Category Archives: Oxford England

Tea for Two at The Feathers

 

After some time walking about the town of Woodstock we were able to check into our room and get freshened up for our High Tea reservations in the hotel dining room.

Earl Grey was my choice for tea.

After our tea we took a leisurely stroll to get a glimpse of Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

We walked to the end of High Street where these gates to enter the Palace grounds were. Happy to see a side gate open for us to get onto the property.

The end of a long day of walking we headed back to the hotel for the evening.

On Thursday September 22nd we planned to visit Blenheim Palace outer grounds more thoroughly and pay to enter the Palace grounds, too.

The Kneelers ~ Woodstock

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to walk through the older churches and cathedrals. This is the easiest when traveling in England because there are so many and they seem to be more readily open to visitors. One of the things that has stood out when walking through are beautifully stitched kneelers. At St Mary Magdalene in Woodstock there are over 200 kneelers! That is the most I’ve seen anywhere in my travels and visits to churches.

The brochure I picked up in the church about the kneelers was photographed so I could share the information easier for my record here. I was going to make collages of the kneelers that caught my eye but after reading about all the work involved in creating one of them it seemed to me they were worthy of being presented singly.

Here is the church tower kneeler, the Winston Churchill and one I think might be part of the Blenheim Connection

The following give honor to the Lord, the Bible and Prayer.

Then we move on to more community minded themes…

 

And from the state where Dear and I were born and raised. We were surprised when we spotted the California Kneeler.

That’s just a small sampling of the kneelers during our visit on Wednesday September 21st, 2022.

Do you enjoy needlework?

Back to the Present: On Sunday we enjoyed our Sunday services and made a stop on the way home to buy some Deli Salads to go with the 2 racks of ribs we put in the oven. The ribs were pre-seasoned from Costco and turned out fall off the bone delicious. We watched the first half of the Super Bowl game and then hit the record button. Since 2 racks of ribs are more than we could eat, we dropped a rack off at our Colville kids for their dinner before we headed to our Evening service at church. Back at home after church we watched the last 10 seconds of the game and saw that the Kansas Chiefs won. Congratulations to them. I’ve got to say that I really didn’t understand half of the commercials and we didn’t watch the half time show. We got a text with photos of our Grands enjoyed the ribs!

Ribs enjoyed in two households for the win!

St. Mary Magdalene Church ~ Woodstock

Much history of the church and of the photos I’m sharing can be found here.

The church was built during the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) as a chapel of ease so that local people, including members of the royal court, did not have to travel to the parish church at nearby Bladon to worship.

Later in the 13th century the church was enlarged and a bell tower and burial ground were added.

The only parts of that original chapel of ease to survive are a section on the south nave wall and a beautifully carved round-headed 12th-century doorway set into the south wall. The doorway is carved with two orders of traditional Norman zig-zag pattern separated by moulding. Unusually, the zig-zag carving extends all the way to the ground.

The above photo is of that ancient door from the outside and below from the inside.

Separating the church porch from the nave is a wooden screen, carved in the early 16th century. The screen was originally installed in the traditional place between the nave and chancel, but was moved to the west end of the nave in 1999 to make the high altar more easily visible.

This flying eagle lectern is like several others I’ve seen in churches in Great Britain. I think they are so cool.

The superb column capitals on the south nave arcade are one of the church’s best features. There are 23 carved heads incorporated into the design of the capitals, interspersed with foliage.

Each capital is different and the heads are all unique.

All of the stained glass is Victorian.

The angels at the top have banners that read: Let us love one another ~ For love is of God.

Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.

Over 200 kneelers are in this church of which I photographed quite a few. That will be another post.

Inching along to complete posts about our last few days in Oxfordshire in September of 2022.

