"Literary Links" - Mr Toad in Oxford

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

Last Thursday we highlighted that two of Oxford's famous Inkling group were buried in the Holywell cemetery of St Cross Church - namely Charles Williams and Hugo Dyson.   They are not the only famous literary figures to have been buried here.  

The graveyard is quite an atmospheric spot  The Church may date to around AD 890, but the first mention seems to be 1100.  The buildings date from the 12^th  century onwards.  Just near the church was a Holy Well, from whence the church and nearby Holywell Street gain their name.  Buried in this ancient spot, surrounded by long grass and wild flowers is Kenneth Grahame

The tomb of Kenneth Grahame 1859-1932

  As a young boy Grahame attended school in Oxford and dearly wanted to go to the University, but the cost was considered too great and he ended up with a career at the Bank of England (1876).  He loved writing and is the author of the classic story Wind in the Willows.  The public appeal of  Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad was not realised until after his death. 

Grahame’s only child, Alistair, was an undergraduate at Christ Church College in Oxford - thus fulfilling his father's own childhood dream.  Alistair was an unruly child and was immortalised in Wind in the Willows as Mr Toad.   Mr Toad sang the following:

The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr Toad

 Quite tragically Alistair committed suicide while still a student.  

This is an excerpt from the tour Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones - Part 2  which explores the streets of Oxford.  The full tour is found on www.obelisktours.co.uk