Oxford, England : City of Dreaming Spires

Oxford Skyline : City of Dreaming Spires.

The town of Oxford is known as the City of Dreaming Spires.  Spires from around 30 colleges making up the famous university breach the mist on many a southern English morning.  The town was established in the 9th century and the University in the 12th.  Its romantic, medieval town center attracts tourists, scholars and royalty from all over the world and it is one of the most expensive places in England to live.  When first starting out as a town it was an important military frontier town between Wessex and Mercia and was subject to frequent Viking raids.

Christ Church College

Christ Church is one of the largest colleges in the University as well as being the Cathedral for the Diocese of Oxford.  Alice in Wonderland was written here by Louis Carroll.  Many scenes from Harry Potter were filmed here as well as Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.

The college was founded as such by King Henry VIII in 1531.  A gate tower designed by Sir Christopher Wren is in the great quadrangle and the bell in the tower, nicknamed Great Tom, is rung 101 times every night at 9 pm former Oxford time (9:05 GMT) for the 100 original scholars on the College plus 1 added in 1664.