Magoo's Travels: Oxford Visit

Oxford Visit

Rhian and I visited Oxford for the day today. Neither of us had been here before so we didn’t really know what to expect, only what we had seen on TV in the Morse, Lewis and Endeavour series. Rhian drove down to Newport and we left at 9.00am. We decided to go across country and had a really nice journey alongside the River Severn up to Gloucester and then across the Cotswolds’ through lovely villages until we arrived in Oxford.

The first surprise was just how busy it was for a Sunday it was heaving. The second surprise was where we had to go to park but eventually we did and we walked back into the town.

By now it was getting on for lunchtime so as well as trying to see where we were heading we also were looking for somewhere to eat. As we walked through the throngs of people it eventually arrived at the Town Hall and the crowds were getting thinner.

A little further on from the Town Hall we came to Oxford’s largest University, Christ College, in the grounds of which is to be found Oxford Cathedral.

After discovering that the grounds were not open until 2.00pm we decided to stop for lunch. We tried the roof top restaurant at the TVC pub (The Varsity Club) that Sam had recommended to me earlier in the week but it was too crowded so we moved along the road to the Mitre where we found a table and had a really nice lunch.

The view from the Varsity Club roof

After lunch we went back to Christ College, or to use its proper name, Christ Church, and walked around the grounds.

Christ Church

Christ Church is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college is associated with Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, which serves as the college chapel and whose Dean is the college Head.

It is the second wealthiest Oxford college by financial endowment (after St John's) with an endowment approaching 500m

Christ Church has produced thirteen British prime ministers, more than any other Oxbridge college.

The college was the setting for parts of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, as well as a small part of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. More recently it has been used in the filming of the movies of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and also the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel Northern Lights, the film bearing the title of the American edition of the book, The Golden Compass

There is a really well maintained cricket pitch here. but it has a tree growing inside the playing area.

We continued our walk around the grounds and found ourselves out on the street again, but near to the famous college Picture Gallery.

While there we decided to go into the picture gallery and the near grounds. the famous Picture Gallery.

We then moved on to Jesus College and it really began to feel like Morse or Lewis as the grounds all had a familiarity about them which could only have come from the TV series.

Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street. The college was founded by Elizabeth I on 27 June 1571 for the education of clergy, though students now study a broad range of secular subjects. A major driving force behind the establishment of the college was Hugh Price (or Ap Rhys), a churchman from Brecon in Wales.

The oldest buildings, in the first quadrangle, date from the 16th and early 17th centuries; a second quadrangle was added between about 1640 and about 1713, and a third quadrangle was built in about 1906. Further accommodation was built on the main site to mark the 400th anniversary of the college, in 1971, and student flats have been constructed at sites in north and east Oxford.

We were fast running out of time but we next came to Oriel College

Oriel College

Oriel College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, whose claim of being founded by King Alfred is no longer promoted). In recognition of this royal connection, the college has also been known as King's College and King's Hall.] The reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (since 1952, Elizabeth II) is the official Visitor of the College..

The original medieval foundation set up by Adam de Brome, under the patronage of Edward II, was called the House or Hall of the Blessed Mary at Oxford. The first design allowed for a Provost and ten Fellows, called 'scholars', and the College remained a small body of graduate Fellows until the 16th century, when it started to admit undergraduates. During the English Civil War, Oriel played host to high-ranking members of the King's Oxford Parliament.

The main site of the College incorporates four medieval halls: Bedel Hall, St Mary Hall, St Martin Hall and Tackley's Inn, the last being the earliest property acquired by the college and the oldest standing medieval hall in Oxford. The College has nearly 40 Fellows, about 300 undergraduates and some 160 graduates, the student body having roughly equal numbers of men and women.

I've definitely seen Morse and Lewis walking around here.

On our way back to the car we passed the Ashmolean Museum. We did not have time to enter, but I think it certainly calls for future visits to this city to catch up on loads that we have been able to take in today.

The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology

The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, is the world's first university museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of Oxford in 1677. The museum reopened in 2009 after a major redevelopment. In November 2011, new galleries focusing on Egypt and Nubia were also unveiled. In May 2016, the museum opened new galleries of 19th-century art.