An archaeologist's view of St Ebbe's
Tom Hassall, the archaeologist who ran excavations in St Ebbe's before the first Westgate Centre was built, has shared his extensive collection of slides taken in the area when he began work in 1967. Although St Ebbe's was regarded as a slum and planners did not think it should be preserved, Tom sensed that something was going that should be captured. He took many photographs for his personal archive, recording details of remaining houses, the demolition process and aspects of the construction of the Westgate Centre.
Tom Hassall documented some key routes through St Ebbe's, but also photographed details which many would have seen as arbitrary. To an archaeologist a range of perspectives that others might consider uninteresting - the backs of houses, exposed construction details - may potentially be significant.
Tom Hassall also photographed the last cattle market in St Ebbe's, capturing the ending of this long tradition of cattle being driven into the centre of Oxford.
There are very few colour photographs of St Ebbe's which makes these a particularly important record of the area.
All photographs are used with the permission of Tom Hassall.