Beyond London – Oxford, Stratford, Cotswolds, Warwick, Stonehenge

Christ Church is one of the largest colleges in Oxford.  Several locations at Christ Church such as the staircase and the Hall were used for scenes in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The Hall is at the centre of college life where the academic community congregates to dine every day and during special occasions.

The huge quadrangle called Tom Quad is named after the 6 ton bell, Great Tom.

Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith.  Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.   He  wrote  popular tragedies such as Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth.

Warwick Castle is a medieval castle originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068.

The castle was once the family home of the Earls of Warwick.

There are many rooms in the castle, some with mannequins like real people. These are dressed in costumes to show how people might have lived in the castle hundreds of years ago. Warwick Castle has a dungeon and one part of the castle is said to be haunted. 

Cotswold stone is a yellow oolitic Jurassic limestone quarried in many places in the Cotswold Hills in the south midlands of England. When weathered, the colour of buildings made or faced with this stone is often described as ‘honey’ or ‘golden’.  Many of the houses in Cotswold are made of these unique stone.

Stonehenge is a pre-historic monument in Wiltshire, England.  Archeologists believe it was built anywhere between 3000 BC to 2000 BC.  There are a number of theories about the mystery of Stonehenge.  One theory is that the Stonehenge was used as a place of healing.  Evidence supporting this is the number of burials found around the area and evidence of trauma deformity in some of the graves.  Others speculate that it was used as a place for worship. Another theory is that the monument was intended to unify the different people of the British island.  The massive amount of labor involved in the construction would have required inter-regional cooperation.