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259:(US, 1970) describes the author's regular visits to Parson's Pleasure, "the most enchanting spot in Oxford", during his time as an undergraduate. He writes that it was usual for one punt per afternoon to pass, in which two girls "scarlet-faced and staring straight before them, would meander by. They did it on purpose, of course. No one paid them the slightest attention. Absolute disdain was the code of behavior."
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that a bootmaker called Samuel
Hounslow, a champion swimmer of Oxford was in the vicinity, and dived in and rescued both men. Some of the regular users of Parson's Pleasure collected funds and purchased a side of bacon for Hounslow, a married man with five children, who had rescued two other swimmers in that vicinity within the previous five months.
140:, Mister G. V. Cox, the University coroner, said that during the previous fifty years there had been 46 inquests held in the University, of which number 30 were accidents from boats. The University were urged to adopt some stringent rules to prevent young men who could not swim going in boats. It was reported that at
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were saved from potential embarrassment by being directed to a path that skirted the area behind a high corrugated iron fence. If a pretext was needed, the ladies could be told that the men needed to haul the punt over "the rollers"—a track made of concrete with metal rollers—next to the nearby weir.
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On
Wednesday 24 July 1844 three friends, two of them visitors to Oxford, went to Parson's Pleasure to swim. The first to enter the water got into some difficulty and his friend jumped in to save him, but the rescuer was overcome by the struggles of his friend and they both went under. It so happened
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wrote that 'considered physically as a bathing place and not as a temple. Parson's
Pleasure was mediocre. Slugs in the dressing hutches, no life in the water, no sun to stand in when drying, the chill of a morgue over the whole place on all but the most fervent dog days. And yet a grave part of
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there had not been a single fatal boating accident since the school introduced a system that made it compulsory for boys to have passed a swimming certificate before being allowed out in boats. Samuel
Hounslow's swimming classes at Parson Pleasure, price £1, were particularly recommended.
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Parson's
Pleasure is now only a scene for tales from the folklore of the university. One anecdote has it that a number of dons were sunbathing naked at Parson's Pleasure when a female student floated by in a punt. All but one of the startled dons covered their
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As well as being a champion swimmer
Hounslow was also a swimming teacher and consequently spent a considerable amount of time at Parson's Pleasure and over the next several years he rescued a number of people from drowning. In July 1847 Mister Doughty from
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got into difficulties at Parson's
Pleasure, the water there reported as being seventeen feet (5.18 metres) deep, and Samuel Hounslow dived in and brought him to shore unconscious, but alive. In July 1848 Hounslow saved an undergraduate of
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he was reported to have saved the lives of no less than sixteen people at that one place. Regular users of Parson's
Pleasure got up a public subscription for him and it was reported that a "respectable sum" had been subscribed.
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It isn't clear when that location first came to be called Parson's
Pleasure, but in February 1832 a discussion in a local newspaper about new parish boundaries described the new line as running, "to the division of the
125:, and it was reported that he had by that time saved the lives of ten different people at Parson's Pleasure.At the end of June 1851 he saved two more people on consecutive days. That year he was awarded the
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contains a scene set in Parson's
Pleasure. Edmund Crispin's first Gervase Fen novel, 'The Moving Toyshop,' puts the climax of a riotous chase at the entrance to Parson's Pleasure.
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In December 1854 the Exeter College steeple chase started and finished on the banks of the Cherwell directly opposite Parson's Pleasure. The winner was William Douglas from
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In 1996, the Oxford University Beer Appreciation Society commissioned a local brewery to produce a barley wine called "Parson's Pleasure Ale". There also exists a
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placed a flannel over his head instead. When asked why he had done so, he replied, "I don’t know about you, gentlemen, but in Oxford,
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1876 Ordnance Survey map of Oxford showing The Parks with Parson's Pleasure bathing place in the south east corner.
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at Parson's Pleasure," making it clear that the name would have been known to the general public at that time.
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at the south-east corner of the Parks. The facility closed in 1991 and the area now forms part of the Parks.
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Women's use of the path declined in later years but the path and the rollers remain.
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Parson's Pleasure in the late nineteenth century, drawn by Lancelot Speed, from
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death's menace is that under the mould we may forget Parson's Pleasure.'