Back to the present here in the U. S. of A. Yesterday, Friday February 10th, we traveled to Spokane to do some shopping at places we do not have here in Colville. After our stops at Home Depot, T.J.Maxx, Costco, Hobby Lobby, and Trader Joe’s we tried a new to us Chinese Restaurant called the Red Dragon. We had the best Hot and Sour soup and some good potstickers. After we ate we made one more stop at Fred Meyer before we headed home.

Happy Saturday to you.

Woodstock

On Wednesday morning September 21st, 2022 we checked out of our apartment in Oxford.

We had a taxi booked to drive us to Woodstock which was under ten miles from our location. We decided on a taxi instead of the buses that run regularly from Oxford to Woodstock because we didn’t want to shlep our luggage to a bus stop and onto the bus.

Goodbye Oxford, hello Woodstock.

Since our checkout was at 10am we arrived in Woodstock before our check in time of 4pm.

We booked 2 nights at the Feathers Hotel. We left our luggage at the hotel and took a stroll around the small town.

Woodstock Town Hall, a beautiful Grade II listed building which was built in 1766 and is now a major landmark in the town.

We were looking for a good spot to have a lite lunch during our stroll around the town.

The War Memorial next to the church. “To The Memory of The Fallen 1914-1918 1939-1945”.  War Memorials are easy to find in most villages, towns, and cities. There are over 68,000 war memorials in the UK.

We would return to the church after lunch since it was occupied for a service when we walked by.

We found a cozy spot at the Back Lane for a refreshment but they weren’t serving lunch until noon. We would be seeing a lot of Winston Churchill in Woodstock.

THIS STONE WAS RAISED BY THE PEOPLE OF WOODSTOCK TO CELEBRATE THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM.

There were many tributes to the late Queen around town. (Remember we were in England during the mourning period for the Queen)

The Kings Arms looked welcoming for our lunch spot.

We enjoyed their lunch special beef sandwich and chips.

After our nice lunch we walked back to St. Mary Magdalene Church to see if it was possible to get a look inside. It was open and we were welcomed in.  We were still early for our hotel check-in time.

It’s a challenge to get the old brain back to Oxfordshire to remember some details of our last few days there. As challenging as it is the posts will be good to look back on.

Back to the present: We have a relatively quiet week and our temps have been above freezing so there is a lot of melting happening. Plants are emerging that have been covered in snow since November.

Quotes of the weekend:

“Sin is always a big deal.” ~ Dennis Wilkening

“If you want to be a wise person, you need a Bible.” ~ Alistair Begg

Have a good week everyone! If you need a Bible, I could send you one. 🙂

All Souls College

During our last few visits to Oxford this has been a college that we were only able to view through these beautiful iron gates. On Tuesday September 20th, 2022, the day after the Queen’s funeral, we were fortunate to get to High street at the right time to see the doors to this college open.

I will copy and paste some of the history of this college and if it further interests you, you can click here to read more.

The ‘College of the souls of all the faithful departed’, commonly called All Souls College, was planned, built, and endowed in the 1430s by Henry Chichele, long-serving Archbishop of Canterbury. It received its foundation charter in 1438 from King Henry VI, co-opted by the Archbishop as the College’s co-founder. Chichele was in his seventies at the time, and this, his third Oxford benefaction, situated right at the University’s heart, was the fruit of careful reflection about what was needed in a new college.

Pass through the gate house and you again see an essentially medieval building. Here lived the Warden (in rooms beside the gatehouse); the forty Fellows, who until the eighteenth century shared sleeping quarters (still indicated by the wider ‘two-lighted’ windows), but had individual studies (the narrower, ‘single-light’ windows); and a number of chaplains, choristers, clerks, and servants. Today the quadrangle still houses Fellows’ bedrooms (now individual) and studies, as well as administrative offices. The Chapel takes up the whole north side of the quadrangle.

