In a historic ceremony dating back to the reign of King Richard II, Oxford’s Lord Mayor Councillor Mike Rowley inspected Oxford’s medieval city walls on 23rd October. This ceremonious tradition has been observed for nearly 650 years, honouring an agreement made on 30th of June 1379 between New College and the City of Oxford.
King Richard II granted New College founder William of Wykeham a royal charter to establish New College in 1379. Along with this charter came the land on which New College would be built. The land, however, came with a condition: since the Oxford City Walls would pass through New College, the college was entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the walls and providing two entrances through which the Lord Mayor could inspect them. Since then, every three years, the Lord Mayor has carried out this ceremonial inspection of the city’s historic walls – which today stand as one of the last remaining stretches of the walls that originally encircled the city.
New College has taken its role of wall-upkeep seriously. Climbing or walking atop them is strictly forbidden in the Dean’s Handbook, a book of rules that govern New College students. Common myth says that anybody found on top of the wall is faced with immediate expulsion. While it is unlikely that the walls will ever be used for their intended purpose of protecting Oxford from siege again, save for protection from commemoration-ball-breaking hopefuls, the preservation of the walls remains crucial to the college both to preserve an important part of the city’s history, and to uphold their 14th-century agreement with the King of England.
As part of the ceremony, the Lord Mayor and City Councillors walked from the Town Hall to New College’s gate on Queen’s Lane. Led by the City Mace, upon arriving, the second Sergeant of Mace knocked three times on the non licet gate to New College, symbolising a formal request for entry. After being greeted by the Warden and Fellows of the college, they began a thorough inspection of the walls.
