Parson's Pleasure
Encyclopedia
University Parks
The Oxford University Parks, more normally the University Parks, or just The Parks to members of the local community, is one large parkland area slightly northeast of the Oxford city centre in England...
at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, was a secluded area for male-only nude bathing on the River Cherwell
River Cherwell
The River Cherwell is a river which flows through the Midlands of England. It is a major tributary of the River Thames.The general course of the River Cherwell is north to south and the 'straight-line' distance from its source to the Thames is about...
. It was located next to the path on the way to Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia, Oxford
Mesopotamia is a narrow island that forms part of the University Parks, Oxford, England. It lies between the upper and lower levels of the River Cherwell...
at the south-east corner of the Parks. The facility closed in 1991 and the area now forms part of the Parks.
History and folklore
Parson's Pleasure was traditionally frequented by dons of the UniversityUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. Ladies sitting in passing punt
Punt (boat)
A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole...
s were saved from potential embarrassment by being directed to a path that skirted the area behind a high corrugated iron fence. If a pretext were 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. Women's use of the path declined in later years but the path and the rollers remain.
Parson's Pleasure is now only a scene for tales from the folklore of the university. One anecdote goes that a number of dons were sunbathing nude at Parson's Pleasure when a female student floated by in a punt. All but one of the startled dons covered their genitals — Maurice Bowra
Maurice Bowra
Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra was an English classical scholar and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1951 to 1954.-Birth and boyhood:...
placed a flannel over his head instead. When asked why he had done that, he replied haughtily, "I don’t know about you, gentlemen, but in Oxford, I, at least, am known by my face."
Robert Robinson's Landscape with Dead Dons contains a scene set in Parson's Pleasure.
Anthony Gibbs's autobiography In Good Time (UK, c. 1930) / In My Own Good Time (US, 1932) 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."
In 1996, the Oxford University Beer Appreciation Society commissioned a local brewery to produce a barley wine that was called Parson's Pleasure Ale. There exists a church bell ringing method named Parson's Pleasure Surprise Maximus, which was rung for the first time in September 2010 by a band of ringers composed of alumni of Oxford University.
A similar Dame's Delight
Dame's Delight
Dame's Delight was a place for women to bathe in the nude on the bank of the River Cherwell in the meadows near the Oxford University Parks opposite Mesopotamia Walk in Oxford, England. It was started in 1934, but closed in 1970 due to maintenance difficulties because of flooding.A similar bathing...
for female bathers also existed nearby, but this closed even earlier than Parson's Pleasure.
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