All Souls had two functions. The first, common to all colleges, was religious. The Warden and, originally, forty Fellows were to pray in chapel for the souls of the founders, of those who had fallen in the long wars with France (at the time not being prosecuted with much vigour), and of ‘all the faithful departed’. The second function was academic, and in this, then as now, the College was distinctive. Chichele envisaged the medieval equivalent of a graduate college, an institute of advanced study of a very practical kind. With minor exceptions, the College never took in undergraduates. Its Fellows were previously to have studied somewhere else for at least three years and most would already have a BA. Once admitted they were to study or teach for the higher degrees of theology, law (civil and ‘canon’, or Church, law), and medicine – especially theology and law. The Fellows, all in Holy Orders, had to prepare themselves, not for life in the ivory tower, but for service to Church and government. They were, as Chichele himself put it, an ‘unarmed militia’, trained for the unashamedly patriotic task of restoring national prestige and good order in the face of heresy at home and stalemate abroad.

In this view you can see Radcliffe Camera outside the iron gates we first peeked through.

The central accent of the sundial, the design of which is attributed to Christopher Wren, was absent in the eighteenth century. Moved to its present position only in Victorian times, it was placed initially between the south-facing pinnacles of the chapel.

Heading into the chapel.

15th century Fan Vaulting in the vestibule of the chapel.

The baroque Chapel screen, designed by Sir James Thornhill in 1716, and restored and gilded in the late twentieth century. It replaced a screen which was attributed to Christopher Wren.

Most of the antechapel windows contain some fifteenth-century stained glass.

The Chapel still retains its original medieval hammer-beam roof, which together with the gilded wooden angels that adorn the ends of the beams dates from the fifteenth century. The angels owe their current brilliance to a late twentieth century regilding.

The reredos of the Chapel dates from c. 1447. Its niches contain statues of saints, bishops, and monarchs, arranged in rows on either side of a Crucifixion scene, just above the altar, and a Last Judgement, high up under the roof. The original statues, destroyed in the sixteenth century Reformation, were not replaced with the present Gothic imitations until the nineteenth century. 

reredos: A screen or a decorated part of the wall behind an altar in a church, especially when the altar does not stand free, but against the wall; an altarpiece.

Each school and chapel we were able to visit was unique and we enjoyed seeing the differences. We were not able to view the dining hall at All Souls because it was closed to the public during our visit.

Forward to January 2023. I’m finishing this post on Saturday morning in Orange, California. We are safely tucked into our home away from home for the next several days. Our travel by car on Thursday went well after Dear’s follow-up appointment. His follow-up was good for those of you who were wondering. Our flight on Friday evening, after a delay, was non-eventful and enjoyable with a serendipitous seating next to a couple who has the same doctor we had when we lived on the west side of the Cascades. We had a lively and long conversation connecting the dots. Later today we are having a small family reunion with three or four of my siblings and several nieces and nephews.

Auntie Lolo got this selfie of us at the airport before checking in. Our sons are missing from the photo since they were parking the vehicles after we unloaded ALL our luggage, etc.

Sorry, We’re Closed…

Earlier on Tuesday the 20th of September we tried to visit Brasenose College but it was closed. We journeyed along Brasenose Lane (below) to see if we could visit Jesus College or Exeter College on Turl street.

Jesus College was only open to tour groups who had made appointments in advance. So to us this college was also closed. It was fun to put my foot on this sign above. 1974 is a special year for us. The year we were married.

Exeter college was also closed to us so we ventured on Broad Street to Holywell St. and took photos of this interesting building.

We kept going along Holywell to St. Cross Rd. and spent some time at the Holywell Cemetery. (that post will come later) After the cemetery we visited Magdalen College and that post is complete.

We left Magdalen college the way we came in and walked along Merton street past Logic Lane stopping to add to our history on this lane.

Pictures49-001

Onward on Merton, disappointed that Merton College was closed to visitors.

It looked so inviting.

This relief, made in 1465, showing St. John the Baptist in the wilderness with the college founder Walter de Merton, with assorted plants and animals, including unicorn, sheep and rabbits in burrows below.

