Category: history

Former Castle & Prison Guide Becca Colmer investigates the unpleasant history of the ducking stool.

For almost 1000 years, our Castle mound has loomed over the Oxford skyline, a monument to our Norman roots. However, the castle mound has another name; Hangman’s Hill, a much more disturbing label….

Oxford Castle & Prison has been home to many prisoners over the centuries among them, Helen Craggs a teacher who was to become a Suffragette seeking women’s suffrage. Read about here story here.

Discover how the Victorians used to punish their prisoners and how Oxford Castle & Prison has changed over the years.

A look back on the force, in the words of our very own tour guide, Paul Kyberd…

Oxford Prison eventually closed its doors as a prison in 1996 and remained closed until 2006 when it opened up as a hotel and attraction. In his latest post, former Oxford Police Detective Paul Kyberd shares an aerial view of the prison he remembers…

The old county court in Oxford is the site of one of the most infamous events in the castle’s history. In the latest edition of our ‘On the Record’ blog series, Paul Kyberd reminisces about his experiences in Oxford’s courthouses in his role as an Oxfordshire Police Detective!

Current tour guide and former police detective Paul Kyberd shares another of his memorable stories from his work for Oxfordshire Constabulary. In this blog, Paul shares a particularly memorable time when the Queen visited Oxford.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword receives its UK premiere in London’s Leicester Square this evening. But where did the legends of King Arthur really begin? Geoffrey of Monmouth is known to be the first to write down the legends of King Arthur and he did so right here at Oxford Castle!

Paul Kyberd, one of our fantastic tour guides, has a much longer association with the castle prison than just his work with the visitor attraction. Paul worked for over 30 years for the police and has a variety of interesting and captivating tales about his time in the police force and his many dealings with HMP Oxford Castle…

Matilda – Lady of the English
Queen of Ice and Snow

With so much emphasis placed upon Valentines Day across the world, it prompts the question: why?

Don’t be saddened by the fact that Christmas is over and New Year’s Eve has passed, there is still an opportunity for you to have a party and indulge in festive treats: Twelfth Night and Epiphany are upon us!

Oxford Castle has witnessed many Christmases and with December 25^th fast approaching we’ve taken a look at what those Christmases might have been like. If you want to find out even more about this, come to one of our special Christmas at the Castle tours, running from November 26^th to December 18th!

I think it’s fair to say that autumn has arrived and, as the nights start drawing in and the air grows crisper, winter is on its way. This change of the seasons signals that it must be time for us to don our woollies and wellies and stand around a big fire to remember when the King and the entirety of Parliament almost met their demise.

What better time, then, to have a look at the tradition of Bonfire Night?

So you’ve heard all week about the ghostly experiences of our tour guides as they explore the castle and just as we were preparing to wrap up our blog series, the ghosts of Oxford Castle struck again…

We recently held a competition on our Facebook page, asking for our guests to send in their best ghost stories and paranormal experiences at Oxford Castle. The winning story certainly sent chills down our spine…

We’ve been sharing ghost stories from our team all week, which we think shows just how haunted our 1000 year old buildings are!

In the third installment of our Ghosts of Oxford Castle series, we spoke to Gypsy Boswell about her most haunted experience…

Oxford has a lot to offer when it comes to ghosts so we’ve collected a few stories to whet your appetite…

As September 7th marks the twenty year anniversary of Oxford Prison’s closure, it seems only right that we take a look back at its history…