Oxford’s Grisly Past: The Execution and Lost Head of George Napier

Throughout the English Reformation and its aftermath, Oxford became host to the execution of numerous religious martyrs – both Catholic and Protestant. It was famously the site where Thomas Crammer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was burnt at the stake during the reign of Queen Mary I. Oxford Castle would become the final destination for some of these martyrs, including a Catholic by the name of George Napier in 1610.

Napier’s Story

George Napier had been a thorn in the side of the Protestant authorities since the 1560s, having been expelled from Corpus Christi College for supporting the nomination of a Catholic President for the college against the wishes of Queen Elizabeth I. After being imprisoned in London and released in the 1590s, he went to the English College in Douai, France, the same institution where Roland Jenks ended up after his brutal punishment and infamous curse in Oxford, too. You can read more about Roland Jenks’ story here.

Now trained as a priest, Napier would return to England in 1603 as part of an effort to promote Catholicism, only to be arrested in 1610 after being found carrying two consecrated hosts. Convicted under the Jesuits Act of 1584, Napier was initially to be banished from England. However, after refusing to take an oath denouncing the Pope, Napier was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered – a penalty reserved for those who had committed high treason.

Death, humiliation, and scattered limbs

The site of his death would have been just outside where D-Wing stands today, near the prison courtyard. His quartered body was placed at each of the city gates, and his head was set up at Tom Gateway, one of the entrances into Christchurch College. This practice was done both as a final act of humiliation and to deter any potential criminals. His family were able to reclaim his body though. Eventually, Napier would be buried in Sanford Manor, a house in London which had once been the site of a Templar Chapel.

His head, however, was never reclaimed by the family, and its fate remains unknown to this day. Heads of traitors were often deliberately preserved and displayed for a very long time after execution. Oliver Cromwell’s head was displayed on London Bridge for almost thirty years, so it’s not unlikely that Napier’s head decorated Tom Gateway all the way up until the English Civil War. Perhaps then it was removed as Charles I made Christchurch his royal residence? Perhaps it had been stolen long before by drunken students or the local townspeople. Or perhaps it was recovered by his family in the end? Or maybe it was unceremoniously dumped in a rubbish pile after rotting for years in the Gateway.

Where is George Napier’s head now?

Regardless of its true fate, the mystery of Napier’s head has continued to fascinate historians and the public alike. Sightings of a headless ghost around the town have often been said to be Napier, wandering and searching to get his head back.

You can hear more about the Oxford ghost story of George Napier, including precisely how someone is hung, drawn and quartered, on our Spooky Tours starting in October!

Author: Frederick Hudson, 2025

References

John Bannerman Wainewright, ‘Ven. George Napper’ in Charles G. Herbermann et al. (eds), The Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. 10, (New York, 1913).

Mark Davies, Stories of Oxford Castle: From Dungeon to Dunghill, (Towpath, 2005).