On to Magpie passing the Chapel of Merton, turning right to the High.

When we reached High Street we had another view of University Church of St. Mary the Virgin ahead of us and looking to the right we were happy to see that All Souls College was open and receiving visitors!

All Souls would be a sweet finale to a long day of walking and being denied access to several beautiful colleges, sigh. All Souls deserves a post of it’s own, coming soon. We had lots to take in even though we only had access to two of the five colleges we tried to visit. Throw in a cemetery with some famous folk and it was a good full day.

Back to the present: 

We had a safe trip, although harrowing, from home to Sacred Heart in Spokane for Greg’s follow-up at the Stroke Center. We had to travel in the dark, with fog and rain and it was hard to see the lines in the road. When you are traveling a 2 lane highway this becomes even harder. We were so happy when dawn came. After the appointment, the rest of our trip went well. We are safe and sound at our destination.

Magdalen College and C.S. Lewis

On Tuesday September 20th we had plans to try to visit several colleges but at the end of the day we were only able to get into two of the colleges, Magdalen and All Souls College. This post will cover some of Magdalen College and C.S. Lewis’s history there.

We were at the Holywell Cemetery before we made our way to Magdalen along Longwall St. and we noticed this sundial. The dial is formed from metal lines and characters attached to the south facing stone wall of the Grove Auditorium. Upright hour numerals are VII – XII – VI, and hour and half-hour lines run each to their own unmarked circular arc around the gnomon root. The gnomon is a thin un-supported rod springing from a small disc on the wall. Above the dial is ‘M M’ for both Mary Magdalen and the year 2000. On with our journey to the entrance to Magdalen college on High St.

We entered to St. John’s Court through the Porter’s Lodge. This beautiful gate is beside Porter’s Lodge. We are now in St. John’s Court.

We picked up a brochure called C.S. Lewis At Magdalen from the Porter’s desk. I will be quoting from the brochure in this post. Thank you to Magdalen College.

We were sad to hear the chapel was closed to visitors because of the restoration of the organ.

In 2014 Dear and I ware able to view the chapel and that post is here.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) as a student at University College down the road from Magdalen College. In 1925 he was called to Magdalen to be considered for a teaching post of English Language and Literature. He was chosen and elected a Fellow at 500 pounds a year, plus accommodation, meals, and pension.

The traditional ceremony for the induction of Fellows at Magdalen is unchanged from Lewis’s time. Kneeling on a red cushion before the President in the presence of other Fellows and asked, in Latin, will you uphold the statutes of the College? They reply, Do fidem (I give my faith or I so promise) The President pronounces them admitted to the Fellowship, shakes their hand and wishes them joy. The new Fellow is then greeted by the other Fellows, one by one, who also wish him joy.

Lewis’s relationship with Magdalen would last a lifetime.

In this photo you can see the Great Bell Tower at Magdalen. Every May 1st at dawn the choir welcomes the morning in song up in the tower to crowds on the streets below. Click here to read and see more.

The 15th Century Cloisters construction commenced in 1474 which makes this medieval square of stone among the oldest parts of Magdalen.

We left the main grounds to get to Addison’s Walk along the Holywell Mill Stream.

Addison’s Walk in April of 2004 ~ Our daughter and her dad

2014-07-011

We were sad to find out on our 2022 Addison’s walk that this tree met it’s demise and is no longer on the path.

On this visit we walked further along to this second stone bridge to see this memorial tablet presented to the College by the Oxford University C.S. Lewis Society, to mark the centenary of Lewis’s birth, November 29, 1898. So this tablet has been here since 1998. I copied the poem below so you would be able to read it since the tablet has weathered over the last 25 years.

What the Bird Said Early in the Year

I heard in Addison’s Walk a bird sing clear
This year the summer will come true. This year. This year.

Winds will not strip the blossom from the apple trees
This year nor want of rain destroy the peas

This year time’s nature will no more defeat you
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.

This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn one year older by the well worn track.

