A NEW tour will celebrate the life of Morris founder and philanthropist Lord Nuffield and the impact his work had on 20th century Oxford.
Tourist group Experience Oxfordshire has teamed up with The Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities (TORCH) and its initiative the Thames Valley Country House Partnership to offer a pilot of the tour on April 13.
Up to 14 members of a community group or charity will be given the chance to trial the tour and if it is successful it could become a permanent fixture.
Outside the old Morris garage in Longwall Street are, left to right, Ulrike Werner, from Experience Oxfordshire, Imelda Dooley, from St Catherine’s College, who is learning to be a guide with assistance from official guide. Picture: Ed Nix
It will take in a number of Oxford city centre sites connected with the founder of Morris Motors, including the old Morris garage in Longwall Street and Nuffield College.
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A bus will then take the tour group to Nuffield Place in South Oxfordshire where Lord Nuffield lived before returning to the Cowley plant, where Morris cars were once manufactured for a one-hour tour of the working plant.
Cars on number 2 Assembly line at the Cowley plant.
Experience Oxfordshire spokeswoman Ulrike Werner said: “Lord Nuffield has left an impressive legacy and his achievements are famous all around the world.
“He had a huge influence on Oxford, both town and gown.
“This new group tour aims to encourage residents of Oxford, as well as visitors, to explore more of the county’s great country houses.”
Dr Oliver Cox from TORCH established the Thames Valley Country House Partnership and has worked with Experience Oxfordshire to get the new tour off the ground.
The original Morris factory on Oxford Road, Cowley.
Students from Oxford University will help present the tour and research they have carried out will feature as part of the presentation.
Dr Cox said: “Many students who come to Oxford have no idea the city is a major centre of car production.
“The city was re-shaped in the 20th century.
“The tour focuses on three major aspects of Lord Nuffield’s life.
“One is the car industry and another is the university, which he wanted to expose his success through in his donations to found Nuffield College, for example.
“He possibly did the most to showcase 20th century Oxford in terms of his engineering.
“And the third aspect is Nuffield Place, which is an interesting house because he was a Mark Zuckerberg or a Bill Gates of the 1930s and he lived in quite a humble place really.”
Lord Nuffield on a visit to Nuffield College in 1955 to see the progress being made on another section building. He is shown the excavations by clerk of works A T Kennard.
Mini enthusiasts Tanya and Jason Field, from Headington, staged their own tribute to Lord Nuffield on Monday when they led a convoy of a dozen cars, most of which were built by Morris, from the Cowley plant to Nuffield Place.
Mr Field, who has worked at the plant since 1988, said: “I think the Lord Nuffield tour sounds like a great idea and long overdue.
“It’s important that people do understand just how important Lord Nuffield was and still is to this area.
“I’m very much looking forward to taking a tour in the future.
“Without doubt the Cowley plant is an important part of both the town and county and we are all better off for having the plant.”
- To book a place on the pilot email Jacqui Ibbotson via jacqui.ibbotson@experienceoxfordshire.org by March 16.
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