Chapter 28: Back to Oxford: Christ Church

I have returned to Britain for another four months, staying with family in Oxfordshire. Not to misrepresent the situation: I am a pensioner, who, in these recessionary times, cannot travel extensively. But I will go back to a place I have already visited rather than stay home. Better to get to know Oxford better because it is easy to get there and costs are reasonable. So, in this chapter, I return to Christ Church Cathedral, to see its wonderful stained glass windows and impressive architecture.

It is spring--St George's Day, in fact--and bulbs bloom everywhere. And everything is green!

The Meadow Building, on the edge of Christ Church Meadows. I see few students today--presumably because they are all attending classes? Surely, the school year has not yet ended.

Inside the little courtyard behind the Meadow Building, where I enter the cloisters and then the cathedral.

An old lamp at the entry archway to the cloisters. In the small courtyard before entering I see some of the famous Oxford Gargoyles, based on faces of real builders of the college.

In this stitched panorama photo of the altar, one gets a sense of the stunningly beautiful vaulted ceiling.

The rebuilt shrine of St Frideswide, smashed on Henry’s order when he destroyed the monasteries in 1538. The window is by Edward Burne-Jones. This chapel is probably the most popular in the cathedral, and is certainly the most beautiful.

St Frideswide, in the legend, fled to the forests around Oxford to escape from a Prince who wanted to marry her. The Prince lost his sight, but Frideswide saved his sight in return for her freedom, and founded a priory nearby. In 1546 King Henry VII re-founded the Cardinal College, founded by Wolsley, as Christ Church. Henry VIII made the priory church of St Frideswide the cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford, making it unique in being not only the diocesan cathedral but also the Christ Church chapel.

Below are details from the window.

The windows in these Jacobean chapels are amazing. I so wish I could better capture the way the sunlight sparkles through the stained glass.

In the central plot of the cloister—where human remains from the 8th century were discovered—are a modern olive tree and fountain. The welcoming inscription around the olive tree is from The Book of Revelation 22:2: “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” The inscription around the fountain is from Psalm 150.
A view of the spire from inside the cloisters.

Outside the cathedral, stands one of famous bowler-hatted Custodians, next to the statue of Mercury, the winged Roman god, in the fishpond at the centre of Tom Quad.

Now I am going into the Great Hall to persue Alice and Harry Potter on their adventures made so famous in literature.