Parson’s Pleasure
Parson's Pleasure was a bathing place on the River Cherwell in the south-east corner of the University Parks. It closed in 1991.
Oxford citizens also used to bathe there, but in the later nineteenth century it appears to have been used primarily by members of the University, who were then all male and freely bathed in the nude. (Women were allowed to study and take examinations at the University of Oxford from the late 1870s, but were not admitted to degrees until 1920, and they had to wait until 1934 for Dame's Delight nearby to be opened for their use: this closed earlier, in 1970.)
Seventeenth century
In the seventeenth century this bathing place appears to have been known as Patin's Pleasure or Patten's Pleasure. Anthony Wood in his diaries records three drownings there:
- Monday 18 June 1666 (Vol. ii, 80)
“[Oliver] Craven, B.A. of Trinity Coll. drowned at Patten's Pleasure; and was buried in Magd. parish church.”
The parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church names him as “Sir Craven”, buried in the south isle of the church on 19 June, “vir optimae spei”; Alumni Oxonienses has Oliver Craven incorporated B.A. from Christ's College, Cambridge on 3 May 1666 - Wednesday 10 July 1689 (Vol. iii, 36)
“A grave dug in Brasenose Coll. cloister for a young man [John Skeate] of that house drown'd at Patin's Pleasure the day before – the only son of a Minister.”
According to Alumni Oxonienses John Skeate, the son of the cleric John Skeate senior of Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, was matriculated by Brasenose College on 17 June 1687 at the age of 16, drowned on 8 July 1689, and was buried on the 10th in the college chapel - Saturday 20 August 1692 (Vol. iii, 399)
“Elizabeth Simons [substituted for Eliz. Dimock], servant maid to … bedmaker of Wadham College drown'd herself at Patten's pleasure neare New Park. She was got with child by [Samson Vallack], M.A. and commoner of Wadham College, who now lives at Plymouth where he was borne. The maid was search'd and found to be with child; and therefore being turned away and knew not what to doe, drowned her selfe.”
No church burial record for Elizabeth: as a suicide, she is likely to have been buried at night at a crossroads
According to Alumni Oxonienses Samson Vallack, the son of John, a gentleman of Plymouth, had been matriculated by Wadham College at the age of 13 on 3 November 1685: he obtained his B.A. in 1689, his M.A. in 1692, and his B.Med. in 1701
Parson's Pleasure was also known as Loggerhead. On 3 January 1857 a forthcoming auction announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal included Holywell Mill, the King's Mill, and “All that FREEHOLD FISHERY of the River Cherwell, commencing at Pond Head (or Logger Head), and extending up the river to a point or place known as New Park Corner”.
In the 1860s Magdalen College School held its swimming matches at Loggerhaead.
This area became accessible to Marston in the 1860s, as shown in the following report published in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 18 February 1865 of a communication from the Vice-Chancellor of the University:
The University have, at a very considerable expence, purchased additional land, and formed an entirely new Walk from the south-east corner of the old Parks, with bridges across the two branches of the Cherwell to King's Mill adjoining the Marston Road. It will be proposed by the Council to Convocation to throw open this Walk to the public during the day time – A power being reserved of closing the Walks during the night for the interests both of the University and City.
No time was wasted: by 11 March it was reported that the walk was almost ready, and that “numbers of people have already availed themselves of the additional promenade thus provided by the University”.
Rudyard Kipling in Plain Tales from the Hills (1891) wrote that McIntosh Jellaludin when drunk said, “I'm a bit screwed, but a dip in Loggerhead will put me right again." Kipling then added that Loggerhead was close to Mesopotamia and six thousand miles away from where they were in Central Asia.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 25 February 1899 mentions that the old name for Parson’s Pleasure was “Ne Plus Ultra”.
Right: This postcard was produced by George Davis of 7 Turl Street. It is postmarked 17 July 1937, and the sender has written on the back: “Woman in charge of Ferry at Parsons’ Pleasure”. In fact, however, that ferry had been replaced by a wooden bridge twelve years earlier in 1925.
See also:
- Wikipedia: Parson's Pleasure
- Queer Oxford: Parson's Pleasure
