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Featured Items

Cows and Curates. The Story of the Land and Livings of Christ Church, Oxford

Judith Curthoys, College Archivist & Library Manager, introduces her latest book, Cows and Curates: The Story of the Land and Livings of Christ Church, Oxford:

"When Christ Church was founded in 1546, Henry VIII made the college a generous grant of land and other property. This endowment was large enough to ensure the smooth running of the college and cathedral including maintaining its buildings, educating its students and paying its staff.
 
From earliest days up to the present, the endowment and later gifts - in all parts of the country, from Montgomeryshire to Norfolk and Cornwall to Yorkshire - have been managed with varying success, sometimes expertly, at other times less so.
 
The shelves of the college archives are full of maps and plans, account books, manorial records, deeds, photographs and detailed correspondence with tenants and vicars. Drawing on this rich material, Cows and Curates recounts the history of the management of farms, urban dwellings, commercial property and industrial estates, as well as the relationship between the college and its incumbents, against the backdrop of national social change, legislation, agricultural developments and depressions, wars and modernisation.
 
This is the fourth book in the archivist’s ‘Christ Church Saga’: The Cardinal’s College was published in 2012, recounting the history of the college; in 2017, The Stones of Christ Church told the story of its buildings; and, in 2019, The King’s Cathedral looked at the development of the ecclesiastical foundation from its earliest days as a small priory founded by Frideswide to its role as the diocesan seat in the 21st century."

Celebrating 40 years of women at Christ Church Silk Scarf

Oxfordshire-based Joshua Hale, artist and designer, graduated from the London College of Fashion. He works as a designer for Emma Bridgewater, the British ceramics manufacturer, and has undertaken a number of private commissions in artwork and interior design. 

The Cardinal’s Hat, designed and drawn by Joshua to celebrate 40 years of women at Christ Church, is a limited edition silk scarf produced by the leading British Silk Bureau. The inspiration, hand-painted using gouache, comes from the iconic Cardinal’s hat, a recognised moniker of Thomas Wolsey, that adorns the House’s coat of arms. The richly bright red cords and tassels, usually represented in a static form, are given a new lease of life in this representation; they’re fuller, burgeoning, more vivid, and on the move. The colours capture the college’s emblematic arms and the natural qualities of silk make for a striking and lustrous impact.

Christ Church's Jabberwocky Gin

With interest in gin at Christ Church at an all-time high, we decided to make our own take on this classic spirit, using botanicals found on site. Our Head Gardener, John James, was asked which herbs and plants most closely evoke a walk through the grounds on a heady Spring morning. We came up with a list of herbs and shrubs as a recipe for a friendly local distillery owned by the Foxdenton Estate. Foxdenton specialise in gins with big flavours and lots of character, and we’re sure this comes across in our House gin.

The name and label derive from the works of Charles Dodgson, known as Lewis Carroll. It is a common myth of the House that the Pococke tree, sequestered in the loveliest corner of Oxford, provided the inspiration for the monstrous Jabberwocky. Our archivist, Judith Curthoys, is sure this can’t be strictly true, as at the time of Charles Dodgson the Pococke tree was hidden away from most. We chose for the label instead a nineteenth century engraving (usually housed in the Librarians’ tea room) of a young fig tree growing up the wall of the SCR garden – Dodgson could hardly have missed it. Its spreading, spindly arms are perhaps not so gargantuan, but can be seen to represent something more: the gin had to engage with the House’s story, sprawling, rich and fruitful.

Christ Church Special Edition Monopoly

Explore the historic locations of Christ Church University in this special edition of Monopoly. Race your family and friends to be the Master of Christ Church, and to own the famous Harry Potter filming locations,the door that Alice was forbidden to use  and many more wonderful and interesting areas of the college. And of course to become the Master of Christ Church.