1.
High Street
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High Street is a metonym for the concept of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations. To distinguish it from centres of nearby places it is frequently preceded unofficially by the name of its settlement, in a town it implies the focal point for business, especially shops and street stalls in town and city centres. The equivalent in the United States and some parts of Canada, as well as some Northern English, the smallest High Street in Britain is located in a small market town in Devon called Holsworthy. The street itself is no more than 100 yards long and there are three shops located on Holsworthys High Street. High Street is the most common name in the UK. Already in Middle English the word denoted a metaphorical meaning of excellence or superior rank. High also applied to roads as they improved, highway was a new term taken up by the church, High Street gradually adopted a narrower meaning to describe thoroughfares with significant retail in large villages and towns. In the United Kingdom geographic concentration of goods and services has reduced the share of the economy contributed to by workers in the high street, High street refers to only a part of commerce. The town centre in many British towns combines a group of outdoor shopping streets, the continued vitality of towns is predicated on a number of different variables. The way that consumers perceive and use town centres has also fundamentally changed, in order to address the issues threatening the sustainability of towns it is increasingly important to consider consumer behaviour and customer experience. High Streets are less seen in Ireland. Neither of Dublins two main shopping streets carry this name, nor does its main thoroughfare, while Dublin has a High Street near Christchurch, it is not a shopping street. The city of Corks main shopping street is St. Patricks Street, Limericks, Main Street is used in many smaller towns and villages. For example, the OSI North Leinster Town Maps book lists sixteen Main Streets, similarly, the OSI Dublin Street Guide lists twenty Main Streets and only two High Streets. Killarney and Galway are two of the few large Irish towns in which the streets are named High Street. Nonetheless, the high street is often used in the Irish media to refer generically to shopping streets. The phrase High Street banks is used to refer to the banking sector in the United Kingdom. The equivalent in the United States, sometimes in Canada and Ireland is Main Street, in Jamaica, North East England and some sections of Canada and the United States, the main commercial district is Front Street
2.
University Church of St Mary the Virgin
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The University Church of St Mary the Virgin is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of university and college buildings. St Marys possesses an eccentric baroque porch, designed by Nicholas Stone, facing High Street, radcliffe Square lies to the north and to the east is Catte Street. When Adam de Brome became rector in 1320 the churchs fortune became linked to what would later become Oriel College. Brome diverted the revenues of the church to his college, which thereafter was responsible for appointing the vicar, early provosts of the college were inducted into their stall in the church, and until 1642 fellows were required to attend services on Sundays and holy days. St Marys was the site of the 1555 trial of the Oxford Martyrs, when the bishops Latimer and Ridley and the Archbishop Cranmer, were tried for heresy. The martyrs were imprisoned at the former Bocardo Prison near St Michael at the Northgate in Cornmarket Street, a cross set into the road marks that location on what is now Broad Street, the nearby Martyrs Memorial, at the south end of St Giles, commemorates the events. Until the 17th century, the church was used not only for prayers but also for increasingly rowdy graduation, thereafter, the church was reserved for religious worship only. In 1828 John Henry Newman became vicar and his sermons became popular with undergraduates, the influence of the movement spread and affected the practice and spirituality of the Church of England. By 1843, Newman became disillusioned with Anglicanism and resigned from St Marys, the Decorated spire with its triple-gabled outer pinnacles, inner pinnacles, gargoyles and statues was added in the 1320s. Only one of the statues is original, the others were by George Frampton. The original statues can now be found in the cloister of New College, the tower is plainer, having long three light bell openings with intersecting tracery. The architect is unknown, though the master mason in 1275 was Richard of Abingdon, the south porch was built in 1637 and was designed by Nicholas Stone, master mason to Charles I. It was a gift from Dr Morgan Owen, chaplain to Archbishop Laud and it is highly ornate, with spiral columns supporting a curly pediment framing a shell niche with a statue of the Virgin and Child, underneath a gothic fan vault. The gate piers are original and the iron gates are early 18th century. The bullet holes in the statue were made by Cromwellian troopers, around 1328 a chapel was added, now the outer north aisle, by the rector, Adam de Brome. The north wall of de Bromes chapel and the house were remodelled in the Perpendicular style around 1510. Around the same time, St Thomas chantry, now a vestry, was added, the nave and aisle windows have panel tracery and flamboyant battlemented parapets with gargoyles and pinnacles
3.
