Built during the second half of the twelfth century, Christ Church Cathedral is among the oldest buildings in Oxford and one of the smallest of the 42 Anglican cathedrals in England. It is also, uniquely, both a cathedral and a college chapel, and so, unusually for a cathedral, its centre stalls face inwards in the ‘collegiate style.

It was not, however, until the sixteenth century that it became either a cathedral or a chapel. For 400 years before that it was a priory church belonging to a community of Augustinian Canons (an order of priests who lived a monastic life following the Rule of St Augustine of Hippo). Their church, dedicated to St Frideswide (the patron saint of Oxford), attracted pilgrims who came to venerate her relics, which were housed in her shrine.

The building survived the Reformation of the sixteenth century, at a time when all the other monasteries in Oxford were destroyed, thanks to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey who founded Cardinal College (now Christ Church) here in the 1520s, Wolsey used the land on which the priory had stood to erect his great college, ejecting the Augustinian Canons but incorporating their church into his new project. Most of the monastic buildings survived Wolsey’s work, though part of the cloister was demolished and about 50 ft (15 m) of the nave removed to make way for college buildings.*

In the chancel can be seen the chief architectural glory of Christ Church; a stone vaulted ceiling considered to be one of the finest examples of its type in any English cathedral. Built in 1500 by the Oxford master mason William Orchard (who also built a similar vault at the Divinity School in the Bodleian Library), its beautiful ribs splay out from 12 stone lanterns which appear to hang miraculously in mid-air. In the centre of the vault small interconnecting ‘lierne’ ribs create eight-pointed stars, forming an image of heaven high above the Cathedral.

At the centre of each section of the vault is a boss, a large carved stone which acts as a keystone, locking the vault in place. The bosses have figures carved on them, which, on moving from west to east, become progressively more significant; a Bishop, an Archbishop, St Frideswide, the Virgin and Child, and finally, in the boss directly above the High Altar, Jesus. One point that is easy to miss is that the very last image, the face of Jesus, is not a star but and octagon. The number eight represents the Resurrection of Christ, which took place on Easter Sunday, traditionally understood as the eighth day of the week, because it follows the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. So the stars lead us through the chancel, to the miracle of Christ’s Resurrection.*

The east end of the Cathedral, the Sanctuary, is the most sacred part of the church, housing as it does the main altar where the congregation meet to share bread and wine in obedience to the words of Jesus at the Last Supper. Behind this altar is a beautifully carved screen or reredos designed by G.F. Bodley in 1881, showing Christ on the cross and a series of Christian saints. They are, from left to right; St Michael, St Stephen, the Virgin Mary, St John, St Augustine of Hippo and St Gabriel.

*From Christ Church Cathedral Oxford – A Short Guide

Breakfast was cooked to order and very tasty, although it was a little odd that we had two rounds of toast for three people. When we had finished the two pieces we asked for a bit more. After breakfast we set off towards Christ Church College and walked through the memorial garden and water meadows before joining the queue to enter the college. I say joining the queue, in fact there were only two people in front of us but by the time the doors opened, ten minutes late there was a large queue behind us.

We enjoyed the college and the Cathedral, where in the shop I found the Pitkin Guide to Oxford. It shows the best of Oxford via two walking tours. As luck would have it we were part way through the route of one of them. We carried on along the route to the science museum and stopped for a brief visit before carrying on past the Bodleian Library to a nearby pub for lunch. The pub was a bit chaotic but we managed to find ourselves a quiet corner to sit.

After lunch we returned to the Bodleian Library but opted out from rushing to join the last tour of the day. We visited the library hall, with the intention to return the library for a tour the following day. We then carried on along the walking route passing under ‘The Bridge of Sighs’, which is so named due to the apparent resemblance to its Venetian namesake. Just past the bridge we took a slight detour down a narrow alley to find The Turf Tavern where allegedly Bill Clinton imbibed in some ‘pot’. We then continued along the walking route passing many historic buildings, stopping off in a Viennese cake shop to indulge in tea and cake…

We then made our way back to the hotel to freshen up before our evening meal in The Quod Brasserie. On our walk to the brasserie it was lovely to see young ladies in long dresses and young gentlemen in suits and ties queuing up for a function in the college. After dinner we returned to the hotel for a nightcap before retiring to bed.