Highest tower to climb in Oxford City

Oxford is known as “the city of dreaming spires” and to see the beauty of the dreaming spires climb a tower!

Oxford is rightly called the city of dreaming spires as many towers rise in the Oxford city tours suggesting a dreamy academic world where the learning is abreast with imagination. Church towers and college spires add to the milieu of learning in a vibrant mode, here is the world sought on unleashed skies. The towers offer a panoramic view of the Oxford city and surrounding areas from which you get a vantage point to see the spreading city in entirety. Here I seek the privilege to present the rising towers in the city of Oxford.

 

Carfax Tower

I travel to Carfax Tower which is situated at the interaction of four major roads and in all its symbolic glory of imperial England it looks down on the masses as towering as it ever was. The tower tells the telling story of a church that stood here and was called the St Martin church. There is a bell that chimes every quarter as the tower has two “quarter boys “on either side of the bell. There is a way that leads to the top of the tower from where to catch a glimpse of the Oxford city as spread out. It has been a sort of regulation with the authority of the university that the undergraduate student lies within 6 miles from the tower while the graduate student resides within the distance of 25 miles.

St Mary’s Church Tower

I climb St Mary’s church through all of its 127 steps from where is visible the world at large. Towering over its dominion St Mary’s church offers excellent viewing of High Street, All Souls College, and Radcliffe square. The church of the virgin as it turns out to be is situated on the north side of the high street. This is the nodal point from where the other buildings of the university spread out its tentacles and its parish consists exclusively of the college buildings.

 

Next on my list is the Saxon Tower of St Michael’s, a historic building almost thousand years old which is located at the North gate. Seeing its historicity it is one of the most significant buildings in Oxford. It once was the part of the old city wall. Climbing it provides me with a good view of the city. The adjoining church, however, was demolished many times over the past and rebuilt again yet the building is a true legacy of Oxford.

Tom Tower

Tom Tower is an iconic building showcasing the elegant architecture of Oxford city. It was designed by Christopher Wren and stands tall over the Tom Gate of Christ Church. It has a bell that chimes 101 times for all the hundred plus one students it once had thus signifying they are safely home within the environs of the college that is housed nearby. Unfortunately, the tower is out of reach of the public as the people are forbidden to visit it but viewing it from the outside was yet still a marvel.

 

Magdalen Tower

The bell tower of Magdalen College soars high into the sky and is the tallest building in Oxford which could be even spotted from the meadows of Christ Church. The bells of Magdalen Tower are quite famous for the manners in which the bells ring and are quite unique on the account of mathematical patterns that come into play when 10 bells go ringing which shows for English change ringing. Every year on the first of May at around 6 am the choir sings hymns that are endearing to the soul and welcoming May. The tower is closed to the public for viewing.

 

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