1970s and 1980s. However, it was saved and is now a lively and vibrant suburb with delightful mixed architecture, independent shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes. We will end the walk with a drink in one of the many pubs (members will need to pay for their own drinks).
Image: Iain Tullis CC BY-SA 2.0