Chapter 28: Back to Oxford: River, Gardens, Shops & Pubs

Hiyah friends: I am back to creating my blog, Travels with Shep. I thought I'd be clever and break this next chapter, 28 into four parts. But I posted them in the wrong sequence and do not know how to change that. I meant the reader to read Christ Church first, Alice & Harry (Potter) second, Magdalen College third, and Oxford River, Gardens and Pubs last. For the most logical sequencing, look at the archives and read them in the order I recommend. ENJOY.

It is not so crowded as I thought it might be on St George's Day: I see a few people dressed for the occasion, but life seems normal with a few students about, some in gowns and others involved in activities like punting on the Cherwell, which looks to be great fun!

I had read about the Turf Tavern and decided I should find it for tea. It is hidden just off Hopewell Street, down a little alley, Bath Place. The reviewer in The Telegraph provided some information about the pub, which has been here for 600 years. Once famous for cockfighting, it offers three little courtyards in which to enjoy its fine food and wide range of choices, with wonderful names like Titanic Steerage, Springhead Sweet Lips, and others named for the Uffington Horse and the naked Cerne Abbas Giant (carved in the chalk hillside in Wessex.) According to the review, Wessex's Thomas Hardy used the Turf Tavern as his "obscure and low-beamed tavern" in Jude the Obscure.

One can exit the Turf Tavern through St Helen's Passage to New College Lane. There were few students here today, mostly tourists, likely those who had read the review. One could not find this pub easily unless you knew it was hidden back in these alleys.

The food is also excellent. I enjoy a hot Madras curry served with Major Grey Chutney and popodoms. I am not the first well-known guest: others have included Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor, and C S Lewis. Once again I am enthralled with the idea that I am enjoying a meal in the sunshine outside a tavern that has been here, as the review pointed out, since the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

I also go back to the University of Oxford Botanic Gardens, needing a break from narrow streets and crowds of people.

The sign tells me that this English Yew was planted in 1645 at the time of the English Civil War. So once again I am reminded about the different sense of time I find all over Britain when compared to my own town in Nova Scotia. I used to live in an ancient home, an 1830 farmhouse, and my old friend Jack Marriott lived in the oldest building in Kings County: The Planters' Barracks, built about 1778. That's brand new in Oxford terms! I am reminded of a line from Carol Shields' novel, Unless, which I am now reading: "I read recently that an English oak takes three hundred years to grow, then lives for three hundred years, then spends three hundred years dying."

J R R Tolkien's favourite tree, according to the Botanic Gardens' brochure. Tolkien lived in Oxford for many years. He is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery.

Students enjoying a lunch break feeding the ducks in this little stream of the Cherwell, alongside the Botanic Gardens.

Cornmarket Street: a coffee shop and Pret A Manger. It is so incongruous to see medieval or Tudor structures now serving as modern cafes or brand-name shops.

Part of the great Blackwell's Oxford presence. On the left is the science fiction branch of the famous bookstore. Right is the main bookstore. Behind me is their music and dvd division. The number of books on several floors was overwhelming: I found so many books that I wanted to buy that I didn't buy any!

The unkempt graveyard at St Michael at the Northgate, now constantly surrounded by a steady stream of busses arriving at and departing from the city centre.

The Carfax tower is all that remains of the 14-century Church of St Martins demolished in 1896 so that the road could be widened. Carfax was the crossing point of the original north-to-south and east-to-west routes through Oxford and comes from the word from the French quatre voies, or "four ways."

The Martyrs' Monument, across from my bus stop and the Ashmolean Museum. The monument commemorates the three Protestant martyrs, Latimer, Ridley, and Crammer, who were burned at the stake for heresy. Unfortunately, the Ashmolean is closed until November 2009. I had my heart set on seeing their Pre-Raphaelite collection. Instead I settled on a few art prints from the still-open gift shop.

A Town Crier at the end of the High Street, likely involved in some St George's Day celebrations.
St Mary the Virgin Church. Of all the churches I have visited, this was the most musty and cheerless of them all.
But is has quite a high tower, well worth the small fee to climb up for the spectacular views.

Once again, I climb uncounted winding steps to the top, furthering my precognition that sometime on my travels I am going to collaspse at the top of such stairs, creating a major problem for paramedics (or the coroner) to get my carcass back to the ground! I manage to overcome my vertigo and snap a few photos. (I say "snap" only because I have set my digital camera to sound like my old SLR Nikon!)

Here I am vertiginously looking down on the High Street. The space is so small that two people cannot quite pass one another (or can do so only if they want to be quite intimate) so I have to nip into a little indentation in the wall to let the school girls get past me.

Looking down High Street towards Magdalen College.

Looking down on All Souls College Quad. Known formally as All Souls of the Faithful Departed, it was founded about 1443.

The Classical Radcliffe Rotunda (1748) was built in the Baroque style by James Gibbs as a memorial to the physician Dr. John Radcliffe. J R R Tolkien decided that this building, which is part of the Bodleian Library, looks like Sauron's temple to Morgoth on Nümenor. In the Notion Club Papers (published in The Downfall of Sauron: The History of Middle Earth, Volume 9), the characters confuse the two buildings.

