The Dreaming Spires Part 2

I'm finally back to do the second post about my day in Oxford. The last ten days or so has been rather hectic, my husband has finally had his surgery and we are told that it has been successful which is a relief. We also are celebrating the arrival of another little grandson who was born in the early hours of Saturday morning. Gabriel now has a little brother called Elisha George and I shall be going down to Suffolk to see them on Thursday. I'm staying a few days so that I can do some exploring, I love Suffolk and it is full of beautiful villages and quiet country lanes. However back to Oxford - the view above is taken through the entrance gates of Corpus Christi College, it shows the stone flagged Front Quad and the tall column is a sundial.


I wish I could have got closer to photograph this amazing sundial properly but the College was closed. It dates back to 1581 and the main column has the principal south facing sundial on it (not visible in this photo) and a perpetual calendar which shows the University terms. The pelican on the top, which is pecking blood from its breast to feed its young, represents 'Corpus Christi' (the Body of Christ). Apart from the main sundial on the column there are at least eight more, four below the coats of arms and then four more on the next level up. Click to enlarge the photo and you will see it better.



This wonderful carved stone panel was crafted around 1420 and stands over the gatehouse of Merton College. The images depict St John the Baptist in the wilderness with various animals including a lovely unicorn. I was able to go in and look round here, Merton was founded in 1264 and claims to be the oldest college in Oxford. J.R.Tolkien was Professor of English here between 1945 and 1959 when he was writing his 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.



Front Quad with the old Warden's Lodgings on the far left.



Mob Quad is the earliest quadrangle in Oxford and it houses the library of Merton College which dates from 1373 and is the oldest continuously used library for academics in the world.



The archway that leads into Fellows Quad has the twelve signs of the zodiac carved into the roof bosses. It was built by Warden Fitzjames as part of his new lodgings in 1497 and he actually had a horoscope cast for his new house.


A close-up of my particular sign - Virgo.



This is probably my favourite of the Colleges I visited - these are the gardens of New College which are enclosed by the old city walls of Oxford.



One of the bastions which allows a better defensive position than a straight wall does. Oxford was the headquarters of Charles I during the English Civil War and it was along these walls that the Royalists made their final stand before the city surrendered to the Roundheads in June 1646. Hiss, boo at this point - I have always been a staunch Royalist!



The cloisters of New College which are beautifully quiet and peaceful and they enclose a small garden.



Looking into the garden through one of the cloister windows.



The name New College is rather misleading, it is actually one of the oldest colleges in Oxford being founded in 1379 by William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester.
This stone staircase leads up into the dining hall where there is a portrait of William Wykeham and also of Canon William Spooner who was given to transposing the beginnings of words and whose name gave rise to 'spoonerisms'. Among them is one that really makes me laugh - 'The Lord is a shoving leopard'. I'm sure you can all work out what he actually intended to say!



On New College Lane stands this white house where the astronomer Edmund Halley lived and had his observatory. He discovered that comets move in an orbit round the sun and Halley's Comet was named after him.



The plaque on the wall of the house. You will need to cick on it to read what it says.


The Sheldonian Theatre was one of the earliest architectural designs by Sir Christopher Wren who is most famous for his design for St Paul's Cathedral in London.
When he designed the Sheldonian he was a Professor of Astronomy at New College, Oxford and still plain Christopher Wren - the knighthood came later.



Radcliffe Camera was originally built in the mid 18th century to house the Radcliffe Science Library, it is now a part of the famous Bodleian Library and is used as a reading room for students. There was so much more to see in Oxford and I shall definitely go again to see all that I didn't have time for on this visit.



Finally the lovely old 16th century farmhouse where I stayed for the two nights I was in Oxfordshire.

The Dreaming Spires Part 1

Last weekend I went to Oxfordshire for a few days. The real object of the journey was to join a private tour of a couple of houses and I could have got there and back in one day with an early start and a late finish but I decided to stay over for a couple of nights and take the opportunity to visit Oxford - the City of Dreaming Spires. As ever clicking on the photos will make the details clearer.


This is Christ Church College which was founded by King Henry VIII in 1546, it is built on the site of the Priory of St Frideswide and the priory church became both the College chapel and one of England's smallest cathedrals. In the 19th Century the maths tutor at Christ Church was called Charles Dodgson, he is better known now as Lewis Carroll the author of 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass'. The Alice of the stories was one of the children of Henry Liddell the Dean of Christ Church.


This lovely 12th century cloister is also part of the original Priory.


All Harry Potter fans will be familiar with this scene, the Great Hall of Christ Church College was the model for Hogwarts Hall in the films and this is where the Sorting Hat decided which House the new first year pupils would be assigned to. The photograph is taken looking down the Great Hall towards the entrance. During the English Civil War (1642-1651) King Charles I lived in Oxford and held his Parliament in the Great Hall of Christ Church.


This is High Table where the Fellows of Christ Church College dine. The large portrait in the centre is of Henry VIII the College's founder.