Oxford
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Oxford is a city in the South East region of England and the county town of Oxfordshire. With an estimated 2015 population of 168,270, it is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom, the city is situated 57 miles from London,69 miles from Bristol,65 miles from both Southampton and Birmingham and 25 miles from Reading. The city is known worldwide as the home of the University of Oxford, buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period since the late Saxon period. Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires, a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold, Oxford has a broad economic base. Its industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing and a number of information technology and science-based businesses. Oxford was first settled in Saxon times and was known as Oxenaforda, meaning Ford of the Oxen. It began with the establishment of a crossing for oxen around AD900. In the 10th century, Oxford became an important military frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and was on several occasions raided by Danes, Oxford was heavily damaged during the Norman Invasion of 1066. Following the conquest, the town was assigned to a governor, Robert DOyly, the castle has never been used for military purposes and its remains survive to this day. DOyly set up a community in the castle consisting of a chapel. The community never grew large but it earned its place in history as one of Britains oldest places of formal education and it was there that in 1139 Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his History of the Kings of Britain, a compilation of Arthurian legends. Mary at Oseney and to the canons serving God in that place and we have made this concession and confirmation in the Common council of the City and we have confirmed it with our common seal. These are those who have made this concession and confirmation, a grandson of King John established Rewley Abbey for the Cistercian Order, and friars of various orders all had houses of varying importance at Oxford. Parliaments were often held in the city during the 13th century, the Provisions of Oxford were instigated by a group of barons led by Simon de Montfort, these documents are often regarded as Englands first written constitution. Richard I of England and John, King of England the sons of Henry II of England, were born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford, on 8 September 1157 and 24 December 1166 respectively. A plaque in Beaumont Street commemorates these events, the University of Oxford is first mentioned in 12th century records. Of the hundreds of Aularian houses that sprang up across the city, what put an end to the halls was the emergence of colleges. Oxfords earliest colleges were University College, Balliol and Merton and these colleges were established at a time when Europeans were starting to translate the writings of Greek philosophers
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Magdalen Bridge
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Magdalen Bridge /ˈmɔːdlᵻn/ spans the divided stream of the River Cherwell just to the east of the City of Oxford, England, and next to Magdalen College, whence it gets its name and pronunciation. It connects the High Street to the west with The Plain, now a roundabout and this point of the Cherwell has been used for crossing since ancient times. The first known reference to a bridge back to 1004. By the 16th century a medieval stone bridge had replaced the wooden one. This bridge was about 1,500 feet long and was formed by 20 arches, by the 1770s, the stone bridge was too narrow for the increasing traffic, as it did not allow two vehicles crossing safely. In addition to this, the structure was becoming unsound due to the combination of two factors, a lack of maintenance and the negative effects of regular flooding. Eventually some of the arches of the side collapsed during the floods of February 1772. The present stone bridge was designed by John Gwynn of Shrewsbury with a length to the previous one. It has a total of 11 arches of different dimensions distributed as follows, for each of the two branches of the river there are three large semicircular arches plus two smaller ones at each side of the river, originally designed for the towpaths. A central elliptical arch, the existing in the long central area across the island. This arch only conveys water when the island gets submerged, the original plans of the bridge are in the British Library,1802 c.17, vol.2, and Kings Maps xxxvi,33. The bridge, built between 1772 and 1790 by John Randall, originally had a width of 27 feet, which accommodated a single roadway and two pavements. Although the bridge was opened to traffic by the end of 1778, a new scheme for the balustrade, gwynns original design included an extravagant decoration for the balustrade with sculptures and sphinxes that were commissioned to Henry Webber in 1778 but eventually abandoned in 1782. According to Pevsner, the bridge has good sturdy balusters, although these have replaced over the years because of degradation due to pollution. Despite opposition from University members, the bridge was widened in 1882 to accommodate a four-foot gauge track for the tramway, the 18th-century bridge was widened by 20 feet on the south side, but design was retained. The bridge is the scene of large crowds every 1 May early in the morning for the traditional May Morning celebrations in Oxford, there has been a recent tradition of students to jump off the bridge, despite the danger of injury due to low water levels in the Cherwell. In some years many jumpers have been injured and, in order to avoid this, Magdalen Bridge, Oxford Magdalen Bridge Boathouse Restrictions on Magdalen Bridge by Tom Pinnock, The Oxford Student,2004
6.