This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.

Often deceived, yet open once again your heart.
Quick quick, quick, quick – the gates are drawn apart.

C.S. Lewis

We walked back following the stream to where it meets up with the The River Cherwell at Magdalen Bridge. This is where you can rent a punt.

On our way back to the New Building Lawns we spotted the herd of fallow deer.

Lewis’s college rooms were in New Buildings. The buildings you see below. He enjoyed the views from his windows where he could see the College’s herd of fallow deer.

“It was in these rooms in New Buildings, several years after he became a Fellow, that Lewis moved steadily, through a long personal and philosophical struggle, towards belief in God. He had been an Atheist for the better part of twenty years. But he became convinced that reasonable argument itself is dependent on a God, whose existence he felt driven, reluctantly, to concede.”

“An important turning point was a late-night conversation at Magdalen with his friends Hugo Dyson and J.R.R. Tolkien. After dinner, the three men withdrew to Addison’s Walk, (see photos of Addison’s walk above) continuing in conversation and further in the night in Lewis’s rooms in New Buildings until three in the morning. They talked about myth and reality and the idea that Christianity, while similar to great pagan myths that Lewis found powerful and attractive, was a myth with a unique difference, because of it’s claim to be historically authentic–a claim Lewis was soon to accept.”

“The close friendship between Lewis and Tolkien was partly based on sharing and discussing the books they were writing, and these exchanges came to include other Christian friends and writers, a literary circle to be known as the Inklings. Typically meeting in Lewis’s rooms in New Buildings on Thursday nights and in the ‘Eagle and Child’ pub on Tuesday mornings, the group flourished in the 1930’s and 40’s. The Inklings read, discussed, and criticized passages from many books still in the making, among them Tolkien’s, The Lord of the Rings. Lewis so admired this book that many years later, he would nominate Tolkien for the Nobel Prize for Literature.”

As we waited for the Dining Hall to be open to viewing, we stepped into the Old Kitchen Bar to find a refreshment but no one was around. We did spot the framed photos above of the filming of Shadowlands at Magdalen college. Shadowlands is a story based on the real life story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. Anyone have a copy of the DVD we could borrow?

We couldn’t walk into the dining room but we had a small cordoned off section to stand in and look and take photographs.

Edward Butler, (1686-1745) President Magdalen College University of Oxford (1722-1745)

We exited the college and made our way to Merton Street where more adventures would follow.

Back to the present on this Wednesday January 11th of 2023, we’ve had some snow melting slowly here and more bare ground showing. Some very thick fog the last few days that makes driving a challenge. Today I’ll be joining some other gals at church for our weekly prayer meeting. How can I pray for you? There’s a link at the top of my blog where you can find my email address. We are getting ready for another adventure with our whole family. Our January family trip that will cover all our January family birthdays, too. Because of this I will again be slow in visiting and keeping up with your blogs. Thursday Dear has a follow-up with the Stroke clinic in Spokane.

Like C.S. Lewis, I do hope you will concede and accept the truth of the historical Jesus, who died for your sins and is risen from the dead and reigning with all authority at the right hand of God! Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you, too, will be saved.

Doorways

After my gargoyle post yesterday, that was a little disturbing to some, I decided to post a few doorways today in between more of my very full Oxford posts coming soon. These doorways are from Magdalen College. (Pronounced Maudlin)

I’m working on a full post from Magdalen College with some history of C.S. Lewis’ connections there.

I’ll keep it simple today and leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis.

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” From The Weight of Glory.

Gargoyles

Gargoyles were originally designed in 13th century French architecture as a means of disposing of water. Think of them as the precursor to the gutter. Typically, a trough was cut into the back of the gargoyle and the rainwater was able to run off of the roof and through the gargoyle’s mouth.

And that’s the story I’m sticking to in showing all the gargoyles I took photos of while we were in England in September of 2022. This will be a photo heavy post.

