Magdalen College at Oxford

The first college you see when you come down the London Road from Headington and enter Oxford is Magdalen College, with it's iconic and beautiful bell tower towering over the skyline.  It is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful colleges in Oxford.  It was founded in 1448 by William of Waynflete, a New College man. Owing to royal and other gifts, Magdalen became the richest college in Oxford by the reign of Henry VIII.

Today it is known for it's beautiful 15 century buildings, the bell tower,  the 500-year-old tradition of singing Latin Hymns from the Bell Tower each 1st of May,  and the stunning grounds, Addison walk, and dear park.

The college is situated amid 100 acres of woodlands, riverside (Cherwell) walks, gardens and a tranquil Deer Park.

Magdalen Bridge

Hallway of the Cloister Quadrangle

The magnificent Cloister Quadrangle

The Founders Tower

The gargoyles in the Cloister Quad represent virtues and vises ... mostly vises as far as I could tell. I'd love to see this wisteria in full bloom.

Looking across to the deer park

The New Building was built across a large lawn to the north of the Great Quad beginning in 1733. Its spacious setting is due to the builders' intentions to create an entirely new quad, but only one side was completed.

The Longwell Quad building

This is the new library and garden court. It was  built to intagrate with the old library and it's simply stunning.  

Not so old Gargoyles of the two heads of college at Magdalen College

Formal and informal meals are taken in the mediaeval dining Hall, which is located on the first floor above the Cloisters. 

The Old Kitchen Bar is the oldest building on site, dating from the 1300s. It is the former location of the College kitchens and evidence of the original fireplaces can still be seen.

The Spectacular High Anglican chapel 

The magnificent monochrome stained glass window - a grisaille window - from the 17th century, based on Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, fills the west wall.  It has a fascinating story:  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/the-resurrection-at-magdalen-college-1279624.html

Some of the illustrious Alumni of Magdalen College include

·       Joseph Addison
·       Lord Richard Atkin
·       Lord Alfred Denning
·       King Edward VIII
·       Malcolm Fraser, Former Prime Minister of Australia
·       Nicholas Kristof, Pullitzer prize winner
·       T. E. Lawrence of Arabia
·       C.S. Lewis
·       Dudley Moore
·       Cardinal Thomas Wolsey

For a detailed history of Magdalen College:  http://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Illustrated_Magdalen_College_History.pdf

C.S. Lewis' Oxford Home -- The Kilns

In a small neighborhood in Headington, about 3 miles from Oxford center, is the beloved home of C.S. Lewis. The Kilns was built in 1922 on the site of a former brickworks and behind the house is a small pond that is a flooded clay pit.

The Kilns was purchased in 1930 by C.S. Lewis, his brother Warnie, and Mrs Janie Moore. Lewis himself wrote of “The Kilns”, “I never hoped for the like”, and Warnie described it thus: “The house … stands at the entrance to its own grounds at the northern foot of Shotover Park at the end of a narrow lane, which in turn opens off a very bad and little used road [now Kiln Lane], giving as great privacy as can reasonably be looked for near a large town.”

The Kilns then stood in an eight-acre garden on Kiln Lane, alone in the countryside on the outskirts of the parish of Headington Quarry. Risinghurst did not exist then and, over time, the neighborhood has gorwn up all around the house, with the Lewis Close cul-de-sac built in 1968.

The extensive wild grounds to the south of the house (comprising a pond and a wooded hill) provided the inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia, which started off as a tale told to children evacuated to the Kilns from London in 1939. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was published nine years later in 1948.

In 1969 BBONT (the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire Naturalists’ Trust, now renamed the Wildlife Trust) was given the pond and woodland behind the Kilns by Dora Stephens, in memory of her husband Henry and they’ve named the park the C.S. Lewis Nature Reserve.

The California-based C.S. Lewis Foundation bought The Kilns itself in the 1980s for £130,000 and has restored it to its original 1930s appearance. Group tours of the interior of the house can be arranged in advance by contacting thekilns@cslewis.org.

For more information:
http://www.cslewis.org/ourprograms/thekilns/kilnstour/
Directions on how to get the Kilns from Oxford: https://goo.gl/maps/bEhyY

For more information about the Kilns:

http://www.cslewis.org/ourprograms/thekilns/kilnstour/

http://www.headington.org.uk/history/buildings/kilns.htm

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jul/18/books.education