Carfax, Oxford
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Carfax is at the junction of St Aldates, Cornmarket Street, Queen Street and the High Street in Oxford, England. It is considered to be the centre of the city, and is at 51. 752°N1. 258°W /51.752, the name Carfax derives from the Latin quadrifurcus via the French carrefour, both of which mean crossroads. St Martins Tower, popularly called Carfax Tower, is on the northwest corner of Carfax and it is all that remains of the 12th-century St Martins Church and is now owned by the Oxford City Council. In 1896 the City Church was moved to All Saints Church in the High Street, the tower is 74 feet tall, and no building in central Oxford may be built higher than it. It is a Grade II* listed building, the tower still has a ring of six bells, five recast from the original ring by Richard Keene of Woodstock in 1676, plus another cast by Keene two years later. They are rung on special occasions by the Oxford Society of Change Ringers, there is also a clock that chimes the quarter hours on a pair of bells cast by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough in 1898. The clocks current dial and surroundings were designed by Sir TG Jackson, in 1938–39 the clock mechanism was replaced with an electric one made by Gents of Leicester. It is possible to climb to the top of the tower for a view of the Oxford skyline, the tower is open 10am–5. 30pm Easter to October, and 10am–3. 30pm October to Easter. The St Scholastica Day riot of 1355 began with an altercation in the Swindlestock Tavern between two students and the taverner. In 1865 William Henry Butler, who had been Mayor of Oxford in 1836, was buried in St Martins churchyard in the grave of his first wife Elizabeth Briggs and their two infant daughters. In 1900 the church was demolished to make way for improvements and as a consequence the grave. It is probable the tombstone was made by either John Gibbs of Oxford or one of Gibbss employees, the tombstone is still in situ and can be seen behind the tower. There is a campaign to protect the tombstone for posterity, comparable to St Mary the Great for the University of Cambridge, Carfax plays a role in the disciplinary legislation of the University of Oxford over its students. For instance, the Universitys residence requirements are defined in terms of a number of miles from Carfax within which students have to reside. Carfax Conduit Carfax Tutorial Establishment Beeson, C. F. C, simcock, A. V, ed. Clockmaking in Oxfordshire 1400–1850. Oxford, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford & New York, Oxford University Press. Map sources for Carfax, Oxford Wilkes, DC
7.
University of Oxford
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The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris, after disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two ancient universities are frequently referred to as Oxbridge. The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges, All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. Being a city university, it not have a main campus, instead, its buildings. Oxford is the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the worlds oldest and most prestigious scholarships, the university operates the worlds oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system in Britain. Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 28 Nobel laureates,27 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has no known foundation date. Teaching at Oxford existed in form as early as 1096. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris, the historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, the university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, the students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two nations, representing the North and the South. In later centuries, geographical origins continued to many students affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. At about the time, private benefactors established colleges as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest such founders were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses. In 1333–34, an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III. Thereafter, until the 1820s, no new universities were allowed to be founded in England, even in London, thus, Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly, the new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of Greek language studies, and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar. With the English Reformation and the breaking of communion with the Roman Catholic Church, recusant scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, as a centre of learning and scholarship, Oxfords reputation declined in the Age of Enlightenment, enrolments fell and teaching was neglected
8.
University College, Oxford
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University College, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the university, as of 2009, the college had an estimated financial endowment of £109m. The college is associated with a number of influential people, notable alumni include Clement Attlee, C. S. Lewis, Bill Clinton, V. S. Naipaul, Stephen Hawking and Percy Bysshe Shelley. A legend arose in the 14th century that the college was founded by King Alfred in 872, however most agree its foundation was in 1249 by William of Durham. He bequeathed money to support ten or twelve Masters of Arts studying Divinity, and this later date still allows the claim that Univ is the oldest of the Oxford colleges, although this is contested by Balliol College and Merton College. Until the 16th century, it was open to Fellows studying theology. As Univ grew in size and wealth, its buildings were replaced with the current Main Quadrangle in the 17th Century. Although the foundation stone was placed on 17 April 1634 the disruption of the English Civil War meant it was not completed until sometime in 1676, Radcliffe Quad followed more rapidly by 1719, and the Library was built in 1861. University College began to accept female students in 1979. The main entrance to the college is on the High Street and its grounds are bounded by Merton Street, the college is divided by Logic Lane which is owned by the college and runs through the centre. The western side of the college is occupied by the library, the hall, the chapel, the eastern side of the college is mainly devoted to student accommodation in rooms above the High Street shops, on Merton Street or in the separate Goodhart Building. This building is named after former master of the college Arthur Lehman Goodhart, the college also owns student accommodation on Staverton Road in North Oxford which houses students after their second year. The college also owns the University College Boathouse and a ground which is located nearby on Abingdon Road. The Alternative Prospectus is written and produced by current students for prospective applicants, the publication was awarded a HELOA Innovation and Best Practice Award in 2011. The Univ Alternative Prospectus offers student written advice and guidance to potential Oxford applicants, the award recognises the engagement of the college community, unique newspaper format, forward-thinking use of social media and the collaborative working between staff and students. University has the longest grace of any Oxford college and it is read before every Formal Hall, which is held Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at Univ. The reading is performed by a Scholar of the College and whoever is sitting at the head of High Table, the Scholar does not need to know it by heart, and it is unusual for people to do so. Gratiarum actio in collegio magnae aulae universitatis quotidie ante mensam dicenda, SCHOLAR — Deus det vivis gratiam, defunctis requiem, Ecclesiae, Reginae, Regnoque nostro, pacem et concordiam, et nobis peccatoribus vitam aeternam
9.
