Oxford, England - Town and University

Magdalen College, Oxford - from the High Street. Established in 1458, Magdalen is one of the many colleges that make up Oxford University. Each college is indepedent, has their own students, dining hall, library, chapel, and endowment. Magdalen is on the edge of the city center and adjacent the river Cherwell. Famous alumni include Julian Barnes, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer AND David Souter, Oscar Wilde, and of course, Dudley Moore...

My trip to Oxford the other day was a trip down memory lane. I spent my Junior year of college studying English History and Literature at Wadham College and lived in this city for a very memorable year of my life. I was here briefly for a wedding 10 years ago, but didn't have time to wander the streets and visit my old haunts.

An easy hour train ride from London's Paddington Station, Oxford is not far from London, but feels a thousand miles away from the (relatively) modern metropolis.

From the train window:

When I got to town, I started with my old local pub, the Holly Bush

The Holly Bush was about 50 yards from my house, and I spend a lot of time in there. Back then my drink of choice was either Guiness or Glennfidich, on this visit I had a sparkling water and a Steak and Kidney Pie for lunch.

I met a Welsh gentleman at the bar named Adrian. He normally works as a tour guide, but had lost his voice two weeks ago and was in there mid-afternoon for a constitutional. Get well soon Adrian!

After a sustaining lunch, I walked down the river - called the Isis here in Oxford, but actually the Thames just down stream - and visited the boathouses where I used to row for Wadham College in an eight man boat. We were awful, never won a race, but enjoyed ourselves. Maybe if we spent more time on the river and less time in the pub...

A bit down river from here I came across more interesting grafitti art below a bridge:

An infamous and iconic image.

The architecture found in this city is truly breathtaking - even for a country as rich in history as England. Here is the roof-line of New College, Oxford. Ironically, one of the oldest of the colleges - established in 1379. (Trivia - Hugh Grant AND Kate Beckinsale went here - I smell a screenplay!)

Parked between New and Magdalen...Yes, they really drive those things in this country...

And yes, the students do wear these gowns and mortar boards - not every day, but for special occasions and when they sit for exams. It was exam day in Oxford on Monday. I overheard them muttering about some especially difficult question on their Medieval History exam just finished...

Exams finished, students gather in front of the Exam Hall.

Just west of the city, where the Isis (Thames) winds behind the train station, there is a towpath that affords one some very pretty views. Every Swan in England enjoys the special protection of the Queen. Each of them has a little bracelet on their leg that has HM and a number...

Another view of the river

Oxford is a famous University town, but it is also the center of Oxfordshire, and a very busy center of commerce. That is Christ Church College in the background - the entrance was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who also designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Also designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the Radcliffe Camera Reading room of the Bodlein Library is the round building on the right. By royal decree, the publisher of every book printed in Great Britain has to send a copy to the Bodlein Library regardless of "quality". Thus, they have a copy of everything, and I mean everything. That is All Souls College on the left.

Another view

This fellow is the Docent at the main entrance to Christchurch College where many of England's Political leaders were educated over the past 350 years. His job is to help tourists, but also to keep non-students out. The grounds were closed when I arrived, but he agreed to a photo to temper my disappointment.

(Famous Christchurch alums - 14 former Prime Ministers including Sir Robert Peel & William Gladstone, also - W. H. Auden, Lewis Caroll, William Penn, John Locke and Abert Einstein).

(isn't he right out of central casting?)

Hertford College Bridge. Some call it the "Bridge of Sighs" due to its similarity to the bridge in Venice. (Famous Hertford alums - Thomas Hobbes, author of "Leviathan" and Jonathan Swift, author of "Gulliver's Travels")

A view of St. Mary's Church from the High Street. I love the architectural details found in this place. Many of the colleges not only have statuary on the roof, but also collections of classic gargoyles along the eaves.

Detail of Hertford College

This is Wadham where I studied. Not as impressive as some of the colleges, but it was home for me... Next door to Wadham is Rhodes House where the American scholars of the same name are based. Bill Clinton went here for two years in his youth. (Famous Wadham alums - Monica Ali, who wrote "Brick Lane" and Sir Christopher Wren, Architect)

Just in case you thought that every building in this city is hundreds of years old, I present to you the Saïd Business School at Oxford University. This particular structure opened in 2001. Adrian told me that it was endowed by a Middle Eastern businessman and is supposed to resemble a Ziggurat, yet still preserve the stone color of many of the older colleges. Maybe he was putting me on...

The Oxford Castle - once just that, then it was used as a prison, and now...a hotel and tourist attraction. To my horror, I discoverd a Krispy Kreme Donut shop just inside the main entrance...Progress, I guess...

Before leaving town, I hiked two miles upriver to a place called Binsey. It was a pilgrimage of sorts - one of my favorite poems was penned about this place. Gerard Manly Hopkins was walking along the river in 1879 when he found that his favorite grove of poplar trees had been cut down. The poem he wrote was a lament for these particular trees, but has a broader, environmentalist theme. I was walking this same path back in 1989 and I came across a grove of tiny saplings with a small sign that said "planted in memory of Gerard Manly Hopkins". They seem to be doing well don't you think?

For those of you interested in poetic style, his work is a nice example of alliterative verse. I include it here:

Binsey Poplars

felled 1879


MY aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled;
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandled a sandalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank.
O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew—
Hack and rack the growing green!
Since country is so tender
To touch, her being só slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all,
Where we, even where we mean
To mend her we end her,
When we hew or delve:
After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc únselve
The sweet especial scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene.

On my way back along the river to catch my train back to London, I caught this early evening sunset. A fitting final image I think...