Al Fresco & Wild · Oxford, Oxfordshire
Dame's Delight
Spice 1/5 · Chilled
Dame's Delight was Oxford's comparatively short-lived answer to Parson's Pleasure: a documented women's and family bathing place downstream on the Cherwell.
The story
Established downstream from the better-known male bathing place in 1934, Dame's Delight provided space for women and families until 1970. Its shorter history is a useful counterpoint: outdoor bathing was never just an eccentric male preserve, but access, visibility and propriety were organised differently by gender.
Visiting today
Dame's Delight was a bathing place for women on the bank of the River Cherwell, opposite Mesopotamia Walk, near the University Parks in Oxford. It existed from 1934 to 1970, closing because of flood-related maintenance problems.
- Council
- Oxford, Oxfordshire
- Ward
- Holywell
- County
- Oxfordshire
- Region
- South East
- Nation
- England
- Constituency
- Oxford West and Abingdon
- OS grid reference
- SP 521 071
Landmarks nearby
- Pitt Rivers Museum · 0.7 km — Archaeology and anthropology museum, founded 1884
- Magdalen College · 1 km — College founded in 1458
- Oxford Botanic Garden · 1.2 km — Oldest botanic garden in Britain, founded 1621
Sources
Nearby on the map
Parson's Pleasure was Oxford's men-only nude river-bathing place for well over a century, complete with screens, punt etiquette and a folklore polished by generations of dons.
Documented historyHot spotQueer HeritageMagdalen College, Oxford (Wilde's aesthetic years)Oxford, Oxfordshire · EnglandSpice 1/5 · ChilledWhere Wilde perfected the pose — blue china, sunflowers, a double first — that became the aesthetic movement. Oxford also formed the circles through which, years later, Bosie entered his life
Documented historyBohemian & LibertineGarsington Manor (Lady Ottoline Morrell's set)Garsington, Oxfordshire · EnglandSpice 3/5 · SimmeringOttoline Morrell's Tudor manor was the great house-party of literary modernism: Bertrand Russell was her lover, Lawrence repaid her hospitality by putting her in 'Women in Love', and the peacock-stalked gardens hosted more entanglements than the guest book could decently record.
Documented historyHot spotSpotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.