Oxford Inscriptions: Plaque at Folly Bridge
On 4 July 1862
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
first told the story of
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
on a boat trip that began near here
[Illustration by Tenniel of Alice rowing a boat with a sheep as passenger, taken from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found there]
The Lewis Carroll Society 2023
This plaque, which is on the front of the Folly Restaurant on Folly Bridge, was unveiled by Gyles Brandreth on 23 May 2023. It marks the place where the Revd Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) set off on a boating trip on 4 July 1862 with the three daughters of the Dean of Christ Church (including Alice Liddell) and his friend the Revd Robinson Duckworth.
Oxford Mail, 30 May 2023:
“Gyles Brandreth unveils Lewis Carroll plaque in Oxford”
The landing stage at the side of the Folly Restaurant
Some other signs of Alice in Oxford
Right: The head of Alice in a stained-glass window in the Hall of Christ Church is taken from a drawing made by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson himself, and is inscribed ALICE LIDDELL. In the bottom left-hand corner of the window is the more traditional blonde-haired Alice in Wonderland. She is carrying a flamingo, which she was expected to use instead of a mallet to play croquet in front of the Red Queen
The pair of brass andirons in the fireplace of the Hall are shaped like two humans with long necks, and Dodgson may well have recalled these when he caused Alice's neck to grow.
The “treacle well” at Binsey that features in Alice in Wonderland also has an inscription dating from 1874, but this has no mention either of Dodgson or Alice.
Name of Alice Liddell's son on the Christ Church war memorial:
Portrait of Dodgson in Christ Church Hall:
Right: The Cheshire Cat in a tree in the Oxford Botanic Garden
The Alice ox at the Westgate Centre
The “Looking for Alice” ox by Caroline Ritson that was part of the 2024 OxTrail event in aid of Sobell House Hospice was purchased by Lewis Carroll Society funds and contributions from individual members and now stands on the rooftop terrace of the Westgate Centre, looking over towards Christ Church where the Alice books were written.
The sculpture was unveiled on 27 January 2024 to mark Lewis Carroll's birthday:
- Oxford Mail, 29 January 2024: “OxTrail sculpture finds permanent home at Oxford Westgate”
Alice's Shop
Alice's shop at 83 St Aldate's Street (opposite the war memorial garden of Christ Church) was by 1925 believed to be the building chosen by John Tenniel to illustrate the “sheep shop” in the chapter entitled “Wool and water” of Lewis Carroll,Through the Looking Glass (1871), but earlier evidence is lacking.