Exploring Oxford University and Walking in C.S. Lewis’s Footsteps

Admittedly, I knew very little about Oxford and C.S. Lewis before embarking on a walking tour of the university with The Enchanted Book Club. It ended up being one of the most memorable parts of our literary trip! Exploring Oxford University is experiencing living history. Getting to walk in the footsteps of C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Percy Shelley and even the real-life Alice in Wonderland (more on that later), was astounding. We began our tour inside Oxford’s very first classroom, The Divinity School. Designed between 1423 and 1488, this stunning classroom is considered a masterpiece of English Gothic architecture. When exploring new places, I’m always drawn to where the stories are. At Oxford, they are everywhere—even the ceilings. The intricately designed Divinity Room ceiling honors the donors who financed the classroom. Look closely and you’ll find initials and coats of arms that represent the donors. Imagine being immortalized through Oxford University’s architecture!

Next we walked up to Oxford’s main research library, The Bodelian Library. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. With gaping mouths, we walked through the library doors to discover aisles and aisles of leather-bound books dating back to pre-1500.

Fun fact: our tour guide told us that when handling the Bodelian Library’s books, students are asked not to wear gloves. Because gloves can affect our sense of touch, it’s sometimes better to flip through old books with bare fingertips so as not to clump pages together!

Our tour guide, Ian, was incredibly knowledgable and passionate about Oxford’s history as well as endearing. He told us a wonderful story about how the doorway fauns in the photo above may have inspired The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Ian explained, “If you’ve ever had to make up stories for your children or your grandchildren like I’ve had to, you need inspiration for your imagination. So when Lucy went through the back of that wardrobe, what did she see? She might have seen a lamppost. Who was the first little character she saw? Mr. Tumnus! There he is on the right coming up, you’ll see two of them. C.S. Lewis would have walked up here regularly because his college was on the high street and his friend, Tolkien, was at Exeter College over there. Now did this [the doorway fauns] inspire the story of what Narnia might be like, we will never know.” Doesn’t that story just give you the chills?!

Around every corner, we discovered more enchantment than the last. Our tour guide described how C.S. Lewis and Tolkien would share their writing with each other before it was published, quoted Oscar Wilde as we explored where he studied the classics at Oxford, and showed us Alice in Wonderland’s home.

While walking past this beautiful vine-covered building, our tour guide asked us if we were familiar with a certain children’s story written by Charles Dodgson…one in which a little girl named Alice fell down a rabbit hole. He went on to explain that Charles Dodgson used the pen name Lewis Carroll and wrote Alice in Wonderland about a real little girl named Alice Liddell who lived in this building until age 24 as her father was the Dean at Oxford.

What’s even more fascinating is that Charles based the other Alice in Wonderland characters on real people too. The hat maker around the corner inspired the Mad Hatter and Alice’s nanny inspired the Queen of Hearts. As I stood where little Alice once did and learned the real story behind her whimsical book, it dawned on me that fairy tales may very well be among us always—that depending on the way we look at everyday life, we can turn our experiences into magical stories.

Next on The Enchanted Book Club’s literary tour of England was C.S. Lewis’s home which I will write about in my next blog post. If you are reading this and haven’t heard of The Enchanted Book Club before, we are an online community that reads the classics together. We have members (kindred spirits!) from all around the world and host literary tours like this one 1-2 times per year. If you’re interested in the classics or literary travel, click here to learn more. We would LOVE to have you join us! ❤️