Question: How Did Oxford Get Its Name?

Day 6:

Answer (to quote our guide): Men took oxen over a ford in a river...Oxen Ford...Ox Ford.  It's really just that simple.

Today we headed by train to Oxford to visit the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford University.  Oxford University is made up of many different colleges, and we visited two of them.  We began our tour of Oxford at the Divinity School, which is over 500 years old.  The one room took over 60 years to build, which isn't surprising when you see the details that went into the carvings in the ceilings and around the windows.  The ceiling was originally planned to be cathedral height, but it was later changed because they decided to put a library above it.  The room is made of sandstone that was quarried in Heddington, which is in Oxford.  

Divinity School ceiling

 The Divinity School has a few interesting stories.  Former US President Bill Clinton was honored at Oxford with an honorary degree and used the Divinity School as a holding room for himself, Hillary, and his mother before going through what is known as "Wren's Door" (because it was added in the 17th century by architect Christopher Wren) to the Sheldonian Building next door to receive his degree.  Clinton had originally wanted to walk through the streets of Oxford, but the Secret Service wouldn't allow him to do so.  Nelson Mandela also used the Divinity School when his honorary degree was conferred. He processed through the Divinity School into the Convocation House for the official ceremony.  Another use for the room that was of particular interest for librarians and Harry Potter fans was as the setting of the infirmary in the Harry Potter movies and as the setting for some of the dance scenes in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The room has two lecterns or pulpits on either side, where students stood to present their disputations.  All students stood for lectures and wore their gowns for class.  The presenters would argue their cases and answer questions and arguments from anyone who attended, whether professors, other students, or the public.  Once written examinations began in the 19th century, the oral presentation form of examination became less and less common.

Divinity School

The Bodleian Library is renowned because it is nearly 700 years old, which makes it the oldest in the western world, and contains 11 million printed items and treasures.  The collection includes everything from the Opie collection for children to 67 of the 100 known Hebrew incunables (books that date before 1501), trashy novels, a Shakespeare First Folio (they had to bid against the Folger Library in Washington DC to get it back after giving away an old copy when getting a newer copy), Playboy magazine, and chained books.

In 1439, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester loved the idea of a library so much that he donated his collection of about 200 books so that he could share them with other readers.  The library is now named after him.  The library didn't have any artificial lighting or heating until 1927, when electricity was invented.  Students stood at lecterns near the windows to use the books.  In 1598, Thomas Bodley restored the library and removed the lecterns and installed shelves.  (The Duke of Humphrey Library was also the library in the Harry Potter movies!)

The library had "privileged readers" who had special areas with access to alcoves with screen doors.  Some privileged readers included King Charles I and King James I (from the King James Bible fame).  The rest of the users of the library sat near the shelves to use the materials, because they still had to make use of the natural lighting.

The Bodleian Librarian was the person in charge of the library.  He (or she) was not necessarily a trained librarian, and in fact often held the position because of nepotism and not skill or talent.  The person held the position for life.  The duties were to sit in an ornate chair at one end of the library near a window, decide when there was too little light to read, and walk to the end of the library at that point to ring a bell in order to alert the rest of the library's patrons.

The gallery style of the library also was the beginnings of what we now know of as the "check-out" system.  Before this time, libraries chained the books to the shelves, and the Bodleian was no different.  The spines of books faced in and the pages faced out, so it was difficult to see which book was which.  They decided to number each book and put a list on the end of the row of shelves.  This formed what is essentially the first catalog in approximately 1605.  In 1610, they had a gallery section, so readers would go up and choose the book they wanted.  On their way down the stairs, the library workers would be able to see which book the readers had.  Voila!  The check-out system is born.  During this same time, Bodley asked publishers for a copy of every book they printed, which is still in effect today.  

After leaving the Divinity School, we headed to the Radcliffe Camera, which used to be an open-air study room, and is now a collection of reading rooms.  Below the Camera is where the library's storage area is located.

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Christ Church College

Christ Church College Butterfly Garden

After lunch, we met at Christ Church College to tour and hear about Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.  Christ Church College is the largest of Oxford's 38 colleges.  We walked through the gardens to start with and saw the oldest botanical garden in Britain (1621) which still has the first Oriental Plain tree planted in England over 400 years ago by a professor at Christ Church College.  It has a girth of 19 feet and is still growing.

Oriental Plain Tree

Oriental Plain Tree

One of the most famous professors from Christ Church College was mathematician, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1850).  He is more commonly known as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, Jabberwocky, and Through the Looking Glass.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

The dean during Dodgson's tenure at Christ Church College had a young daughter named, Alice, who was the inspiration for the character of the same name.  Dodgson would sit in his study and watch Alice playing in the garden with her cat Dinah, who was famous for climbing a nearby tree.

Dodgson's study was the window all the way on the left.

Dodgson's memories of Alice's cat Dinah climbing the tree and the servants having to climb up to get her down out of the tree became the inspiration for the stories of the Cheshire Cat.

Another story the guide told us was about the incarnation of the Mad Hatter.  Dodgson wanted some furniture reupholstered, so he headed into Oxford to inquire about this.  He found a shop with an old man wearing a top hat with receipts and invoices tucked into and attached to the ribbon.  Years later the illustrator for the books needed an image for the Mad Hatter, and Dodgson sketched this man from memory.

The Cathedral Garden where Alice played had a door to another area that was off-limits to her.  This door became the "magical door" from the stories.

The Magical Door

 The white rabbit was based on Alice's own father, who was notoriously late to dinner, meetings, church, etc..  He would rush in, holding his pocket watch and apologizing profusely.  The dodo bird in the stories represents Dodgson himself.

The dining hall at Christ Church College was used in Harry Potter films as the Hogwarts dining hall.  It has portraits of deans lining the walls, stained glass windows with crests of the schools, and fireplaces.  One stained glass window is known as the "Alice Window" because it has the characters from Alice represented in the window.

Christ Church College Dining Hall

Christ Church Dining Hall

View from the Head Table