The Clarion, 25 August 2026

The Oxford City Royal Regatta brought together town and gown for races along the Thames at the weekend. Photo by Roger Close.

A monastic cafe, a 900-year old chapel, white storks, unexploded grenades, open-water swimming, community pubs, new bus routes and rural co-working. Where else but your midweek Clarion newsletter?

This week’s long reads

Oxford’s medieval Bartlemas Chapel celebrated its nonacentennial* on Sunday. We captured the event on camera and recount an eventful history, from dissolute brethren to Civil War calumny and a Victorian cowshed.
* 900th anniversary!

Around the city

Covered Market cafe/bookshop Gulp Fiction has applied to open in 6 Broad Street, formerly Mountain Warehouse before that moved to the ex-Waterstones premises. They say the new site would have “a relaxed cafe character with regular live and recorded music and community/literary events”. 6 Broad Street, like the Covered Market, is owned by Oxford City Council. An £8m redevelopment of the market begins next year: the City Council says “any trader affected by layout changes will be offered an alternative location within the market”.
According to the always delightful Oxford History website, 6 Broad Street contains a bastion of the former city wall, and its former tenants include the Ministry of Transport (Road Haulage Branch), Broad Street Post Office, and Blackwell’s Children’s Bookshop.
Oxford University Hospitals is to invest £8m in the John Radcliffe Women's Centre, including replacing part of the roof, better temperature control and air quality, strengthened infection prevention measures, and more energy-efficient systems. The neonatal unit will receive a new isolated and uninterruptible power supply, helping to ensure critical equipment remains operational even in the event of a mains power interruption. (CrossCountry trains, we're looking at you.)
Yvonne Christley from OUH said: "This is a significant investment in the future of our Women's Centre. The work will help ensure that our babies, patients, and families continue to receive care in safe clinical environments with modern standards, while improving resilience and sustainability.”
Separately, the redeveloped maternity outpatient department at Banbury's Horton Hospital has reopened after a £115,000 refurbishment, including two brand-new clinic rooms and a redeveloped clinic room with scanning facilities; three additional high-risk obstetric clinics can now be delivered each week. We looked at the challenging findings of an investigation into Oxfordshire's maternity care in a long read earlier this year.

Slava Ukraini: Residents and visitors alike assembled in Radcliffe Square on Monday to mark Ukrainian Independence Day, following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Attendees wore traditional Ukrainian embroidered clothing, or vyshyvankas, to mark support for Ukraine. Speakers included the Lord Mayor of Oxford Chewe Munkonge, speaking on behalf of Oxford as a City of Sanctuary.
Oxfordshire has welcomed 3,000 Ukrainians since the beginning of the full scale conflict with Russia four years ago, though many have since returned to Ukraine. Aid worker & organiser Justin Robinson said:

“Together with British support, Ukraine is holding back a truly terrible aggression for its survival and defending Europe in the process. But the need for support continues: please be a sponsor, donate or help one of the many organisations involved. We should also remember there are many British volunteers working both in the UK and in Ukraine right up to the frontlines. Many live with terrible risks on a daily basis.”

Floyds Row and the Old Mortuary, on St Aldates just south of Christ Church, are being sold by the City Council to a purchaser with a “property portfolio in the surrounding area”. 1 Floyds Row was used as a short-term emergency shelter, but post-Covid, Government guidance has discouraged communal sleeping arrangements. The Old Mortuary is currently leased to the Oxfordshire Council for Voluntary Action: the City Council says it is working with them to find alternative premises. The sale is conditional on the purchaser obtaining planning permission.
A grenade dating from the Second World War was found in the river near Donnington Bridge on Sunday. Thames Valley Police called in a bomb disposal team for a safe detonation. This follows a grenade found in Osney Mead in February, and another in Sunnymead Park in October.
Grave situation update: Blakedown Landscapes has been contracted to deliver the new Oxford Burial Meadow, following planning approval granted in April of this year. Works are expected to start in autumn, and be complete in spring 2027, providing capacity for around 45 years of burials. Oxford has a shortage of burial space.
The new 17-acre site off Oxford Road, currently used for farming, will be transformed into a peaceful new public meadow incorporating burial use, including new tree planting, wildflower meadows, paths and seating, creating a tranquil environment for visitors. For the City Council, Cllr Anna Railton said: “This vital project ensures we can continue to provide burial space for residents for decades to come. It has been carefully designed to not only meet an essential need, but also to enhance biodiversity and create a peaceful environment for people to remember.”
And we’re going to continue writing about the Good Habit bakery, at Blackfriars on St Giles, simply because we love the name. The (deep) friars report “A few last bits to do, and then the cafe team can push forward towards the public opening at the start of September.” The cafe/bakery describes itself as follows: “The Good Habit is an independently run cafe. Food and drink wise, we’re going to use as much local produce as we can, work with and shout about other independents, make a load of stuff ourselves, and generally try to do a few things really well.”

