Stonehenge
It consists of a ring of standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons each. Archaeologists believe Stonehenge to have been constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom; Stonehenge is regarded as a British Cultural Icons, and has been legally protected since 1882. It is owned by the Crown. The site and its surrondings were added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in 1986.
Look at this group that Lee let off da bus, John and his 'Girls', Theresa, Rosemary, Joan and Dottie.
Kyle has the weight of the beams on his sholders, but he is a big man and can handle it.
Theresa Willenbrink and her handy dandy Nikon.
The Harder family saving an ancient view for posterity.
Dottie and I remember well, when they first started assembling these stones and our wrinkles prove our time in grade.
For our two days at Oxford we are staying at the elegant Oxford Thames De Vere on the River Thames.
Louanne is dressed very classy this morning, as we gather to head into the City.
Errol had his group of eager beavers about rounded up.
Manners Makyth Man
Now where in the world have we heard that expression? Yes, even today, William Wykeham's slogan from the 1300's is still the motto of Oxford University.
Balliol College? I thought we were going to visit The University of Oxford. OH! now I remember thirty nine constituent colleges make up the University of Oxford. Each College is complete within its self with housing, a Chapel and Professors to assist the students in their class work' and there are between 650 to 800 students per college. Balliol College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a rich landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the foundation and endowment for the college.
Trinity College was founded as a training house for Catholic priests in the sixteenth century. The site of the college, now very much in the city center, was originally chosen for its quiet, rural aspect. Trinity became a pillar of the Anglican establishment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and a center of educational reform in the nineteenth.
Our group has it own private tour guide. Errol did a magnificent job in making all these tour arrangements.
One cannot pass this ways without taking a second look at the street bridge between these two buildings
About this time our guide asked us a question. "Who was King of England in the 1600's"? Of course we looked at him in bewilderment almost to the point of thinking who gives a damn. Then he told us that it was King James. We were still somewhat confused until he had us look at the two doors just behind us.
Then he explained the King James was the driving force behind the translation of the Bible that we grew up with an known as the King James Version of the Holly Bible. The two doors you observe on the left and the right were the entrance to the rooms where the scholars worked on the bible translation. All of sudden these two doors and King James acquired a completely new meaning and of our deepest respect
Thomas Bodley graduate and Professor at Merton College estblished in 1250 and along with Balliot, they are the two oldest Colleges at the University of Oxford. Bodley's greatest achievement was the re-founding of the library at Oxford. In 1444, the existing university library was augmented by a gift of some 300 manuscripts from Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Henry IV; this prompted the university to build a new library above the Divinity School which was at that time under construction. The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, with over 12 million items.
Enlarge: Thomas Bodley; Enlarge: The entrance to the studies of Geometry and Arithmetic
The Chancellors room. Paintings of the chancellors of Oxford are displayed being hung on the walls. Of coarse we immediately looked for Thomas Chaundler's portrayer panting, as remember he was the Chancellor or Vice Chandler of Oxford for twenty two years between 1457 and 1479. It it was then explained that the paintings are rotated each 6 months and it this time is just isn't Thomasa's turn to be honored.
We are now on the ground and in the University Chapel. It was very ornate and beautiful but much smaller than we anticipated. We were then reminded that each college has it own chapel and there isn't a need for a large University Chapel.
We visited the Bodleian Library and the display featured at that time was on Brit
ish Women. I just happened to stop and read the story of Mary Lacy and her experience as an able bodied Seaman for the British Navy in 1763. The name she used during her sea mans time was William Chandler. We Chandlers come up at every turn, and of course this speaks well of the Chandler Ladies.
Let a Boy find a Tree and and bingo you have one climbing. Now this ornate cast steel spiral staircase is more to my climbing comfort level..
Say hello to our beautiful Granddaughter Raulin. Raulin was as extension student from UNM to Sheffield University as were making this tour. She was able to hop on a train and find us on the weekends.
The Ribble family absorbing the atmosphere at Oxford.
This street vendor on campus really caught my attention. I had to work this photograph to lighten his face for you to see him at work in this portable kitchen. This is about a small and compact lunch counter as one will find.
Two synonymous works College Student and Cycle. This s not Amsterdam the bike capital of the world but these two photos certainly challenge that claim.
The Continuing Legacy of The University of Oxford.
Oxford is a place where history has been made in the fields other than Academics and Bicycles. It was here at the Iffley Road Sports Ground on May 6th, 1954 that Roger Banister ran a sub 4 minute mile. A feat in the minds of mankind that was impossible. The only one not believing this was Roger Banister. He continued his education at Oxford to become a Neurologist and Master of Pembroke College at Oxford. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1975 to become Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister CH CBE FRCP.
Hey, Gang it time to head to see William Whykem's Broughton Home and then on to London Town
Come on Willie sing us another verse, and we’ll move on down the road.
Norm & Dottie