Saturday, July 6

            This morning we took a short walk over to the Bodleian Library, which is situated very close to Brasenose College and the Radcliffe Camera.  After first entering the impressive building and we met our tour guide, we walked to the Convocation House, which served as a meeting place for University officials.  We were all fortunate enough to sit in a seat where Charles I once sat.  Once we had spent our time in that room, we made our way directly upstairs to the Duke Humfrey’s Library.  This library is home to thousands of books.  The older books, which have been in the library for hundreds of years, contain information on subjects such as astronomy, physics and psychology.  While the massive collection of books was very impressive, what caught my eye the most was the ceiling.  The ceiling was completely covered by paintings of the seal of the library.  I can only imagine how much time it must have taken to completely intricately paint the ceiling of such a large library. 

            After seeing this amazing library, we were taken by our tour guide to have a rare look inside the Radcliffe Camera.  In the upper reading room of the Camera, I could gaze up at the spectacular domed roof.  While staring upwards towards the center of the ceiling, it was near impossible for me to gauge how tall the ceiling actually was.  We then descended below street level to find a modern age passage back to the library.  Eventually, our tour ended in the Divinity School.  In this passage-like room, two scenes in the Harry Potter series were filmed.  The Bodleian Library was a very interesting, and it was a great way to close off the week.

Submitted by Bennett Setzer

 Class gathered in the Convocation House of the Bodleian Library.



Woodberry Forest School students experience throne once occupied by Charles I.

 

Oxford program participants learning about the Old School Quadrangle at the entrance of the Divinity School and Duke Humfrey's Library.



Various religious symbols carved into the stone ceiling of the Divinity school are pointed out.

  Carving in ceiling of Holy Trinity.

 In celebration of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"  weekend in Oxford, an original Salvador Dali illustrated edition was on display in the Bodleian Library.

Friday, July 5

Day Six started out in the classroom with a discussion about yesterday’s journey to Ironbridge Gorge.  After recounting various bits of our intriguing visit to one of the Industrial Revolution’s key locations, we wrote essays about the significance of Ironbridge Gorge.  The morning was spent trying to fit all the interesting pieces of information we had gathered from Ironbridge into a single essay.  After we put the pens down, another delicious lunch was enjoyed in Brasenose College’s dining hall.  The second scavenger hunt led Christian and me to the Bates Collection of musical instruments.  We spent about an hour checking out some finely crafted flutes, violins, and brass instruments well over 200 years old.  To see such craftsmanship coming from an age without modern technology was incredible.  After seeing the instrument collection, we headed to St. John’s College and Corpus Christi College.  Both were beautiful, Corpus having a small, tight knit feel to it, while St. Johns was conspicuously a popular school.  The weather was beautiful, which made exploring Oxford even better.  After eating dinner, we took to the lawn to engage in one of Oxford’s famous pastimes, Croquet.  Steve and I teamed up to barely win our match after halting a great comeback from Peter and Eddie.  I still don’t quite understand the sport, but it was very fun and we learned about the game from two Brasenose students who are working for the summer conferences office, Oliver and Owen.  After croquet, I joined the Brits in cheering for their beloved Andy Murray in a very competitive semi-final round at Wimbledon.  After yet another great day in Oxford, we are just about finished with week one.

Submitted by Cutchin Anderson

 Breakfast July 5 in Brasenose's Great Hall

Brasenose College acquired its name from the unusual bronze door knocker which is shaped like an animal's snout that now hangs above the high table in the dining hall. The original door knocker dates back to the 11th century.

 
Will learning the UK version of croquet on New Quad.

 Peter making an expert shot.

 Will moving towards a descisive win with St. Mary's spire in background.

Cutchin making a serious shot.

 Though understandably there were no fireworks the evening of July 4th, that night some

"rabble-rousers" (not Woodberry boys) spelled-out USA in tea boxes on the New Quad lawn.

Thursday, July 4

The fifth day of our trip saw our longest field trip yet, this time to the Ironbridge World Heritage Site.  Though most of us did not know what to expect, we did know that this site was often mentioned in the same conversation as places such as the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China, which was quite intriguing.   Upon arrival, we immediately learned why.  Ironbridge Gorge is a place of beauty and wonder – set in a wooded valley landscape with the River Severn flowing through en route from the hills of Mid Wales to the Bristol Channel.   Within the World Heritage Site, an area of about six square miles, are ten museums, the Iron Bridge itself, and numerous other historic and attractive buildings, not to mention an array of shops, pubs and restaurants. All this is connected by a network of roads and footpaths running through the idyllic Shropshire countryside. Our first stop was the Iron Bridge itself, where we were able to walk across this piece of history.  This was the world's first bridge built in iron and it opened in 1779.  In addition to the bridge itself, we visited the Museum of the Gorge, the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, the Darby Houses, and the Blists Hill Victorian Town.  At all of these places, we were able to learn about the industrial revolution and one man in particular, Abraham Darby.  We were even able to see the furnaces which Darby used to smelt iron with coke instead of charcoal.  This trip took up all of the afternoon and tired most of us out, but luckily we were able to sleep on the 3 hour car ride back to Oxford (SO MUCH TRAFFIC).  We concluded our Fourth of July with an excellent and filling meal of hamburgers.  Hope all of our families back home don't celebrate too much without us.  Cheers.

