Oxford

Stop number six on our tour of the concrete murals of Henry and Joyce Collins takes us to Oxford. Although this is Templars Square shopping centre in Cowley, which is the grittier industrial part of the city rather than the dreaming spires.

Like Surbiton, the Templars Square shopping centre is somewhere I had visited before without seeing the mural. But here it is a case of several different entrances to the centre, and one that is not the most obvious to the casual visitor. The mural is the least referenced on web image searches, which maybe a reflection on its location both within the centre and its distance from the city centre.

The Templars Square shopping centre was opened in 1965 as the Cowley Centre, changing its name in 1989. It is located on Between Towns Road. The current names derives from the Knights Templar, whose Temple Cowley was founded in 1139.

The mural was commissioned for Sainsbury's and was installed in 1976/77. As per usual, it depicts the history of the area, although not quite in the same ancient to modern and all points in between as seen on many of the others. In fairness, it would have to be a very long mural to encapsulate all of Oxford's history.

The plaque sets out what can be seen. I am trying to work out if this is original or whether it is covering some original feature, as the other murals seen so far have not included a plaque on the work itself.

The plague says that the legend reads from left to right, but it doesn't quite pan out that way. It says that the elements are:

• Ancient names of Oxford and Cowley;
• Dreaming spires and towers of Oxford colleges;
• Oxford University Press;
• Agriculture represented by: Oxfordshire farm wagon, traction engine (Oxfordshire Steam Ploughing Co.), old and modern ploughs, tractors, combine harvester, beet harvester, sheep farming, poultry and cattle;
• Modern Grove Allen hydraulic crane;
• History relating to influence of William Morris on car production in Cowley;
• Modern car production;
• Early Sainsbury's van made by Leyland;
• Sainsbury's tricycle delivery;
• Oxford marmalade.

Well, clearly there are some old place names at the top left:

The big green traction engine (this sounds like the start of a children's book) was built by the Oxfordshire Steam Ploughing Company founded in 1874. The company was taken over by John Allen in 1897, which in turn was taken over by the US company Grove. Hence the "modern Grove Allen hydraulic crane", otherwise known as the big yellow machine. Production of the cranes was moved from Cowley to Sunderland in 1984, but before then the factory stood opposite the Templars Square shopping centre, on a site now occupied by the John Allen retail park.

We now have the dreaming spires and the Oxford University Press. Or in an alternative universe, the Oxford University towers and the dreaming quires.

The coats of arms are those of Oxford University and the City of Oxford (an ox fording a body of water - no point in getting too clever).

The right hand end of the mural is dominated by motor vehicles. Car production started in Cowley in 1912, and still continues today with BMW producing the latest Mini.

Yes there really was a car produced in the shape depicted below, and yes it really was made in a horrible brown colour. This was the Austin Princess, produced between 1975 and 1981.

The Mini is a much more famous car...

The "Early Sainsbury's van made by Leyland" has been amended in a rather unsubtle manner by Wilko, who are the current occupiers of the Sainsbury store site. I hope that this tacky addition is something that can easily be removed (I think I am referring to the sign rather than the store, but I could be wrong) without damaging the mural. If you look closely at the plaque you can also see that the black lettering of the name Sainsbury has been scraped off. Do Wilko really think that Sainsbury's is a competitor? Surely Sainsbury's is in a much higher league.

And the Oxford Marmalade? I think there is a jar lurking in the bottom right corner of the mural. Oxford Marmalade, as opposed to the much earlier stuff made in Dundee, was first made by Sarah Cooper in 1874. As well as Seville oranges, there are various different recipes containing items such as brown sugar, black treacle and root of ginger. I will let others argue what the "authentic" recipe is.

Next stop on our magical mural tour is Bexhill.

Photographs taken on 4 May 2019.