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602:"Online record of the peal of Parson's Pleasure Surprise Maximus"
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A similar area existed nearby for clothed female bathers, named
623:"Parson's Pleasure and Dame's Delight bathing places, Oxford"
277:. This was closed prior to the closure of Parson's Pleasure.
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Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, Sat 18 Jun 1859 p. 8
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Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, Sat 24 Jul 1847 p. 2
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Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, Sat 5 Jul 1851 p. 2
87:, was a secluded area for male-only nude bathing on the
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Oxford University and City Herald, Sat 30 Jul 1859 p. 8
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Oxford University and City Herald, Sat 25 Feb 1832 p. 3
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Oxford University and City Herald, Sat 1 Jul 1848 p. 3
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into death by drowning of James Simpson, a student at
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163:Parson's Pleasure was traditionally frequented by
213:Stretched, tingled cool, shone sleek, lived well
91:. It was located next to the path on the way to
52:The weir and punt rollers at Parson's Pleasure
460:. University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 83–4.
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683:Oxford University Parks: a historical guide
652:"Now there's nothing like a Dame's Delight"
16:Place for nude bathing in Oxford, England
148:By July 1859 when Hounslow emigrated to
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207: By most).
42:Aspects of Modern Oxford, by a Mere Don
19:For the short story by Roald Dahl, see
338:Reading Mercury, Sat 27 Jul 1844 p. 3
221:In response to this, Morley's friend
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421:Oxford Journal, Sat 30 Jul 1859 p. 8
347:Oxford Journal, Sat 10 Aug 1844 p. 3
217:In the one patch where sunwarm fell.
211:Unconscious, comely, gallant, Greek,
44:(New York: Macmillan & Co, 1894)
761:History of the University of Oxford
746:Culture of the University of Oxford
394:Oxford Journal, Sat 1 Sep 1855 p. 5
383:Life Saving Award Research Society
305:. Oxford University Press. p.
203:An ancient, far from prepossessing,
191:A greengloom sideloop of the creek,
776:Public baths in the United Kingdom
268:Parson's Pleasure Surprise Maximus
238:, at least, am known by my face."
201:For the convenience of undressing.
197:Clear dayshine did not often touch
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741:1991 disestablishments in England
430:Bell's Life, Sun 10 Dec 1854 p. 7
205:Offered uncandid towels (eschewed
195:A sodden place of twilight smell:
60:The rollers looking the other way
129:Bronze Medal for these rescues.
771:Parks and open spaces in Oxford
751:Defunct sports venues in Oxford
479:. Reaktion Books. p. 172.
209:There men’s white bodies, nude,
21:Parson's Pleasure (short story)
509:. Penguin Books. p. 175.
251:Anthony Gibbs's autobiography
199:That water; and a mouldy hutch
1:
536:. Random House. p. 154.
476:A Brief History of Nakedness
171:. Ladies sitting in passing
454:Morley, Christopher (1932)
439:Morley, Christopher (1923)
68:The Cherwell above the weir
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786:University of Oxford sites
781:Swimming venues in England
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627:Dereliction in the Shires
445:. George H. Doran, p. 16.
530:Crispin, Edmund (2012).
506:Landscape with Dead Dons
246:Landscape with Dead Dons
584:Gibbs, Anthony (1969).
557:Gibbs, Anthony (1969).
297:; Morris, Mark (1987).
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756:Former public baths
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587:In My Own Good Time
264:bell-ringing method
257:In My Own Good Time
183:'s 1923 collection
722:51.76017; -1.24653
660:. UK. 30 June 2014
533:The Moving Toyshop
185:Parsons' Pleasure
181:Christopher Morley
179:The title poem of
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689:Parson's Pleasure
543:978-1-4481-1278-4
486:978-1-86189-729-9
471:Carr-Gomm, Philip
442:Parsons' Pleasure
316:978-0-19-282065-5
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607:30 December
295:Morris, Jan
93:Mesopotamia
735:Categories
705:51°45′37″N
560:In my time
281:References
253:In My Time
169:University
708:1°14′48″W
590:. Gambit.
230:genitals—
150:Australia
118:Islington
664:29 April
636:29 April
503:(1983).
473:(2012).
158:Limerick
106:Cherwell
167:of the
134:inquest
85:England
75:in the
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301:Oxford
266:named
81:Oxford
173:punts
666:2018
638:2018
609:2019
565:ISBN
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511:ISBN
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