As avid fans of the Harry Potter series of books and Harry Potter movies, Bob, our son and I were dying to visit the locations at Oxford University where some of the movie scenes were set. We were tickled pink by Christ Church College’s Great Dining Hall.
Christ Church Cathedral holds a prominent place in the town of Oxford so we made a beeline for it approaching across Christ Church Meadows. Christ Church is a cathedral of the Church of England, seat of the Bishop of Oxford, and the principal church of the diocese of Oxford.
On top of that, Christ Church Cathedral also serves as the chapel for one of Oxford University’s 36 colleges, Christ Church College.
Upon entering Christ Church Cathedral and seeing the altar and vault, it was hard for us to believe that it is one of the smallest cathedrals in the Church of England. As the mother church of the Oxfordshire diocese, Christ Church Cathedral had humble beginnings as an Anglo-Saxon convent founded by St. Frideswide in the 8th Century.
It was later refounded as an Augustinian priory, and the buildings began to develop into the precinct that we know today. By the 15th Century, St. Frideswide’s Priory had been surrounded by private homes, churches, inns, the Oxford Jewry and Canterbury College.
Cardinal Wolsey established Cardinal College in 1525. The Priory entrance and adjacent buildings were demolished in order to make way for it. It became necessary to enter the Cathedral through the south door in the Cloisters surrounding the Great Quadrangle.
Only 3 sides of Cardinal Wolsey’s “Great Quadrangle” were completed, and in 1546, King Henry VIII took over the project and renamed it Christ Church. The Quad remained unfinished for 100 years. In the 17th Century, the north side of the quadrangle was completed under Dean John Fell. It is commonly referred to as Tom Quad.
It was during the 19th century that Dean Henry Liddell oversaw the reconstruction of the west end of the Cathedral opening it into Tom Quad so people no longer had to enter via the Cloisters.
Tom Tower is a bell tower that is named after its bell, Great Tom. In this photo, we are looking at it from Tom Quad, the largest college quad in Oxford. Tom Tower stands above Tom Gate the primary entrance into Christ Church College. It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren.
And then we were there in the Great Dining Hall of Christ Church College, the spot where today’s college students eat three square meals a day. Various sites at Oxford University were used as filming locations in the Harry Potter movies, but Christ Church Dining Hall is not one of them. That surprised us!
Hogwart’s incredible Great Hall was actually modelled after Christ Church’s Great Dining Hall. Together with the spectacular vaulted ceiling, stained glass windows, long rows of tables, and impressive array of framed portraits on the walls, it all comes together to remind you of Hogwart’s Great Hall. As we stood in the Christ Church Dining Hall, it was easy to imagine Hermione, Ron and Harry sitting with other wizarding students waiting for owl mail to arrive.
The Great Dining Hall of Christ Church College is a surviving section of the original foundation of Cardinal College. It has been in almost constant use since 1520 and is indicative of the Renaissance magnificence of Cardinal College.
We found it difficult to pull ourselves away from the ambience in Christ Church’s Great Dining Hall. The magical collection of Gothic vaulted ceilings and elegant staircases, old libraries and great halls that we had seen so far in Oxford had a way of transporting us into the world of Hogwart’s. It really set the tone for further exploration the next day.
Frame to Frame – Bob and Jean