Hi Everyone!  Welcome back to Wandering Camera, a monthly photo and art link-up.  I am looking forward to sharing my travel and wandering photos with you, as well as seeing a bit of your world too.   When I was hosting it before,  I started sharing photos and an account of my visit to England in 2016.   I love old architecture.  Naturally, my travel started with exploring Oxford University and some of its architecture.

After visiting the Christ Church and Magdalen colleges, my husband and I walked up to Catte Street.   At the very beginning of the street is the university church of St. Mary.  The 90ft thirteenth century tower is the oldest part of the church, topped with a 101ft spire which was added in the early fourteenth century.

It was the end of the day, and we had just enough time to climb the 127 steps to the top of the tower, where you see the clock in the photo above. We were rewarded with a magnificent bird’s eye view of the city and the nearby colleges. 

High Street down below, with the countryside in the distance

All Souls College along Catte Street

The Radcliffe Camera is in front of  the church of St. Mary, with Catte Street on the right.  It was designed by James Gibbs as a circular library, the very first of its kind in Britain. Now it is used as reading rooms of the Bodleian library.

Please click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

I had to use my long lens to get a few close-up photos of the beautiful dome.

From my travel sketchbook – The Radcliffe Camera dome and the Sheldonian dome in the distance.

After enjoying the wonderful view, tea and cakes were in order at the cafe downstairs, with the beautiful Radcliffe Camera as our view.  Afterwards, we walked up Catte Street toward the Sheldonian theatre.  Once we reached there, I walked past Hertford Bridge on New College Lane to take a picture of the theatre dome framed by the curvature of the bridge.

The Sheldonian theatre was built between 1664 and 1669.  It is not a theatre in the conventional sense but the principal assembly room of the university.

The reason it is called a theatre is because Christopher Wren was inspired by Roman theatres, and designed this D-shaped building so.  However, load bearing columns in the centre space to support the ceiling would not be aesthetically pleasing.  He avoided adding the columns by designing a roof truss that spanned the required 70ft, a great technical achievement in roof construction.

I have long been fascinated by Sir Christopher Wren’s work.  A visit to the theatre was therefore a must for me and I had the most amazing time walking around and taking it all in in person.

I hope you enjoyed this very concise walk along the historic Catte Street in Oxford.

Here are my previous posts and photos from England, 2016 –

Christ Church, Oxford Part I

Christ Church, Oxford Part II

Magdalen College, Oxford

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