The Cock Hotel in Wellington has been in the process of refurbishment for some time. In recent days as we drove past we noticed that the refurbishment was moving more quickly.

This inspired me to read up about the developments and plans inspiring me to walk to the Cock Hotel to see the results of the outside developments. How different it looks to when I visited for Friday lunch time meetings. I can’t wait to see what it looks like inside.

I didn’t take any photos of the Old Coaching Inn, just a few photos from my walk there and back again.

Tom Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England, named for its bell, Great Tom. It is over Tom Gate, on St Aldates, the main entrance of Christ Church, Oxford, which leads into Tom Quad. This square tower with an octagonal lantern and facetted ogee dome was designed by Christopher Wren and built 1681–82. The strength of Oxford architectural tradition and Christ Church’s connection to its founder, Henry VIII, motivated the decision to complete the gatehouse structure, left unfinished by Cardinal Wolsey at the date of his fall from power in 1529, and which had remained roofless since. Wren made a case for working in a Late Gothic style – that it “ought to be Gothick to agree with the Founders worke”^[1] – a style that had not been seen in a prominent building for a hundred and fifty years, making Tom Tower a lonely precursor^[2] of the Gothic Revival that got underway in the mid-18th century.^[3] Wren never came to supervise the structure as it was being erected by the stonemason he had recommended, Christopher Kempster of Burford.^[4]

Christ Church was originally founded by Cardinal Wolsey as Cardinal’s College in 1524. The college buildings took over the site of St. Frideswide’s Monastery, which was suppressed by Wolsey to fund his college

The monastery dated back to the earliest days of Oxford as a settlement in the 9th Century AD. When Wolsey fell from power in 1529 the College became property of King Henry VIII. Henry re-founded the College in 1546 and appointed the old monastery church as the cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford. The new institution of cathedral and university college was named Aedes Christi, which is rendered in English as Christ Church. It is due to its ecclesiastical function that Christ Church’s principal, the Dean, is always a clergyman.

During the English Civil War (1642-1646) King Charles I lived at Christ Church. He held his Parliament in the Great Hall and attended services in the Cathedral. After the war and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the College was rewarded for its loyalty to the House of Stuart by being able to raise enough money to complete the main quadrangle (Tom Quad).

A former student, Sir Christopher Wren, was commissioned to design a new bell tower in 1682, which houses the bell, Great Tom, from which the tower and the quad get their names.

The Dean who supervised this work, John Fell, was an unpopular man inspired the famous verse, “I do not love thee Dr Fell; The reason why I cannot tell; But this I know and know full well, I do not love thee, Dr Fell”.

Sitting right in the heart of Oxford but bounded by its Meadow and the Rivers Cherwell and Isis, Christ Church is architecturally stunning. The Cathedral is a Romanesque gem and is entered from Tom Quad (the largest in Oxford and Wolsey’s work). Christopher Wren’s Tom Tower is the college’s most famous feature and an Oxford landmark. Striking additions in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries complete what is not simply a panorama but a place for living and working.

Follow the footsteps of the world’s favourite wizard through Oxford’s most spectacular College. Many of the scenes in the Harry Potter feature films are shot in various locations of the College and as you walk around the cloisters and quadrangles it is easy to see why.

This continues Christ Church’s long association with children’s literature – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland were inspired and written here by Lewis Carroll. If you enjoyed the film or the books, come and soak in the atmosphere of a real Hogwarts.

The Great Hall was replicated in the film studios to create Hogwart’s Hall. Only one of our portraits moves, sadly, but many of the faces are the real “Wizards” who have changed the way we understand the world. As Harry and the new first-years enter Hogwarts they are greeted by Professor McGonagall. This scene was shot on the 16th century staircase which leads up to the Great Hall. It was just as well they didn’t film this when the Hall was first built, since the wonderful vaulted roofing was only put up 150 years after the staircase. You would have got very wet going for dinner if it rained!

The cloisters in Christ Church were first built 1000 years ago. This ancient vintage made them the ideal setting for various scenes. It is here that Harry is shown the trophy his father won as a seeker in Quidditch. We don’t know if the monks who originally lived around the cloisters had their own special games. If they did, they took the secret with them when they left 500 years ago. But who knows……….