A Trip Back Home: Oxfordshire

 In  the spirit of the project I decided the perfect place to find Gothic inspired architecture would be back home in Oxfordshire, the best place to find such buildings would be the Town Centre !
So as i followed my family round the Town Centre i took some quick snaps of some of the buildings.

The church of St Mary Magdalen oxford.

Any old church you stumble across has the Gothic horror feel, the windows, bricks , decor..
Capturing the tree also gives a horror feel, as if big long thin fingers were trying to grab you.
The Biycles locked to the gates gives an authentic oxford look Haha !

St michael at the north gate saxon tower

1834 engraving of St
Michael of north gate saxon tower.
http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/mayors/city_church/stmichael.html


The St Michael at the north gate Saxon tower is the oldest building in oxford dating back to 1010AD built by the Saxons. In 1986 a restoration project was opened in which my grandfather and dad built the glass house adaption.

• Holds the marriage record of William Morris ( Textile designer ) and Jane Burden (Raphaelite model) 1859 
• Examples of the church records, which are 9th oldest in  England
• has 6 bells from the 16th and 17th century 

http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/high/tour/south/carfax.html
Carfax tower in 1896 


1836


Carfax  Tower Oxford 


'at the cross road of 4 major roads, Carfax Tower, is the symbolic centre of Oxford. The tower is all that remains of the St Martin church that stood here. The facade of the tower has two "quarterboys" in Roman uniform on either side of a bell. The bell strikes every quarter of the other. It is also possible to climb the tower to get a good view of the city. Centuries old University regulation requires an undergraduate student of the University to "reside" within 6 miles, and a graduate student within 25 miles as the crow files from the Carfax tower! There are, of course, exemptions!' 
http://www.top5oxford.com/towers.php

This beautiful piece of architecture stands above what is now a Brazilian cafe on Carfax, unfortunately I couldn't seem to find any information about this!