Burford, Widford, and the DMV

Our second field trip took us to Burford and Widford towns outside of Oxford. Again we piled into a bus and drove our merry way out to see churches. 

We gathered at the bus stop for a while waiting for the bus. We waited a while until we realized that it had stopped at the girls school a little distance away.

We arrived at Burford and delighted in the ''quaint" village. It was an old wool town which is why it had the money to build a beautiful cathedral. Eventually the market slowed and it was bypassed by the railway which further made it a backwater. Now the town works to keep up its historical appeal.

Original wood trim on one of the houses. I think it was from the 15th century.

The cathedral. It's a jumbling of additions and was part of Christopher Wren's restoration of churches.

The porch, where the village would have done church and secular business.

The memorial to Edmund Harman, Henry VIII's barber, which features carvings of American Indians.

What a car!

Looking back at the church's spire.

We then traveled to Widford to see the DMV. To our amusement, we discovered that we were not, in fact, going to see the Department of Motor Vehicles but a Deserted Medieval Village. There was not much left, just a cow field with a stone church perched in the middle.

Inside we found this picture of a crest of England which obscured an image of probably St. Christopher. Such representations were usually placed opposite the door so that villagers could poke their head in and see it easily. Looking upon his representation was supposed to prevent dying that day unshriven.

Simon, our fearless leader, climbed into the rickety, crooked pulpit to deliver a lecture on the history of the church.

Original murals rediscovered under a layer of plaster and paint.

Contemplating running widdershines around this church.

Library Cards and Iffley

Our first Friday took us to the Bodleian Library to pick up our library cards. We cycled down over a path which would soon become familiar and into the heart of town. 

We stopped to talk about the Bridge of Sighs and continued to the Old Bodleian.

This room has been used to house Parliment, and it was where we swore our oath before being allowed to use the library.

"I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library."

That Saturday we piled onto a bus and drove not far away to the little village of Iffley. We passed thatched houses because England still thatches their houses. The church there was built c. 1180 AD and is fairly undespoiled by King Henry VIII and the Victorians and the change in taste and liturgy. Because the money from the church was sent a few counties away to support an arms house there wasn't enough to keep up with the changes needed by the alteration of the Catholic liturgy. This is why it has stayed with just the nave without any isles. The Victorians did add an organ over the South door, traditionally the main entrance, so we go in using the grand West door. 

Outside there is this stone basin. Apparently it was dug up near by but no one knows where it came from. One of the lecturers, after taking a closer look, thinks that it might be the original font and the one inside is a later addition, from the 15th century. It's just speculation, but it makes sense since the stone basin clearly had a lock on it,  likely to keep the holy water in.

This is the now unused south door. Churches were traditionally built facing the east, so the south door faced the sun and was considered the door of life. It was the common door for common people. The West door is usually more decorated.

I don't seem to have a picture of the full West door, but here is a good closeup of the detailed bird heads which cover the arch. As a design element it seems to have developed out of the classic Saxon chevrons which you see further in. The outside ring is the signs of the zidiac with a few more carvings tacked on the end to fill out the space.

Lastly, we saw a carving of a "green man". No one knows his definitive story or why he appears all over England, always with vegetation growing out of his mouth. I get that he is a fertility symbol of life and regrowth, but I would really like to hear his myth.

Just for reference, this is a Victorian Green Man on Rose Lane by the Rad Cam and Brasenose College. Man, with plants growing out of his mouth.

In which I create a "Church Crawl" of London

This, dear readers, is a little out of order of all the stories which I will eventually tell about my time abroad.

After spending a few days in Paris I came back to London on Wednesday to stay the night before flying out Thursday in the afternoon. Since I would only have a few hours in London I wanted to make them count, but even with a plan there is too much to see and too much to leave out. With that in mind, I thought that an alternate option was in order. My time in Oxford and Paris was marked by visiting churches so I thought that extending it to London would be fitting. I found a helpful list of historic churches online while and began to plan. I would have liked to attend one last Evensong before returning to American soil but all the churches I could find seemed to hold it at 5 not 6 as they do in Oxford (Or 6:05 if you are Christ Church and special). To compensate, I thought I might attend a morning service while visiting the ones on my list. As I gathered information I realized that two churches, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral both charged admission. Since I'm a starving college student, I decided that I needed to circumvent such restrictions with the simple method of arriving for a service. I therefore built my itinerary around services at each.

My day began at 5 am. It wasn't intended to be 5 but my alarm clock was still on Paris time and I was already out of bed when I realized my (fortuitous) mistake. After leaving my bags in the hostel's storage I headed out a little after 6 am to Westminster Cathedral. I had mixed up the Cathedral, which is Roman Catholic and the Abbey, which is Anglican. This is where getting up early was a blessing in disguise. The Cathedral had an earlier service at 7, so I was able to sit and draw for a while. As I sat there I got surrounded by about 10 pigeons who just sat and stared at me.

The exterior was gaudy brickwork, but inside was dark and luxurious.

Afterward, I was able to make it to the 8 am service at the Abbey just in time. We couln't take pictures in there, but I did see a monument to Handel and another to the Wesley brothers.

After Westminster Abbey I headed off to St. Martin in the Fields which is on one corner of Trafalgar's Square. I enjoyed the way it resembled a church you might find in New England for its Greek revival style pediment and cornices. It also had pew boxes along the sides.

 I had breakfast there in the crypt before popping back on the Tube to the Tower of London. Dandelion & Burdock is strange stuff.

I found All Hallows by the Tower which was a favorite of William Penn, of Pennsylvania, and also where John Quincy Adams was married.

 Even more interesting was the delightful Saxon arch and the tessellated Roman floor.

Back to the streets as I walked toward Southward Cathedral on the other side of the river by the Globe. On the way I found St. Magnus the Martyr and popped in for a quick look. I was ahead of schedule anyway and wanted to add to the list I had. It is another of Wren's churches and was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London.

I found Southwark but it was closed to visitors because of a graduation ceremony.

It was around 11:20 when I left the area to walk toward St. Paul's. I was very early for the 12:30 service, but I saw another spire and thought I would try to find it. Find it I did, and found St. Martin, another Christopher Wren church and where William Penn was married.

Done there, I had lunch sitting outside of St. Paul's and then went in.

We got to sit up in the choir which was an interesting experience. At Christ Church Cathedral for Evensong I would usually sit up in the choir as well, but there everyone in the building was participating in some way with the service. At St. Paul's we sat up there so that we could remove ourselves from the throngs of people who were just  milling about. It definitely created a feeling of inclusivity as the service progresses, but it reminded me even more of what we learned about the early practices of the church in England. When Rood screens were still common they acted as a separation between clergy and lay so that the laypeople could observe from afar but only participate briefly. Now it just felt like we were acknowledging a closer bond between us as a group because we cared enough to go, but also that there was a vast separation between those who did not believe and just came for the spectacle and those who came for Christ. (Not that those who didn't come were all pagan or that I wasn't also there to look around as well.)

To recap, by 1 pm I had seen 8 churches and been to 3 services and all under 6 hours. Then I went about found Oxford Street. Excuse the tired face. I had been on my feet in the hot sun all day.

Then I went back to my hostel to retrieve my bags and flew out of London at 6 pm.