Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
T-Minus 31 Days!
I live here.
Well, not yet, but in exactly 31 days, I will live here. Here is Brasenose College, Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, Earth, the Solar System. (Any DW fans out there?)
According to Brasenose's website, which I've admittedly only skimmed, it was founded in 1509, though it's older than that and went by Brasenose Hall before it was Brasenose College. Its founders were a lawyer (perfect, no?) and a bishop. Among the notable notables Brasenose sees fit to recognize, we have:
William Eley, who was at the execution of Thomas Cranmer in 1556, and is recorded as having disputed with him whilst he was actually burning at the stake. (This bodes well for a group of argumentative future legal eagles.)
William Sutton, who kept the wife of a Chipping Norton tradesman in a love nest, leading to an open fight with the constables of the town. (Why do I picture the Sharks and the Jets throwing down?)
And the mysterious Roland Messenger, who was apparently so naughty that each new fellow had to swear not to admit him to the College for more than one day.
Sounds like a fun bunch.
"The eighteenth century was the period of the drunken Oxford undergraduate and the prosperous Brasenose fellow. By this time the College had the reputation of being one of the wealthiest in Oxford and it had become the college of the country gentry, perceived as a place where the sons of gentlemen got a modicum of education and did a great deal of horse racing and fox hunting."
My kind of people. (Just kidding, mom!)
"The greatest change in the history of Brasenose took place in 1971, when the College decided to alter the statutes to allow the admission of women. The first woman lecturer was appointed in 1972 and the first women undergraduates arrived in 1974."
Whoop whoop!
A map! Admittedly, this is a very vague map and will do me little good when I inevitably get lost, but hey. A map's a map!
The Old Quadrangle
"In the seventeenth century the lawn was not there at all. David Loggan's engraving of 1674 shows hedges and trees in the style of a knot garden, surrounded by a low ornamental wall. In October 1727 all this was removed, and Thomas Hearne (1678-1735) recorded the fact with great indignation. He said that the garden was 'the only one of that kind then remaining in Oxford' and that it 'was a delightful & pleasant Shade in Summer Time. This is done purely to turn it into a Grass Plot, & to erect some silly Statue there'."
I kind of like this Hearne guy.
The Deer Park
I was really hoping this was a little petting zoo, but alas. It's some sort of open cloister/burial ground/quad. Not a petting zoo at all. Boo.
The New Quadrangle
So, the New Quad is not as big a deal as the old one. Figures. I'll put up a photo once I get there and make one myself.
Staircases 14-18
Apparently the "staircases" are more than just, um, staircases, because they have showers and toilets. Or else these are some big ass staircases that take many days to climb, hence the need for potty breaks.
I'm guessing they're dorms, but we shall see. Photo to arrive when I do.
The Hall
Where I break bread. The paneling's really old (like everything in England) and comes from around 1680. Brasenose's website is not very informative on the Hall. Oh well.
The Chapel
Dating from 1655, construction was apparently messy and dangerous. Like everything in 1655.
"The ceiling was painted by C.E. Kempe in the 1890s and has been much praised and much criticized. During debates about repainting in the 1970s the editor of The Brazen Nose expressed the opinion that 'anything as strange and curious as Arts and Craft aestheticism overlaid on seventeenth-century fake Gothic, which in turn disguises a genuine fifteenth-century hammer-beam roof is certainly worth keeping - if only for the sheer zaniness of it all'."
The Library
Foundations were set in 1658, and the books were put in place in 1664. I actually think the library looks really pretty and hopefully will be studying there instead of my room.
So there you have it, a quick and dirty introduction to Brasenose College. You officially know as much as I do.
Cowabunga!
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