Oxford boundary markers: On the Oxford Canal towpath (1892)
[City coat of arms showing
ox crossing ford]
1 8 9 2
F. W. A N S E L L
M A Y O R
W. S. C A R V E R
S H E R I F F
This stone is on the towpath of the Oxford Canal, opposite St Edward's School sports ground and exactly in line with the first stone listed below, which is on the Woodstock Road on the east side of the school. It is not a listed structure.
It belongs to the following series of boundary stones that were set up at the time of the Mayor's perambulation of 1892 (the first such inspection to take place after the 1889 Oxford boundary change):
- Woodstock Road
- Sunnymead
- Godstow Road bridge
- Woodlands Road
- Hogacre Ditch
- Opposite Headley Way
- Iffley Meadows
- Port Meadow (probably)
This map shows the new 1889 boundary of the city marked in blue.
Frederick Ansell was Mayor of Oxford in 1891/2, and there was a special perambulation that year.
William Stevens Carver (1859–1917), the Sheriff of Oxford who is also named on this stone, was at the time of the 1891 census a 32-year-old accountant & auditor who lived at 7 Longworth Road with his wife Eliza and their three young daughters. He was the City Accountant from 1894 until his death (obituary in the Oxford Journal Illustrated of 26 December 1917, p. 9).