Oxford
Visited Thu 20 Jul
A very exciting visit for me. Cathedral doubles as college chapel for Christ Church, where I used to attend lectures. Authorities said I could ride my bike into "Tom Quad" - quadrangle entered through (Tudor) Tom Tower with cathedral opposite - for pic. (I never did anything half so adventurous as an undergraduate!) Greeted warmly by bowler-hatted porters, and house manager came to have a look at the bike too! Found a classic "oddity" in the cathedral - but you'll have to come to a slide show to find out what it is. Before it became a cathedral (1542 again) it had been a convent and then a priory church. Unusually small, because Cardinal Wolsey demolished 3 western bays of nave to make room for Tom Quad when he founded Christ Church (then called Cardinal's College) in 1525. But makes no claim to be the smallest in England, so perhaps either Carlisle or Derby has that distinction after all?
