Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, England

The exterior of Christ Church Cathedral is difficult to see, as it is surrounded by college buildings and private gardens. The best general view can be had from across the meadow to the east of the cathedral.

The crossing tower is one of the oldest in England, dating from the 12th century (Norman lower part) and early 13th century (Early English spire). It can best be seen from the cloisters.

The nave, chancel, and transepts are Late Norman (mid-12th century), characterized by large, heavy pillars. The marble floor and choir stalls date from Gilbert Scott's restoration of 1870-76; the original choir stalls are now in the Latin chapel.

The beautiful chancel vault is an intricate lierne vault with carved stone bosses and 12 graceful hanging pendants. It was previously said to have been created around 1500 by William Orchard, who had designed a similar vault for Oxford's Divinity School. But it has recently been re-dated to c. 1400, thus serving as an inspiration for Orchard's work in the Divinity School, rather than the other way around.

The Lady Chapel was added to the north side of the chancel in the mid-12th century in an Early English style. Lady Chapels were almost always placed to the east, but the canons could not do this because of the nearby city wall.

The Latin Chapel was added further north in the early 14th century to house the Shrine of St. Frideswide. Built in 1289, it is the oldest monument in the cathedral. It once contained the holy relics of Frideswide and was visited by countless medieval pilgrims. The arches along the top are decorated with faces peeping out from behind foliage; more faces decorate the base.

Frideswide's shrine was destroyed in 1538, along with most other saints' shrines in Britain, as part of the Reformation. Fragments were discovered in the college in the 1870s and more were uncovered in the cloister in 1985. The shrine was fully reconstructed as accurately as possible beginning in 2002, an effort that earned an Oxford Preservation Trust award in 2005.

Next to the Shrine is what is thought to be a watching chamber, from which a careful eye could be kept on the gold and jewels that enriched the shrine. The lower part is an altar-tomb made of stone with a stone canopy; the upper part is made of wood. It dates from around 1500.

Behind the shrine is the Victorian St. Frideswide Window, created by Edward Burne-Jones in 1859. It is one of his earliest works, before he worked with William Morris, and bolder than his later style.

The top panel shows a ship of souls carrying Frideswide to heaven and the flower-shaped windows below that show the Tree of Knowledge (left) and the Tree of Life (right). The remaining 16 panels depict scenes from the saint's life, as follows:

Frideswide is educated by Sts. Catherine and Cecilia
Frideswide cuts her hair before she enters the nunnery
A messenger from King Algar demands her in marriage
King Algar comes to the nunnery to take Frideswide by force
Frideswide flees Oxford
Algar and his men follow
Frideswide hides in the bushes
Frideswide hides in a pig sty
Frideswide rows up the Thames to Binsey, where she is helped by fellow nuns
Algar continues his pursuit
Frideswide establishes a nunnery at Binsey
Frideswide heals the sick
Frideswide draws water from the holy well at Binsey
Frideswide returns to Oxford, which is then beseiged by King Algar
Upon entering Oxford, Algar is struck blind
Frideswide on her death bed

Children (and adults) may enjoy hunting for some interesting details in the St Frideswide Window: ducks and sunflowers (panel 8); sleeping pigs (panel 9); a sign post showing Oxford and Binsey (panel 12); and a flushable toilet (panel 16). The last detail obviously reflects the Victorian date of the window and not Frideswide's time! It may have been included in honor of the windows' sponsors.

Another notable window is at the west end of the north nave aisle: the Jonah Window, designed by Abraham van Linge in the 1630s. The figure of Jonah is made of stained glass, while the rest consists of painted glass showing the city of Ninevah in minute detail.

The oldest stained glass window in the cathedral is the Becket Window, found in St. Lucy's Chapel on the south side. It dates from 1320 and is a rare surviving portrayal of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in his cathedral by order of the king in 1170.

At the Reformation, King Henry VIII ordered all images of Becket to be destroyed. This one was saved by replacing Becket's head with clear glass, thus disguising his identity. Since restored, his face is the only glass in the window that is not original. Other panels show St. Martin dividing his cloak and the coats of arms of England and France.

The Chapel of Remembrance south of the chancel is home to the St. Catherine Window, created by Burne-Jones in 1878. The face of St. Catherine of Alexandria, in the center, is a portrait of Edith Liddell, whose sister was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.

Christ Church Cathedral is filled with various tombs, monuments and memorials. Of special interest is the painted Tomb of Lady Elizabeth Montacute (d. 1354), next to the Shrine of St Frideswide. Lady Montacute sponsored the construction of the chapel in which she lies and also donated the land that is now Christ Church Meadow.

Lady Montacute's tomb is topped with her effigy, resting on cushions held by two angels with a dog at her feet. The sides of the tomb are carved with portraits of her ten children; one of these is Bishop Simon of Ely (1337‑45).

The short ends of the tomb have quatrefoils with the Virgin and Child, Mary Magdalene (or maybe Frideswide) and the Four Evangelists. All the figures lost their faces at the Reformation. An adjacent ceiling vault, below which the tomb was originally placed, bears traces of painted angel wings.

At the east end of the north aisle, not far from Lady Montacute, is the striking Bell Altar (2000). Created to mark the millennium, the modern creation is made of simple black-painted wood. It is dedicated to Bishop George Bell, who among other things opposed the bombing of Germany in WWII.

The Chapel of Remembrance, on the south side of the chancel, contains memorials for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and a memorial bust of Edward Pusey, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement and Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church 1828-82.

At the foot of the pulpit, a stone was placed in 2003 to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of John Wesley, founder of Methodism. Both John and his brother, the hymn writer Charles, were undergraduates at Christ Church in the 1720s and were ordained in the cathedral as priests in the Church of England.

The Perpendicular Gothic cloister (c. 1500) is small but lovely, made of light golden stone. It contains a variety of memorials, coats of arms and figurative carvings and leads to the justifiably famous Great Hall of the college, where scenes in the Harry Potter movies were filmed. The portal to the chapter house is 12th-century Norman and richly carved with zigzag molding.

The chapter house (now the Chapter House Shop and Treasury) dates from the early 13th century and is contemporary with the chapter houses at Lincoln, Salisbury and Chester cathedrals. The Early English rib vault is decorated with painted medallions of saints and angels (much faded) and intricately carved roof bosses. There are stained glass windows in the back.