Around the county

Environmental campaigners in North Oxfordshire have called for a pause in development at Heyford Park. They are concerned about ‘forever chemicals’ (PFAS) at the former Upper Heyford airfield, where 1,300 homes have already been built and where a current planning application envisages thousands more. The Gallos Brook campaign and North Oxfordshire Resident Action call this “a potential public health scandal”, pointing out that the latest planning application would see a sports centre built within 200m of sites where testing has shown “significant levels of toxic PFAS contamination in surface water”. They have called for residents to object to the application, which is currently with Cherwell District Council.
“Fly-tipping remains steady”, according to West Oxfordshire District Council, despite the introduction of the new booking system for the county’s recycling centres. They say fly-tipping levels in West Oxfordshire remain below the regional average, and that the number of fly-tips on public land between April and June was almost unchanged from the same period last year.
Oxfordshire County Council is spending a further £850,000 on cheese, following Oxford City Council’s decision to commit the same amount. The money will pay for legal services to support the reorganisation into three councils, with a contract awarded to law firm Browne Jacobson. (We are secretly hoping someone from GB News misreads this story and runs an exposé on ‘Vegan-crazed woke council spends £850,000 in one year on CHEESE’.)
South Oxfordshire District Council has completed a £370,000 developer-funded refurbishment of Thame Leisure Centre, including a new gym and improved changing rooms. This refurbishment follows a similar upgrade at Didcot Wave, part of the council's investment in district-wide leisure facilities. Cllr Pieter-Paul Barker said: “We are very pleased with this refurbishment which upgrades the leisure centre to modern standards. Following the installation of solar panels last year, the council is continuing to lower carbon emissions by adding LED lights as well as water-saving devices.”

A lake excavated as part of the M40 construction in the 1990s is planned to become a venue for open-water swimming, paddle-boarding, kayaking and sailing. The new owners of Merton Lake, south of Bicester, are applying to build a new clubhouse, timber jetty, cycle and car parking.
Owners Steve Glanfield and Mark Shearer say they “share a passion for water-based activities”, and have experience of opening Queenford Lake near Berinsfield for swimming. Merton Lake is currently closed to public access; the new owners propose to offer a tiered membership scheme. They add: “We hope to welcome local schools so children can try supervised water sports in a safe environment, and we will offer discounted access to registered charities and community groups.” A planning application is with Cherwell District Council.
Charlbury could be getting its first co-working space. A planning application seeks to change a 2-bed ground-floor apartment in the town centre into a “shared working environment” with fixed and flexible desks plus meeting rooms. The owners say: “More people in Charlbury and the surrounding villages now work remotely or independently and need somewhere professional to work, meet and collaborate… Keeping workers in Charlbury will increase daytime activity within the town centre and support cafés, shops and local services.”
Separately, the owners of the Bull gastropub have applied to open a deli in a nearby shop building, the Old Bank House. This formerly housed the community-owned Charlbury Deli, until the building was bought by the London-based, privately funded Public House Group who ended their lease.
In other Oxfordshire pub news, a new Henley group says it wants to open “good community pubs”. Symposium Pubs has acquired the Three Horseshoes in Henley and is working on a second site. Founder Jonny Bramwell, formerly of the Rosa’s Thai chain, told the Morning Advertiser: “I don’t want anyone to come into the pub and feel like they need to have a booking. We want it to be a pub.”
The Diocese of Oxford has awarded almost £300,000 to local churches in grants, including St Andrew's Church, Headington, awarded £36,000 for a Children and Families Minister; and Christ Church, Abingdon, awarded £37,495 for a Family Outreach Worker.
Abingdon welcomed visitors from Argentan in Normandy on Saturday as the towns celebrated 70 years of twinning. The Mayor of Abingdon spoke in French, while the Mayor of Argentan spoke in English. The Mayors then signed a document to celebrate 70 years of twinning history. The programme included Morris dancing, a talk on the history of Abingdon, and an Indian meal. (Possibly the most Abingdon day ever?) Full write up from the ever excellent Abingdon Blog.
Snapped: Crocodiles of the World, in Carterton, has hatched an American alligator and caught it on camera. The reel is on Facebook. (We know not everyone likes Facebook, and understandably so, but you don't get to see a hatching alligator in Carterton very often. And nearby…)
49 juvenile white storks bred at Cotswold Wildlife Park have been released at the Knepp rewilding project in East Sussex. The park, near Burford, has been breeding chicks since 2016 in an attempt to restore the once-native species. Previously, the last breeding pair was recorded 600 years ago on St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. The project aims to re-establish 50 wild breeding pairs of white storks by 2030. Oxfordshire residents will naturally draw comparisons with red kites, reintroduced in the Chilterns in the 1990s and now a ubiquitous sight in the county’s skies – and indeed, Knepp ornithologists report that kites and storks are already reaching an accommodation, if you can call it that (“volunteers observed kites attempting again to dive-bomb a nest and the storks responded swiftly and adroitly as a colony… 25 of them rose up to meet the kites and successfully chased them off”).

