Lewis Carroll lived and taught at Oxford. His niece- Alice was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. This is a tea shop that is located in the old Carroll home. Alice also had a relationship with one of Queen Victoria's son. The only time Queen Victoria, who hated Oxford, came to the University town was to put an end to this liaison.
Magdalen College's New Building.
This building was built in the 1700's, but is the "newest" buillding at Magdalen.
Oxford, United Kingdom
About an hour outside of London is the ancient university town of Oxford. Oxford was originally founded as a fortress in 1071, only 5 years after the Norman invasion, by one of William the Conqueror's knights. Abbeys moved to the Oxford region over the next hundred years- making it an important center for the Church's learned orders and teaching has occurred in one way or another at Oxford since 1096. In 1167 Henri II, King of France, ejected all English students from the French University - La Sorbonne. These students made their way to Oxford and the seeds of the university began. The oldest colleges at Oxford- University, Balloil and Merton (there are 39 colleges), were established between 1214 and 1231. Christ Church College is also the cathedral of Oxford Dioceses- the only such duality in the church.
Although an exact date of Oxford's founding is elusive, education has continued there for more than 8 centuries and it is the 3rd oldest university in Europe. Only the University of Bologna and La Sorbonne are older.
We spent a good deal of our time in Oxford at Magdalen (pronounced "mawdlin") College. In the 1970's. Magdalen was founded in 1448 by William of Waynflete.
In addition to walking around, on a particularly damp and cold day, we took some time to shop on the High (the main street) and have lunch at a local pub- where we dined on turkey, yorkshire pudding, mixed vegetables and a dessert of Christmas Pudding.