If you would like to read more about gargoyles and grotesques in Oxford click here. You’ll see what I missed and what I’ll keep a lookout for Lord willing we ever are able to return to Oxford.

Back to the present in Colville at our Country Bungalow. It’s been raining and the temps are above freezing. Things are getting very soggy around here. We’ll call this the drip and puddle season that will soon turn to the mud season before we see the green of Spring. Dear is driving again and we managed to snow shovel the way for our truck to get out of the shop and on to the dump to make our winter dump run. Romantic, isn’t it? We did stop for lunch on the way home from the dump so that’s a thing. 🙂 Happy New week to you.

Two for One

My return to our Oxford travels post today is a two for one. It will cover Sunday and Monday in Oxford, September 18th and 19th of 2022.

On Sunday morning we had some breakfast in the apartment before we walked a little under a mile to St. Luke’s Chapel where we would attend church. We researched churches before we left home and emailed a couple pastors. Andrew Young emailed us back and after further research we decided to worship at his church, the Oxford Evangelical Presbyterian Church. They meet on Sunday mornings at St. Luke’s Chapel, 10:30 a.m. On our way we passed the Oxford University Press Building and this next building.

The Radcliffe Observatory, which is now part of Green Templeton College. This is the back of the building. A statue of Atlas is on top of the tower.

I did not take this photo of Atlas. This is the author of the photo.

As we walked up to the door of St. Luke’s we saw two of the people from Florida that we met at the C.S. Lewis Kilns tour. The Father/daughter duo were in Oxford because the daughter took a job in Oxford. Her dad was helping her get settled. She chose this church to attend while she lives in Oxford. That was a fun 2nd encounter.

We also met a young family who are in Oxford for the husband to earn his doctorate. This family was from Southern California and are part of Grace Community Church, Dear and my first church after we were married.

Pastor Andrew spoke on The Source of Christ’s Authority using Mathew 7:28-29 as part of his text. Part of his outline; 1. Who Jesus Was, 2. What Jesus Taught, 3. How Jesus Lived. What stood out to me; Jesus has permanent authority because of who He is. Jesus is true to the Word of God. Jesus was the obedient Son of God. We live under Christ’s authority. We need to be obedient. Believe, worship, follow Jesus.

After the service we talked with a few more of the folks before we walked back to The Turf Tavern to try to get a seat for a Sunday Roast.

The streets were a little more crowded than usual.

The only seat we could find was in this outdoor section of the Turf. We kept our eyes peeled for a table to open up inside.

This part of The Turf shares a wall with New College. The tower behind and the gargoyles are part of New College.

When our food arrived a table opened up inside and our server delivered the food to our new location. Hooray.

I had the lamb roast and Dear enjoyed the Fish and Chips.

After our meal we decided to shop at the Sainsbury Market on the edge of the Westgate shopping center. We wanted to have food for our meals on Monday since it was the day of Queen Elizabeth the II’s funeral and we knew a lot of places could be closed.

Back to our apartment above the never closed cheap pub, The Swan and Castle. We did not choose to have any meals there but a lot of other people did.

Into the building and that was almost the end of the day.

After unpacking our groceries we decided we needed to add a couple items but our local Sainsbury closed early on Sunday so after looking online we found a Tesco Express that stayed open late on Sunday. Got our walking shoes back on and made the evening trek, a half mile away. Home again, home again, jiggety jig. Now we were equipped for a day at home on Monday.

We woke up on Monday and watched the coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

We enjoyed a charcuterie while watching.

We were in awe of these young men who carried the coffin up and down stairs and down long aisles. It was a wonderful memorial tribute to the Queen.

After the coverage ended we saw that the Slug and Lettuce, a restaurant in the complex was open so we walked down and had a hot meal. We wouldn’t recommend the restaurant, though. Slug was appropriate in their title.

We had big plans for Tuesday our last full day in the apartment before we moved out to Woodstock for a couple nights.

Cheers!