Alice's Shop

Alice’s Shop stands in Oxford on St Aldate’s, a street facing Christ Church. The building is a pair of stone houses joined together, one dating from the 15th century and the other remodelled in the 17th. The older part has a gabled front and a bay window on the first floor. A blocked window on the north side shows the 17th-century work. Together the two houses form a Grade II* listed building. The shop became famous because Alice Liddell bought sweets here when she was a child. Alice’s father was Dean of Christ Church, and Lewis Carroll, who wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, knew her well. In his 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass the shop appears as the Old Sheep Shop. John Tenniel’s illustrations show its shelves crowded with wool and small goods. Inside, visitors find shelves of gifts and souvenirs all linked to Alice. The room still has its original 17th-century features, including the bay window and the blocked window. The Old Sheep Shop scene in the book shows a sheep behind the counter knitting and talking to Alice. The shop’s shifting shelves and dream-like changes appear in the story, ending with Alice leaving in a boat holding knitting needles that turn to oars.