Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes (page 1/3)

See all the images…

St John’s College

From a Drawing by A. Brunet-Debaines.

External link to St. John’s College website.

St John’s College was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas White and named after St. John the Baptist (the patron saint of tailors).

“It is easy to understand that men find it a weary task to read insight of the beauty of the groves of Magdalen and [more...] [$]

The Stone Pulpit at Magdalen College.

From a Drawing by A. Brunnet-Debaines.

Folly Bridge

“Any places of strength in Oxford would command the roads leading to the north and west, and the secure, raised paths that ran through the flooded fens to the ford or bridge, if bridge there then was, between Godstowe and the later Norman grand [...] [more...]

View of Oxford

We see the ancient city in the distance between trees in the foreground. [more...]

The Muniment Room at Merton College

From a Drawing by R. Kent Thomas.

(I think the Muniment Room was built to hold manuscripts, but I am not certain)

“The time is the end of the fourteenth century. The forest and the moor stretch to the east gate of the city. Magdalen bridge is not yet built, nor of course the tower of Magdalen, which M. Brunet-Debaines has sketched from Christ Church walks. Not till about 1473 was the tower built, and years would pass after that before choristers saluted with their fresh voices from its battlements the dawn of the first of May, or sermons were preached from the beautiful stone pulpit in the open air. When our undergraduate, Walter de Stoke, or, more briefly, Stoke, was at Oxford, the spires of the city were few. Where Magdalen stands now, the old Hospital of St. John then stood – a foundation of Henry III. – but the Jews were no longer allowed to bury their dead in the close, which is now the “Physic Garden.” “In 1289,” as Wood says, “the Jews were banished from England for various enormities and crimes committed by them.” The Great and Little Jewries – those dim, populous streets behind the modern Post Office – had been sacked and gutted. No clerk would ever again risk his soul for a fair Jewess’s sake, nor lose his life for his love at the hands of that eminent theologian, Fulke de Breaute. The beautiful tower of Merton was still almost fresh, and the spires of St. Mary’s, of old All Saints, of St. Frideswyde, and the strong tower of New College on the city wall, were the most prominent features in a bird’s-eye view of the town. But though part of Merton, certainly the chapel tower as we have seen, the odd muniment-room with the steep stone roof, and, perhaps, the Library, existed; though New was [more...] [$]