The steps leading up to the Great Hall - Professor McGonnagall stood at the top of here to welcome all the new First Year pupils to Hogwarts.


This exquisite fan vaulted ceiling is above the staircase and dates from 1640.


The interior of the chapel which dates back to the 12th century, the wonderful vaulted ceiling was added around 1500.



The Saint Catherine window is one of five stained glass windows designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, the Pre-Raphaelite artist, for Christ Church chapel. The face of Saint Catherine, the central figure, is modelled on that of Edith Liddell, the sister of Alice Liddell.


More of Edward Burne Jones' work, this is the Vyner Memorial window.


This is the shrine of St Frideswide, patron saint of the city of Oxford. She came to Oxford in the 7th century fleeing from King Algar of Mercia who wanted to marry her. The king was blinded but Frideswide saved his sight on condition that he would no longer pursue her. She founded a religious house and died there in 735AD. Her bones were eventually brought to the priory church of St Frideswide in 1180. On the right you can just see the watching chamber which has a stone base and a wooden upper section and dates from about 1500, from here the monks could keep an eye on the shrine and(possibly more importantly!) all the rich treasures which surrrounded it.


This brilliantly coloured and intricate window is behind the shrine, it is by Edward Burne Jones and tells the story of St Frideswide in pictures. Do enlarge it and look on the right at the very back of the bottom righthand panel. You will see the very incongruous sight of a pink toilet!! Heaven only knows why Burne Jones included this!


A detail from the window showing St Frideswide being carried to heaven on a 'ship of souls'.


The Becket window is the oldest stained glass window in the chapel and it dates from 1320. It portrays the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. You will definitely need to click on this to see it.


Detail from the Becket window.


The Great Quadrangle with Sir Christopher Wren's Tom Tower over the gatehouse which is the main entrance to Christ Church. Great Tom is the 7 ton bell which hangs in the tower. Every night Great Tom strikes 101 times at 9.05pm - one strike for each of the original 101 students of the college.


Lewis Carroll must have been familiar with this sundial, it is close to the Library where he worked and often looked out of the window and saw Alice Liddell's cat Dinah sitting in a chestnut tree - Dinah became The Cheshire Cat. Like me Lewis Carroll was born in the county of Cheshire.

More of Oxford in the next post - anyone who has got this far must be all historied out by now!

Comfrey Ointment for Granny K

One or two people have expressed interest in the quantities for the comfrey ointment. It takes 1 pint of sweet almond oil packed with as many torn comfrey leaves as you can get in there, 4 hours in the oven on the lowest possible heat - you are warming it to extract the goodness from the leaves not cooking it:) Melt 2oz of beeswax in a bowl over a pan of hot water then stir it thoroughly into the strained still warm oil. Pot it into little amber glass pots as fast as you can as it starts to set incredibly quickly. This amount will fill about 8 60ml pots. I get mine from Baldwins. Their service is fast and reliable.

Elderflower ointment is made in exactly the same way using the same quantities of oil and beeswax but using elderflower heads with the thick stalks removed. The elderflowers must be in perfect condition and picked late morning on a dry,sunny day.

It's possible to make smaller quantities if you keep the proportion of 1 pint of oil to 2oz of beeswax eg 1/2 pint of oil and 1oz of beeswax etc.

These receipts came from a book called Herb Sufficient by Christina Stapeley. She is the lady who taught most of the herb courses that I've done and is incredibly knowledgeable.

Wildflowers in Lathkill Dale

Thursday was such a lovely day that I decided to take advantage of it and go for a walk in Lathkill Dale. It's a national Nature Reserve and is famous for its wild flowers. The photo at the top is the early purple orchid. A lot of the photos will be improved by clicking on them.


It takes about 30 minutes to drive out to the village of Monyash where this walk begins. I parked in a layby just outside the village, crossed over and went through the gate into this gentle looking landscape.


I had to walk through this herd of young cows, they must be used to seeing hikers and apart from one or two curious looks they took no notice of me.


Right from the start the wild flowers were wonderful, this one is water avens which I've never seen growing wild before.


From a distance water avens isn't an especially eyecatching plant but the individual flowers are beautiful.


The blue flowers are Germander Speedwell, the pink ones are a type of vetch, the white one is Greater Stitchwort and the yellowy green flower is, I think, Lady's Bedstraw. I'm open to correction on this as I haven't seen it before and am by no means certain.



By this time the gentleness of the original scenery had changed and this is the path way ahead of me. As I walked on both sides of the dale rose steeply but there were still wildflowers everywhere. To my right there were hundreds of the beautiful purple orchids in the grass.It was impossible to take a photograph that really showed them up though unfortunately.


This was the best I could do.


There were several large patches of cowslips but they were virtually over, there were just the odd one or two still in flower, they must have been wonderful a couple of weeks ago.


This is pink campion, this is still quite common and grows on grassy banks on country lanes and in open bits of woodland too.


