Last Sunday, the New College MCR* Committee organized a tea & cakes event in the Cloisters for all the freshers. There were scones, spice cakes, éclairs, muffins, an assortment of fruit juices, cream, and jam. The spread was lovely, of course, but the main attraction of the event was the chance to get to go up the New College Tower.
*The MCR (Middle Common Room) essentially refers to New College's body of graduate students. I'll probably explain this more in a future post.
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| The New College Tower |
Normally, the door to the tower is locked. From what I hear, this is to dissuade the overwhelmed scholar from "finding a permanent solution to a temporary problem," so to speak. So, the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the beautiful city of Oxford from this vantage point is a rare one, and on a sunny day like Sunday I wasn't going to miss it.
To get to the top of the tower, you have to climb a narrow, old, stone, spiral staircase. As you climb higher, the steps get narrower, and I must admit I almost chickened out about three quarters of the way to the top. Luckily, I was pressured to continue.
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| The spiral steps, from the top of the tower. |
Terrifying, right? Okay, maybe only to me. Regardless, I conquered the steps and made it to the top alive.
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| A close-up of the turret at the top of the tower. |
Once I emerged, I turned around to see that the stairwell is actually encapsulated in this here turret. (I'm not entirely sure if that's the correct word for what this thing is--feel free to correct me.) As you can see, the gargoyles live even here. A couple posts ago, I openly pondered what their purpose was, and my mom informed me that gargoyles were once used as water spouts. Here is the evidence: a metal spout is actually sticking out of the gargoyle on the left.
Okay, okay, enough about the turret. Below are some of the shots I got of New College and Oxford from the top of the tower. I hope you enjoy!
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| A view toward the northeast. |
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| The quad between the New Buildings (left) and the Old Buildings (right). |
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| The New College Chapel |
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| The Cloisters and the Ferret Tree |
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| A view to the southwest. |
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| A view to the west. |
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| The Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library, between the stone walls of the tower. |
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| The Chapel, through the stone walls of the tower. |
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| A view of the east. |
And there you have it. Until next time,
Alyce
Alyce, what a wonderful vantage point! Beautiful photographs! I am so enjoying your blog.
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