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The Nature of Oxford
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INTO MAGDALEN COLLEGE
Magdalen College is a world all its
own containing within its boundaries an incredible array of plant life,
wildlife, and terrain types. However, upon entering Magdalen College none of this is
apparent. Having only the word of Professor Bump urging me on I entered into Magdalen College in search for some
sort of rival to Christ Church College with its daunting
amount of nature.
With over ten lawns within the college
nature is apparent From the moment that I entered into the Porter’s Lodge.
Standing in the north end of St. John’s Quadrangle, four
separate lawns were distinctly visible to me. Although lawns and quads are
very common occurrences at Oxford colleges I was
also aware that Magdalen College was withholding
from my experience at this point it’s famous deer park. As I put off the
pleasure of the deer park I made my way
around St. John’s Quad and into
Chaplain’s Quad.
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Chaplain’s Quadrangle
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QUADS
In Chaplain’s Quad I came upon a garden of
sorts. Not very large in size the garden consisted of small stone pebbles intermixed
among various plants. At first I was quite unsure as to why stones  where employed in
this fashion and what could be drawn from this scene. I realized though that
the plants were evergreens. With the evergreens intermixed with pebbles I
began to feel as if I had come upon a winter scene. Aside from the 90 degree weather in Europe at the time the
stone’s became snow and the evergreens kept their green. With Magdalen’s abundance of Quads, that which daunts even the
number at Christ Church, Magdalen College has an added
aspect that I took notice of. When I was finally making my way to the deer park I took look back
at one of the large quads and saw an enormous tree dating back to the 17th
Century. The tree, called Magdalen Plane was
especially impressive not only because of its size and age but the importance
that nature holds in the college for it to be tended to for so long. The
tree, which I wished I could have climbed was for me
as much a part of the college as any of the buildings. It is this tree in
specific that reminds me of an Ent, the living
trees that have tended to and walked the forests of fantasy since the
beginning of the world.
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Punting around Magdalen Bridge
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In Cloister’s Quadrangle I found that I had
come upon a very tailored lawn much like the any
other and unrevealing at first. However, Cloister’s Quad is home to more than
just a quad. In the   Quad I found not
only wood cravings of flower’s over the doorway but also another very
peculiar site. Upon the stone near the quad side of the door to the quad I
found something that I would call a moss growths that greatly resembled
yellow carnations or some other sort of flower. For me it was as if the
college itself had a life to it and was producing flowers as if it were a part
of nature itself.
ADDISON’S
WALK & DEER PARK
Addison’s Walk begins the
most incredible aspect of nature at Magdalen College and argueably all of Oxford. As I moved down
the path back toward Magdalen Bridge the trees along the
walk lean in to encapsulate the gravel walk. Passing through this tunnel of
nature the view of all else is  blocked. The
College disappears into trees, the city streets are replaced by waterways
that follow the path all the way around. Probably the one feature of Magdalen College which sets it
above and beyond any other is the deer park. Aside from the
ducks and other animals that inhabit the waterways (which Christ Church contains as well)
the deer create an entirely different spectacle for me. It is the addition of
deer and Magdalen Plane that sets Magdalen College as the primer
nature spot at Oxford. Standing in
complete contrast to the Bodliean, and owing its
deer from Brasenose that Magdalen stands alone.
However, just one longhorn at Christ Church could change all
that.
Magdalen College is almost like a
wildlife preserve, the Gardens, waterways, and deer park run pretty much
the entire gambit of natural diversity. You find swamps, running water,
meadows, tailored greens, and hills.
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Cloister’s Quad
Addison’s Walk
An A.J. Del
Cueto Creation
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