Oxford

18th July 2002

After leaving home at approx 1015hrs this morning we arrived in Oxford at approx 1120 hrs and left the car in the "Park & Ride" car park outside town, near Wolvercote. We got the 300 bus into Oxford and alighted Martyrs Memorial, at the entrance to Broad Street, at the bottom of St Giles. Here immediately you are struck by the antiquity of the place. In front of me, to the left was the impressive facade of Balliol College and, right at the far end on the right, the Museum of Science History.

We drifted along Broad Street, past Balliol and Trinity and turned into Turl Street, part of the Tolkien Walk (Lord of the Rings was written here). JRR Tolkien went to the next college we approached, Exeter College, and opposite is situated Jesus College. Passing Lincoln and Brasenose Colleges we arrived at the junction of Turl Street and High Street. After a visit to the Victorian reconstruction of the Covered Market, crossing over the road, and down a narrow cobbled lane we arrived at the rear of Merton College on the left and Christ Church Meadows on the right, along a dusty, gritty pathway to the site of the University of Oxford Botanical Gardens and Meadow Cottages.

Merton College rear

Merton College

Here were turned right and arrived alongside the river on which floated several ducks with new born ducklings in tow. One female was being circled by 4 and another had 5 in line astern!! All newly off the nest. We pondered on the idyllic settings for a while before retracing our steps to Meadow Cottages and passed entrances to Merton College before entering the hallowed ground of the Bodleian Library.

Passing through the arched doorway I was immediately struck by the strange facing wall on the opposite side of the quadrangle. Reaching the doorway opposite I turned to take in the impressive tower over the main archway. Known as The Tower Of The Five Orders Of Architecture. Image below.

Entrance to Library

Entering the Library proper - there were many signs proclaiming that passage beyond these were "For Readers and Sitters Only!". I entered the Divinity School (image below) where I noted, in the left hand corner, behind the main doors, a large multi locked wooden chest. This belong to the gentleman who was the tutor to Queen Elizabeth I.

The Divinity School: interior showing the magnificent fan-vaulted ceiling with its 455 carved bosses;
the wooden platforms, balustrades and benches are 17th-century.

After leaving the Library we paused briefly to take a picture of the arched, covered, overhead foot crossing Holywell Street. I overheard an American lady refer to it as "The Bridge of Sighs" - which is, of course, in Venice!!

There is a remarkable similarity though! Drifting though the courtyard of the Clarendon Building we arrived at the first of our museum stops; the Museum of Science History, back on Broad Street, situated in the Old Ashmolean Building

Clarendon Building on the right

And what a find this turned out to be. An amazing Museum with many original artifacts including the very photographic reproduction kit used by Lewis Carroll and many fine and delicate microscopes and telescopes. I noted one inscription upon an image of the moon from many many years ago. It went something similar to this: "With this telescope I can make out objects of no less than 100 yards across upon the surface of the Moon - indeed, if York Minster were there, I would see it".

The Museum of Science History

Reluctantly leaving the Science Museum behind we walked back along Broad Street (oxford later) and turned along the shopping route of Corn Market Street. And arrived back at the High Street entrance to the Covered Market, here we went in and had lunch - mine was an enormous "tin miners pasty" full of potato, vegetables and meat (A Cornish recipe). this was no diet food like you'd expect with Medifast coupons. (external link). Returning along Cornmarket Street, we passed the oldest building in Oxford, a Saxon Church Tower and went on into the Ashmolean Museum in Beaumont Street. I thought that the Science Museum was an eye opener but this was even better.

After entering the grand facade, image above, we moved along statues of classical sculpture and turned into the Ancient Nubia and Egypt Rooms. THrough more Ancient Eqypt rooms into the Medieval & Later Antiquities Room, through the Byzantine, Indian Art and then upstairs into the Italian Renaissance and Old Masters and Tapestries Room. Then into the Renaissance Ceramics, Bronzes and Metalwork. By this time I was flagging - totally worn out! It was now approaching 1600 hrs and we decided to call it a day with fully a third of the Museum (external link) unvisited (for this trip anyway!).

Getting the bus back to the car park we traced the route to Wolvecote Cemetery where we found the grave of JRR Tolkien (Image below). After taking three oxford of his grave (and that of his wife) (see below) we returned to the car and struggled back through the early evening traffic towards Birmingham (external link) and home.

The grave of JRR Tolkien