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An illustration by local architect Paul Southouse. Also available as a tea towel
.......The Harcourt Arms has operated since at least 1869, but the present building dates from 1938. It is named after the wealthy and influential Harcourt family, of Nuneham Courtenay and Stanton Harcourt, but presumably especially Sir William Harcourt, Oxford MP from 1868 to 1880. The pub features in Katy Darby’s Victorian novel, The Whore’s Asylum, as ‘the sole vaguely reputable tavern in Jericho’. Some students researching an Oxford Guidebook in 1980 wrote: ‘They were not pleased to see us here. In fact, if looks could kill, there might have been no pub guide!’
Jericho Tavern, a hospitality venue has existed on this approximate site since the earliest known reference to the name ‘Jericho’, in 1668. Known at that time as Jericho House or Gardens, the current building dates from the 1860s, and has a proud tradition as a music venue. Oxford’s most famous musical export, Radiohead, played one of their first ever gigs here in 1987 where they were billed as ‘On a Friday’. Supergrass and many others including Mumford and Sons, The Falling Leaves and Foals have appeared at the Tavern since. An enlightened, but short-lived, women-only bar was trialled upstairs in 1984.
Jude the Obscure was originally called The Prince of Wales when opened in 1871. The name was changed in 1995, reflecting the local associations with Thomas Hardy’s novel.
The Old Bookbinders Ale House, formerly Bookbinders’ Arms, is referenced in Colin Dexter’s The Dead of Jericho (1981), but as The Printer’s Devil, a name given to apprentices in the printing trade, who often emerged from cleaning or adjusting the presses covered in black ink. The pub has been operating from at least 1869.
Rickety Press, formerly the Radcliffe Arms, was built 1872, named after the wealthy physician John Radcliffe (1652–1724), as too the nearby Infirmary and Observatory. The Victoria was built in 1839, much earlier than the other remaining public houses of Jericho, and no doubt benefited from the thirsty workers of the University Press and still more the convenient and dehydrating ironworks. The University Writers’ Club met here after World War Two, and the comedian Dudley Moore is said to have enjoyed playing the pub’s piano......
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This is an extract from Jericho Oxford, by Mark Davies (Author), John Mair (Author, Editor), Chris Andrews (Editor, Illustrator, Photographer), Valerie Petts (Illustrator), Paul Southouse (Illustrator), Philip Pullman (Foreword).
Published by Chris Andrews Publications. Available for £20 from local shops and pubs, as well as bookshops and online.
The foreword by Philip Pullman was originally written in 2006 for the Jericho Echo as The Bohemian Republic of Jericho.
In April 2022, Paul Southouse Architects, of Walton Street, with Mark Davies, curated an exhibition of Jericho history at Lynrace Spirit. They provide the backbone for this book. The originals are on display in the Jericho community centre in Canal Street.
Today, Lucy’s as a factory has gone, replaced by a rather attractive semi-gated community. This was home to P. D. James, the writer, and is today home to professionals and students alike. The buildings are on the site of the former Jericho ‘Eagle Iron & Brass Foundry’, later known as ‘Lucy’s’. A foundry operated here with certainty from 1825, and quite possibly, on a small scale for many decades previously.