Happy stork… talk about a bird learning how to fly? (Photo by Nancy Hughes at unsplash.com.)

University and research

A dozen academics at Oxford University have signed an open letter defending self-described ‘race realist’ Nathan Cofnas as a ‘whistleblower’. Cofnas, who was a graduate student at Balliol College and received his doctorate in 2020, has been suspended from Ghent University. He came to media attention by questioning the credentials of Professor Jason Arday, who died by suicide this month. The open letter asserts that “the pursuit of truth depends on rigorous self-policing by academics”.
Cofnas, whose previous association to Emmanuel College in Cambridge was terminated after he asserted that Black people were less intelligent than other groups, has since stated he aims to lead a putative “department of eugenics and race science at Harvard”.
Oxford signatories include Nigel Biggar, a moral theologian who has defended colonialism and who wrote last week that white people should be free to use racist slurs; gender-critical professor of sociology Michael Biggs; and 'climate-change agnostic' Jonathan Jones. At the time of writing, no academics from Oxford Brookes are listed.
Oxford University's LGBTQ+ Society has published an open letter opposing the EHRC code of practice. The University has recently updated its internal guidance to say that single-sex toilets and changing rooms are provided on the basis of ‘sex registered at birth’. The guidance published on Oxford University's intranet acknowledges that “Assumptions based on appearance may be inaccurate and may result in individuals being subjected to unwanted questioning, scrutiny or challenge.”
Last chance to see the Sheldon Tapestry… for now. The huge tapestry map that hangs in the Weston Library, on Broad Street, will come down in the first week of September. If you’ve not yet found your home town or village on this stunning 16th century map, now is the time.
Love your dog – it's good for them! Dogs with a secure attachment to their owner have reduced stress and reduced health risks, while an anxious attachment increases the indicators of stress and risks associated with their health, researchers at Oxford Brookes and the University of Pisa have shown. Chiara Mariti at the University of Pisa explains: "For the first time, we have demonstrated with scientific data that a dog's attachment bond is also associated with chronic stress. This is a topic that has long been discussed in veterinary behavioral medicine, but until now, evidence has been lacking." (You said you wanted more dog stories and more from Brookes. We think the universe was reading our survey responses.)
And finally, a correction: Last week we published a story saying Oxford University had successfully vaccinated the 100th volunteer in a trial for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus disease. In fact, the university is involved in two separate projects to combat this disease. The 100th patient has been enrolled in the Partners trial for a treatment, which is separate (but also in Oxford) from the trial for a vaccine. Thanks to our correspondent who pointed this out. What a city we have.