Another view of Oxford, eastward, from St Mary the Virgin. There is so much to see in this small city, so many things to do. There are old shops and modern designer-label stores. I have yet to see Oxford Castle, and must return to see the Botanic Gardens in full summer bloom.

Post Script

Soon after this visit to Oxford, we found another wonderful pub, this time in the little village of Hinton-in-the-Hedges. The pub is a Free House, called Crewe Arms, and it is superb!

The service was excellent, the food delicious. I had a lamb steak cooked in thyme with a cranberry sauce; the others enjoyed pork medallions, and chicken in a Stilton sauce. Desserts were apple & rhubarb crumble and treacle pie. We were amused by the arrival of a costume party, led by Sgt. Pepper and his friends in brightly coloured costumes!
The lambs, sheep and geese in the farmer's field across the road from the pub. Below, your satisfied blogger, having enjoyed this repast and wondering where to travel next.

Chapter 28: Back to Oxford: Magdalen College

Magdalen College must be the most beautiful of Oxford University’s thirty-eight colleges (and six halls) and the guidebooks recommend visiting this campus because it is typical and it is beautiful. I could not have chosen a more perfect afternoon to stroll through the College grounds: warm and sunny with the freshness of Spring. And it is a day of celebration in Britain: St George's Day!

Like most visitors—oh, admit it, “tourists”—I want to be knowledgeable about the places I visit. I knew there was something unusual about the name of this college: In the original 1458 charter the name was spelled Maudelyn and is still pronounced “maudlin” or “mawdlin.” I cannot hide the fact that I am a tourist: the students wear uniforms, the Fellows their academic gowns, and the visitors have digital cameras slung around their necks!

The Cloister or Great Quadrangle was built in 1474-80 and has been altered several times since then. In 1822, the north side was in bad shape, and was knocked down while most of the fellows were away from college (only a small group of fellows were in favour of demolishing it). It was rebuilt shortly afterwards. In the early 1900s, renovations were performed, and it was returned to a more mediaeval character. Student rooms were installed in the (very large) roof space in the 1980s, and are some of the most sought after rooms in the college.Looking out unto the Cloister Quadrangle.

The Grammar School, the sole remaining original element of Madgalen College School was moved across the River Cherwell in 1888. This is located just outside the Porter's Lodge, on St. John's Quadrangle, named for the Hospital of St John the Baptist which occupied this site from 1180, parts of which still remain.

The little river Cherwell runs alongside the College; behind me on this footbridge is Magdalen Bridge, where one can rent a punt to go punting on the river.

On the left is the New Building, so-called because it was built as recently as 1722! Its spacious setting is due to the builders' intentions to create an entirely new quad, but only one side was completed. C. S. Lewis had his rooms in this building. Seven of the Magdalen Fellows (teachers) have been awarded Nobel Prizes, including Sir Peter Medawar, Sir John Eccles and Seamus Heaney (1995).

The President's Lodging. (The Founder's Statutes decreed that the President must live apart from the rest of the College community; he was the only senior member allowed to marry!)

The wall of the old Gothic section of the cloisters.

The gateway to Addison's Walk. The Walk is named for Joseph Addison, 1672-1719, a Fellow from the college who enjoyed walking here. He wrote articles about landscape gardening for The Spectator. I do not take the pathways today: on another day I am coming back to Oxford to take the walk from Oxford to Wolvercote along the Thames, decribed in The Times last week as one of the UK's 20 best walks. Addison's Walk, here in the grounds of Magdalen College, was the site of a long conversation between J, R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and Hugo Dyson, after which C. S. Lewis became converted to Christianity.

Magdalen is also famous for its Grove (Deer Park). Deer have been kept here since at least 1705, and there are about sixty animals in the herd. They are not near enough today to see up-close, but there is something wonderful about such beautiful creatures grazing peacefully amongst college buildings and only meters away from students lounging on the New Building's steps.

The Hall, now the refectory, the tables being set for the evening meal. A portrait of Cardinal Wolsley, who started the Great Tower, hangs to the left. Not visible is the fireplace, over which hangs a portrait of Oscar Wilde, one of the College's famous alumni. Other alumni include Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, Dudley Moore, Desmond Morris, T. E. Lawrence and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The Chapel was fitted out in 1820 by John Cottingham. I cannot go in, but at the far end is a painting by Léal, presented in 1745.
Inside the Chaplain’s Quadrangle. A modern statue of Christ with St Mary Magdalen by David Wynn.
The narrow archway leading out of the quad, the oldest part of the College on the left. This quad also provides access to the Great Tower. There are newer buildings in the College, including St Swithun's buildings (1888) and the Grove buildings, begun in 1995, but these are not accessible by tourists.

The 48m high, square Great Tower is a famous Oxford landmark, built 1492-1509, and it is a tradition that the college choir sings from the top of it early on May Morning (1 May). It starts early at 6am with the Magdalen College Choir singing hymns, ending with the College Grace “Te Deum patrem colimus” from the top of the tower, a tradition for over 500 years. Large crowds normally gather under the tower along the High Street and on Magdalen Bridge. This is then followed by general revelry and festivities including Morris dancing, impromptu music, etc., for a couple of hours. There is a party atmosphere, despite the early hour. (I wonder if there is a bus to Oxford this early, that I might be here for next week's May Morning festivities.)

I can stay here no longer today: it's time to cross High Street to the Botanic Gardens.