The Charm of Oxford by Joseph Wells
page 73 of 102 (71%)
page 73 of 102 (71%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
which it belongs. It was to it that Cranmer was brought to receive
the Pope's sentence of condemnation, and in the cloisters the ceremony of his degradation from the archbishopric was carried out. Almost a century later the Cathedral was the centre of the religious life of the Royalist party; when Charles I made his capital in Oxford and his home in Christ Church, and when the Cavaliers fought to the war-cry of "Church and King." It is not surprising that, when the Parliamentarians entered Oxford, the windows of the Cathedral were much "abused"; that so much old glass was spared was probably due to the local patriotism of old Oxford men. In the next century it was to Christ Church that Bishop Berkeley, the greatest of British philosophers, retired to end his days, and to find a burial-place; and, during the long life of Dr. Pusey, the Cathedral of Oxford was a place of pilgrimage, as the living centre of the Oxford movement. In the back of the picture (Plate XVII), behind the Cathedral, rises the square tower, put up by Mr. Bodley to contain the famous Christ Church peal of bells (now twelve in number), familiar through Dean Aldrich's famous round, "Hark, the bonny Christ Church bells." When the tower was erected, it was the subject of much criticism, especially from the witty pen of C. L. Dodgson, the world-famous creator of /Alice in Wonderland/. The opening paragraph is a fair specimen: "Of the etymological significance of the new belfry, Christ Church. "The word 'belfry' is derived from the French '/bel/-- beautiful, meet,' and from the German '/frei/--free, unfettered, safe.' Thus the word is strictly equivalent to 'meat-safe,' to which the new belfry |
|