Business and tech

One suggestion made by several readers in our recent survey was that we separate out university news from Oxfordshire business/tech news – not a bad idea at all in the county of Culham, Harwell and much more…

Culham-based UKAEA has spun out Singular Machines, an automation company benefitting from the efficient, complex and high-assurance processes used in nuclear fusion. The spin-out is expected to enable investment and growth, with a new contract signed with engineering group Arup. Singular Machines is developing coEngen, an AI platform designed to maintain the traceability, assurance and professional judgement of engineering practice. Arup, Japan’s Miraisozo Investments, the UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund and Oxford Science Enterprises are investing in the spin-out.
UKAEA has also appointed a new CEO. Professor Dennis Whyte is a nuclear fusion expert from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Visiting Professor at Oxford. He describes the role as “moving from a science project to a new energy industry”.
Harwell's new life sciences hub, CO:LABS, has signed up Agilent Technologies and Rosalind Franklin Institute as founding members. The 120,000 sq ft development, with labs, meeting and social spaces, will open in October. Agilent will establish a demonstration laboratory with access to advanced analytical technologies, spectroscopy and life sciences instrumentation. The Rosalind Franklin Institute is the UK’s technology institute for life sciences, based at Harwell. The imaginatively named ‘The Link’, between the two parts of the building, will host a café, library, pitch rooms, seminar seating, and exhibition space, all to high sustainability and inclusivity standards. Outside, Harwell offers sports pitches and a street food market, ‘The Dish’.

Roundham Level Crossing (photo: Network Rail)

Trains and buses

A campaign has been launched to save Roundham Level Crossing in Kidlington. The pedestrian and cycle crossing over the busy Oxford–Banbury railway provides the main link between Oxford University’s research sites at Begbroke and the residential areas of Kidlington, as well as being a popular leisure route. Network Rail has a long-standing ambition to close level crossings on the line, though the programme has previously been ‘descoped’ following public objections and Botley Road delays. Nonetheless, changes at Roundham are expected in connection with new housing and research developments at Begbroke. A public meeting will be held in Exeter Hall, Kidlington, at 7pm on Wednesday 2 September.
The £2.1m contract to redesign Oxford station has been awarded to the architects who designed Elizabeth Line stations including Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street, and are currently working on St Pancras International. Hawkins Brown have won the contract “to lead the design and planning application for the redevelopment of Oxford Station and its surrounding area”. The work is expected to lead to a planning application for the station in 2027.
The boss of Britain’s nationalised railway has described the ongoing dispute over East West Rail as “challenging”. Alex Hynes, chief executive of the Government body behind nationalised train operators, told Rail magazine: “That has been a challenging situation to manage, to fix what is essentially a role-of-the-guard dispute. A lot of these conversations are more appropriate behind closed doors than in public, but we are working with our partners in the RMT union.”
New bus services have been announced by Oxford Bus Company to start after the reopening of Botley Road on 20 September. You can read the full list of changes on their website, but the headlines include:
- 4: Risinghurst–Headington–JR–city centre–Botley (replaces 4A)
- 200: Harcourt Hill–Botley–city centre (replaces 4B)
- 6: Wolvercote–city centre–Abingdon (replaces 35)
- 25: Upper Heyford–Heyford Park–Bicester–JR (replaces H5/29)
- X15: City centre–Abingdon–Southmoor–Witney (replaces X1)
- X35: Didcot–Wantage–Grove–Abingdon (replaces X1)
- Routes 44 (Abingdon), 63 (Southmoor) and 400 (Seacourt P&R) will be extended into the city centre.
- New timetables on the 3S and 35A reflect “faster journey times following the introduction of the temporary congestion charge”, but the Abingdon Town service will be retimed due to “increased congestion in Abingdon”.
CrossCountry trains were cancelled en masse on Sunday, after the building where CrossCountry’s control centre is located was affected by a power cut in Birmingham city centre. Unlike most train operators, who are based in railway buildings with a redundant power supply, CrossCountry’s HQ is located in commercial office space. Chiltern Railways stepped into the breach left by their sister company (both operators are owned by Arriva), running special trains from Oxford to Birmingham Moor Street, calling at Banbury and Leamington Spa.

Notes from Clarion HQ

Thank you, again, to everyone who’s responded to our first ever reader survey. Several of you asked us to share the survey responses; we're just combing through them for the best insights, and will hopefully share a digest later this week.

Advance notice: there’ll be no newsletter next Tuesday. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend when nothing really happens (and your Clarion scribes need a break). So if a newsletter does pop into your inbox on Tuesday 1 September, then you know something really big has happened. But if you want to be in our inbox, we are here for news, tips and comments: drop us a line at news@oxfordclarion.uk.