[Illustration]
There are some fine churches in Oxford, notably the university church of
St. Mary the Virgin, conspicuous from its Decorated spire rising one
hundred and eighty-eight feet, which is a memorial of Queen Eleanor of
Castile. A short distance to the westward is All Saints Church. Fronting
Christ Church is St. Aldate's Church, also with a lofty spire and
Decorated tower. Like most English towns, Oxford had a castle, but its
remains are now reduced to a solitary tower, a few fragments of wall,
and a high mound. This castle has long been the property of Christ
Church, and was used for a prison, whence Cranmer and his fellow-martyrs
went to the stake. The old tower was built in the days of William Rufus.
Beneath the ruins is a crypt known as Maud's Chapel. In the centre of
the mound is an octagonal vaulted chamber, approached by a long flight
of steps, and containing a well. It was in this castle that the empress
Maud was besieged by King Stephen in 1141, but escaped in the night, the
castle surrendering next morning. The ground was covered with snow at
the time, and the empress, with three attendants, clad in white, passed
unnoticed through the lines of the besiegers and crossed the Thames on
the ice. Just before this Maud escaped from the castle of Devizes as a
dead body drawn on a hearse. The castle of Oxford has been in a
dilapidated condition since Edward III.'s time. As an evidence of the
change of opinion, the Martyrs' Memorial stands on St. Giles Street in
honor of the martyrs who found the old tower of the castle their
prison-house until the bigots of that day were ready to burn them at the
stake in front of Balliol College.
[Illustration: ALL SAINTS, FROM HIGH STREET.]
The intersection of the four principal streets of old Oxford makes what
is called the Carfax (a word derived from _quatre voies_), and here in
the olden time stood a picturesque conduit. Conduits in former years
were ornaments in many English towns, and some of them still remain in
their original locations. This conduit, which stood in the way of
traffic, was presented as a nuisance as long ago as the time of Laud,
and Lord Harcourt in 1787 removed it to his park at Nuneham. One of the
curious changes that have come over some Oxford landmarks is related of
a group of statues in the entrance to the Schools, where the Bodleian
Library is located. This group represents Mater Academia giving a book
to King James I., sitting in his chair of state, while winged Fame
trumpets the gift throughout the world. When the king saw this,
embellished with appropriate mottoes, all of which were gloriously gilt,
the ancient historian says he exclaimed, "By my soul! this is too
glorious for Jeamy," and caused the gilded mottoes to be "whited out."
Originally, the statue of the king held a sceptre in his right hand, and
a book, commonly taken for the Bible, in his left. Both have
disappeared. The sceptre is said to have fallen upon the passing of the
Reform Bill, and the book came down about the time of the abolition of
the University Tests. The eastern part of Oxford is meadow-and
garden-land, extending down to the two famous rivers which unite just
below the town, and along whose shores the racing-boats in which the
students take so much interest are moored. Pretty bridges span both
streams, and we follow down the Thames again, skirting along its
picturesque shores past Iffley, with its romantic old mill and the
ancient church with its square tower rising behind, well-known landmarks
that are so familiar to boating-men, till we come to Nuneham Park, with
the old Carfax Conduit set on an eminence, and Blenheim Woods looming up
in the background, as we look towards Oxford.
[Illustration: CARFAX CONDUIT.]
[Illustration: IFFLEY MILL.]
The church of Iffley is beautifully situated on the Thames, but little
is known of its origin or history. It was in existence in 1189, when
King Henry II. died, and its architecture indicates that it could
scarcely have been built much before that time. It is an unusually good
specimen of the Norman style, and is in wonderful preservation,
considering its age. This church is peculiarly rich in its doorways,
having three of great value, and each differing from the other. The
southern doorway is enriched with sculptured flowers, a style that is
almost unique in Norman architecture; it also contains rudely carved
imitations of Roman centaurs. On the south side of the church is an
ancient cross and one of the most venerable yew trees in the kingdom, in
the trunk of which time has made a hollow where a man could easily
conceal himself. There is not on all the Thames a scene more loved by
artists than that at Iffley, with its old mill and church embosomed in
foliage, and having an occasional fisherman lazily angling in the smooth
waters before them, while the Oxford oarsmen, some in fancy costumes,
paddle by.
[Illustration: IFFLEY CHURCH.]