This shows the steep sides of the dale and the rocky outcrops of limestone. It looks so peaceful and rural doesn't it? Yet in the 18th and 19th centuries this was a busy industrial area with three corn mills working, men quarrying the limestone and the noise of the machinery used to mine the lead ore which lies beneath the surface. Leadmining was never very successful though as it proved impossible to drain the water from deep shafts. It's dangerous to leave the path in this area as there are still many hidden mineshafts.


This is a lovely flower but I have no idea what it is - any suggestions? I feel that I ought to know what it is but in spite of going through my wildflower books I haven't come up with any ideas. Apart from wildflowers there were also lots of bees and butterflies, I saw a couple of beautiful yellow Brimstones, some Peacocks and many pretty little Orangetips.


This is called Jacob's Ladder and I know it because the cultivated version grows in my garden. It is one of the rarest of Britain's wild flowers though and in spite of a notice saying that a particular fenced enclosure is full of them I saw only three or four plants flowering.


Lathkill Dale is very open and there is virtually no shade, this lamb had found one of the few cool spots on a hot day.


The halfway point on my circular walk and I am standing on a small bridge looking down on the River Lathkill which is more visible sometimes than others, in dry periods it has a habit of practically disappearing partly because the limestone is so porous and partly because the water drains away into an old leadmine drainage sough.


This photo shows why this area of Derbyshire is known as the White Peak, the soil here is thin and poor and it's an area of caves and dry river valleys. It's a favourite area for potholers and I can only say rather them than me! The recently discovered cave called Titan is in the White Peak and is the largest known cave in the UK. It is not on my list of places I want to visit!! The Dark Peak is also limestone but is covered with a layer of millstone grit which makes it badly drained and this is the part which is the peat moorland.


After crossing the bridge and following the path upwards and round a bend I found to my surprise that I was walking through woodland and eventually I came to this rather magical, mysterious place with steps cut into the rock climbing upwards to a small cave.


The track eventually led to a farm and as I went through the farmyard I saw what must be about the most luxurious pigsty I've ever seen.


The slits in the wall had a sloping piece of stone on the lower half and that must be where the pigswill was poured in to the grateful recipients on the other side.


Here is the only occupant of this palace among pigsties - you will need to click to see her as I didn't feel I should start scrambling about on the stonework to get a better picture.


Beyond the farmyard I found this lovely old-fashioned signpost, so much nicer than the horrid modern metal ones and just as readable and effective.


Further on still I came across this rather splendid gentleman - there was a stone wall between him and me but to be honest he looked rather a sweetie, some of the sheep looked fiercer than he did.


The last lap walking along the top of the dale and looking down on the area where I'd walked earlier in the day. This is modern agricultural pastureland and the lack of wildflowers was really noticeable. Nature Reserves like Lathkill Dale are the last bastions of the once rich diversity of the English countryside.

Domestic Bits and Pieces

I've come to the conclusion that blogging is actually a habit as much as anything else so I've decided to just post about some odds and ends to keep the ball rolling and get me into the groove again. The photo of Gabriel was taken in April just before they moved down to Suffolk. I really miss seeing him every week but life is much better for him down there living in a village with a garden and the countryside all around. Up here they lived in an apartment in a very urban area. He's walking well now but so far I haven't seen him doing it, with the situation as it is with my husband trips to Suffolk are not possible right now.


I'm doing a lot of knitting in the evenings and this is a cardigan that I recently made for Kaitlyn, it went home with her when they came over for her daddy's birthday tea. It's been cool enough for her to need it too. I'm now doing a blanket for Gabriel's new brother or sister who is due in early July. Knitting it is easy, sewing together all the little squares isn't among my favourite things though so I knit eight of them and then have a sewing session before I carry on with the next eight.


Over the weekend I picked some of the rhubarb and here it is ready to go in the oven on a very low heat. This way all the pieces keep their shape instead of falling apart. The green bits are a herb called Sweet Cicely which is one of my favourites. It looks pretty,smells of aniseed which I love and acts as a natural sweetener so that you don't need to use as much sugar as usual.



Rhubarb crumble ready for the freezer. I've added ginger to the crumble mixture because it goes really well with rhubarb.



I finally got round to another of those 'I really must' jobs on Sunday, this is one of my favourite baskets, a reproduction of a medieval apple basket. It contains comfrey leaves ready to be turned into ointment.


The torn up comfrey leaves sitting in a pint of sweet almond oil. These go in the oven on the lowest possible setting and stay there for four hours or so. Then you strain the oil and add melted beeswax and get it into jars as fast as you can before it starts setting.



This year's batch all ready to use on sprains, bruises and minor cuts and grazes. It shouldn't be used on any open wound that isn't absolutely clean as it heals quickly and if there is dirt or grit in the wound it may be trapped and cause infection. Elderflower ointment is the one for those. I shall be making a new batch of that soon when the elderflowers appear.