Addison's Walk
Footpath in Oxford, England
Addison's Walk (originally called Water Walk) is a picturesque footpath around a small island in the River Cherwell in the grounds of Magdalen College, Oxford, England. Magdalen Tower and Magdalen Bridge can be seen along the walk.
The walk is named after Joseph Addison (1672-1719), a Fellow of the college from 1698 to 1711, who enjoyed walking there and wrote articles in The Spectator about landscape gardening. The path most likely dates from the 16th century, although the name "Addison's Walk" has only been in use since the 19th century. Addison's Walk originally finished at Dover Pier, an old Civil War gun position on the River Cherwell. It was made into a circular walk in the 19th century.
The walk is referenced frequently in Justin Cartwright's 2007 novel The Song Before it is Sung.
Addison's Walk was a favourite walk of the author C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), who for much of his life was another Fellow of Magdalen College. He regularly frequented Addison's Walk with friends who included Hugo Dyson and J. R. R. Tolkien. He wrote a poem about the walk which features it by name.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Addison's Walk”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Magdalen Addison's Walk.jpg by The original uploader was Gagravarr at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5
- Magdalen Fellows' Garden.jpg by Nick Burch, CC BY-SA 2.5
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