Submitted by Kiefer McDowell  

Iron Bridge - first bridge constructed of iron and a World Heritage site.

Mr. Kendall describing a fish he caught on the Severn River as a young lad.

A delightful bag lunch by the Coalbrookdale old iron furnances.

From the "charging level", looking into the remains of the first ironworks furnance at Coalbrookdale (1638)

Tommy and Sterling exploring the "casting floor" level of the Old Furnance at Coalbrookdale.

Tommy portraying Abraham Darby III in the Darby House.

Christian dress-up as Coalbrookdale partner Richard Reynolds.

Steve enjoying the costums of Darby House.

A steamroller rolling through Blists Hill, a Victorian town exhibit in Iron Gorge

Mr. Kendall take a look at a "squatter's home" in Blists Hill.

Class enjoys 4th of July burgers and coke in Oxford.

July 3

Today was a day for rest and relaxation in a way. Most everyone in our group was a bit exhausted from our long trip to London the previous day, so we decided to stick around the city of Oxford. After breakfast, we headed to the classroom to add to our journals and read the newspapers.  We also spent some time reading about the Industrial Revolution and how it was sparked in a small town called Coalbrookdale. Lunch came and passed, and when we returned to the classroom for our afternoon session, Mr. Reid and Mr. Kendall commenced the organization of our scavenger hunt in the city of Oxford. First we split into 4 different groups. Each group had a certain museum they were to visit and explore along with several of the Oxford colleges in the area. We were given maps of the city so we could navigate our way through the city to our respective destinations and hopefully back to Brasenose College. As you could imagine, our scavenger hunts took a while, so by the time every one had returned from their trip it was almost time for dinner. Once everyone had finished eating, we huddled up and made a plan for the following day. It had been a day spent locally, but it had been a productive one.

Submitted by Eddie Williams

 Class time reading a variety of newspapers and noting the various points of view that different papers provide.

July 2

After our first few days of staying at Brasenose College and getting acquainted with the city of Oxford we headed out to check out a city a little bit bigger, London. When we first arrived in London after an hour-long train ride, we headed to the Royal Society. The Royal Society, founded in 1660 for the promotion of “natural knowledge” offers a Scientific Exhibition for one week each year, which we were fortunate enough to attend and found very interesting. It consisted of a lot different exhibits by various university research groups, whose scientists were present to educate us and many other people on all areas of science ranging from stem cell research to learning about dark matter and the Higgs Boson. In my personal preference the most interesting exhibition was about stem cell research, which included a pretty cool 3-D plastic model printer. After leaving the Royal Society we ate lunch on the steps between The Mall and Carlton House Terrace. Next we headed to the Museum of Natural History to learn about the history of Evolution and the ideas of Natural Selection developed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace. As we were orienting ourselves in the entrance hall of this museum, we surprisingly ran into a Woodberry graduate, Doug Smith, from the class of ’04 and a former advisee of Mr. Kendall.  The Science Museum was the last stop in London for the day. We got to walk through a very fascinating exhibit on Alan Turing, code breaking and its impact on World War II. Then we returned to Paddington Station by walking across Hyde Park. After reading one of the local newspapers on the way back from London, I was excited to see that the weather is looking good for this next week. To end the day we went out to dinner at Pizza Hut to try it Oxford style. 

Submitted by Steve Nugent.

 Viewing the sights in Trafalgar Square.

 Sterling and Steve learning from a stem cell scientist.

 The group outside the Royal Society.

 The class surrounds Charles Darwin.

Peter and Cutchin outside Royal Albert Hall.  (Note individual protesting the black listing of construction workers on London building projects.)

 Cutchin and Royal Albert Hall.

Class at the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park.

End of a very long day!

Monday, July 1

On our second day at Brasenose College we found ourselves exploring Oxford and all it has to offer. After starting off the morning with breakfast in Brasenose’s Dining Hall and a brush up of our English news (via The Guardian, London times, and other papers), we took a hike up to the famous Iffley Chapel which is located within a couple miles of Central Oxford.  On our way to this twelfth century chapel we encountered not only double decker busses and towering chapels but Oxfords’ Iffley Road Track, where the first sub four minute mile was recorded, in which Roger Bannister ran a blazing 3:56.4 in 1954. This was a breakthrough considering just years earlier many though a sub four minute and twenty second mile was impossible. Being a track runner, this was quite the sight.  We soon after ran into thatched roofs that appeared to be directly out of the feudal age, which was something very new to me. We then arrived at Iffley Church where we were able to relax and enjoy the twelfth century structure that I’m sure has seen many intriguing days. This was quite the experience to see a structure so old, and one treat that one does not get to enjoy in the states.  After seeing the wonderful aged chapel we enjoyed the hike back to Brasenose College along the famous Thames River where we saw all the boat houses for the Oxford rowing teams. Today was an exciting day and so much history was seen just in the couple mile hike. I’m excited for the rest of my days here at Oxford and look forward to seeing many other momentous sights, just around the corner.

Submitted by Christian Asher

Morning class in our meeting room at Brasenose College.

Iffley, build in 1170 as a Norman Church "retains its original simplicity of architecture and its spectacular figurative carvings".