UP, DOWN AND ALL ROUND OXFORD, ENGLAND
Colleges, pubs and Inspector Morse.
by Michelle Bienias
"And that sweet City with her dreaming spires, she needs not June for beauty's heightening". Mathew Arnold
Oxford. A pillar of academia with its dreaming spires, river punts and scores of near-ancient pubs, the word alone conjures up scenes from Brideshead Revisited and Inspector Morse reruns, images of privileged debauchery, murder and mayhem, all unfolding in this quintessentially English college town.
One of the oldest and most celebrated university towns in Europe and the oldest English-speaking university in the world, Oxford lays claim to eight centuries of continuous existence. It lies at the confluence of the Rivers Cherwell and Thames, or “Isis”, as it is locally known. The name of the town literally means a ford for oxen. Its beginnings are obscure but it gradually became a meeting place for scholars to discuss religious questions. In the 13th century tensions between ‘town and gown’ escalated and several university students were killed in a riot. There is some dispute about which college is the oldest: University College had the first benefactor in 1249; Balliol has occupied the same site from 1263; Merton had the first statutes establishing a college institution in 1264. The University went through a period of decline in the 18th century that was staunched with the university reforms of the 1850s.
Dr. Karl Harrison of Oxford University, along with the students in his senior chemistry class, has produced a mind-bogglingly mammoth tour of Oxford, England. ‘Virtual Tour of Oxford’ was launched in October 2000 and has been growing ever since – to its current size just shy of 1800 panoramas. The project wasn’t conceived at such a large scale but has grown organically, and continues to be updated. “I see it like painting a bridge,” says Harrison, “when you get to one end it is time to start all over again, either buildings have changed or camera resolution has improved”. The gigantic size (and number of viewing choices) could be overwhelming but they are broken down into digestible meal-sized ‘Walking Tour’ categories, complete with interactive maps. Dr. Harrison receives no compensation for his work; rather it’s a labor of love borne out of a desire to share this beautiful city with others. His next project will show the changing seasons in the Botanic Garden.
 Tours of Colleges and Museums
These tours cover nearly half of the 45 Oxford colleges with panos of the quads, chapels and dining halls and many of its museums. And new ones are in the works. You will need Apple's QuickTime 6 or better and Macromedia Flash 6 to view the sites.
Exeter, arguably the most beautiful of all the colleges, was the alma mater of J.R.R. Tolkien, who ‘came up’ in 1911 (Martin Amis graduated in 1968). Walter de Stapeldon, a man of modest means who rose to become Bishop of Exeter and Treasurer of England under Edward II, founded it in 1314 to provide an educated clergy for his parishes, many of whom came from his home of Devon and nearby Cornwall. The Hall and chapel were built in 1618; the rest of the quad was completed in stages between 1672 and 1710.
Keble College is named after John Keble, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, a group critical of the increasing secularization of the Church of England. He died four years before the college was founded in 1870. Parts of the college are named after Edward Pusey, a colleague of John Keble. William Butterfield was the architect and produced a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic. The Keble chapel houses the original Holman Hunt Painting ‘The Light of the World’. Harrison suggests looking out for the panoramas from the top of the chapel and inside, “see if you can find the student photographers in the secret elevator in one of the buildings”.
Sir Thomas Pope founded Trinity , one of the smaller Oxford colleges in terms of student numbers, in 1555. He was a devout catholic lawyer who served as the Treasurer of the Court of Augmentations under Henry VIII. Trinity occupies a spacious site with some of the most beautiful gardens and buildings in Oxford and close proximity to the Bodleian Library.
The Museum of Natural History houses extensive collections of zoology, entomology, geology and mineralogy, including a 40-foot Tyrannosaurus rex, found locally. The building is regarded as one of the finest examples of the Victorian, neo-Gothic style of architecture.
The Botanic Garden is the third oldest scientific garden in the world, containing over 8,000 different plant species grouped within three sections: the Walled Garden, the Glasshouses, and the Water and Rock Gardens.
Special Tours
J.R. Tolkiens’ Oxford covers areas of special relevance to the author and scholar, who spent over fifty years of his adult life in the city. The tour features a moving and interactive timeline of Tolkien’s life, from his birth in 1890 to death in 1980, and stops at several homes where he lived (and wrote The Lord of the Rings), pubs where he drank (his informal literary group, the ‘Inklings’, which included C.S. Lewis, met at the Eagle and Child on Tuesday nights), and his final resting place in Wolvercote Cemetery.
Inspector Morse’s Oxford
Fans of the British TV series Inspector Morse, based upon Colin Dexter’s character and novels, starring John Thaw, will enjoy this tour of well-known settings in the book and television series, such as the Randolph Hotel (featured in ‘The Wolvercote Tongue’) and Blackwell’s Book Store.
Tour of Iffley Village
Iffley is a quaint village by the river clustered around an ancient church, St. Mary’s, built over 830 years ago.
St Giles Fair , where showmen and stallholders have gathered on the first Monday and Tuesday after the 1st of September to celebrate St. Giles’ day since the 1600s, is a new tour photographed this past September 2003.
Pubs & Clubs of Oxford
A virtual tour of Oxford's famous pubs.
Read the review of Dr. Karl Harrison's Pitt Rivers Museum, also in this issue.
Famous Graduates:
Bill Clinton (Rhodes’ Scholar), Sir Walter Raleigh, Samuel Johnson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Evelyn Waugh, W.H. Auden, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carol), 24 British Prime Ministers, T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia), Oscar Wilde, C.S. Lewis, T.S. Elliot, Kris Kristopherson , John Locke, Martin Amis
Email Karl Harrison: karl.harrison@chemistry.oxford.ac.uk
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