All Saints Church, Oxford
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All Saints Church is on the north side of the High Street in central Oxford, England, on the corner of Turl Street. It is now the library of Lincoln College and this former church is Grade I listed. The original All Saints Church was founded in 1122 on this site, however, on 8 March 1700, the spire of the church collapsed, destroying most of the building. There was an appeal for funds and the current building, seating 350, was completed in 1720, the building was designed by Henry Aldrich, the Dean of Christ Church. Nicholas Hawksmoor is thought to be responsible for the tower and spire, four of the original bells survived the collapse. The repairs to the church were very expensive and donations were received from most of the Oxford colleges, in 1896, when St Martins Church at Carfax was demolished, All Saints became the official City Church, where the Mayor and Corporation were expected to worship. In 1971, All Saints Church was declared redundant and the City Church moved to St Michael at the North Gate, All Saints was thus deconsecrated and offered to Lincoln College, located immediately to the north of the church. Since 1975, after conversion, the building has been Lincoln Colleges library, the only major change to the interior of the church during its conversion into a library was the raising of the original floor by over four feet to provide space for the lower reading rooms. The upper reading room is known as the Cohen Room and has an elegant plastered ceiling, the decorations include the shields of the major donors who contributed to the cost of the conversion. The lower reading room is the library and the senior library. The science section is named after a former Lincoln College Fellow, Howard Florey, the Library still has a full peal of eight bells, which are regularly rung by the Oxford Society of Change Ringers, founded in 1734. They are also rung for special occasions, such as the election of a new Rector of the College, there is another All Saints Church in the suburb of Headington to the east of central Oxford, on Lime Walk
10.
The Queen's College, Oxford
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The Queens College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Queen Philippa of Hainault, the college is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, which includes buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. In 2014, the college had an endowment of £206.1 million, the college was founded during the 14th century by Robert de Eglesfield, chaplain to Queen Philippa of Hainault, hence its name. The colleges coat of arms is that of the founder, it slightly from his familys coat of arms. The current coat of arms was adopted by dEglesfield because he was unable to use his familys arms, the frontage of the college was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, part of a substantial rebuilding in the 18th century during which the library was built. The medieval foundations, however, remain beneath the current 18th-century structure, in 2012, the college had net assets of £201.4 million. The college has had an association with the north of England, in part because of its founder. This connection was reinforced for many years until recently by the large number of Hastings Scholarships given to men from 20 schools in Yorkshire. Graduate students from the universities of Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, the college is named for its first patroness, Queen Philippa of Hainault. Established in January 1341 under the name of the Hall of the Queens scholars of Oxford, an Act of 1585 sought to end this confusion by providing that it should be called by the one name the Queens College, in practice the definite article is usually omitted. The full name of the College, as indicated in its reports, is The Provost. Queens College in Cambridge positions its apostrophe differently and has no article, in April 2012, as part of the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, a series of commemorative stamps were released featuring A-Z pictures of famous British landmarks. The Queens Colleges front quad was used on the Q stamp, alongside other landmarks such as the Angel of the North on A, the college has one of the best-stocked college libraries in Oxford. The current lending library consists of around 50,000 volumes, the Upper Library has been a focal point for the College ever since its construction at the end of the 17th century. Unlike many other rooms in Oxford libraries, the Upper Library remains as a silent reading room for students open during staffed hours. The open cloister below the Upper Library was enclosed in the 19th century to form the Lower Library, the college has one of the largest and most diverse collections of rare books in Oxford. The chapel is noted for its Frobenius organ in the west gallery and it was installed in 1965, replacing a Rushworth and Dreaper organ from 1931. The earliest mention of an organ is 1826, the Chapel Choir has been described as Oxfords finest mixed-voice choir and continues to perform termly concerts, with recent examples including Handels Messiah and Bachs St. John Passion
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