Magdalen Tower, Oxford
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Magdalen Great Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England. It is one of the oldest parts of Magdalen College, Oxford, situated directly on the High Street. Built of stone in 1492–c1509, it is an important and beautiful feature of the Oxford skyline. At 144 feet high to the top of its pinnacles, it is the tallest building in Oxford. It dominates the eastern entrance to the city, towering over Magdalen Bridge and with good views from the Botanic Garden opposite.
The tower contains a 10 bells hung for English change ringing. They were cast at a number of different foundries and the heaviest, weighing 19 cwt, was cast in 1623. The bells are rung on many occasions during the year by the Oxford Society of Change Ringers at the invitation of the college. Such occasions include significant royal and college anniversaries, and after some religious ceremonies in the College Chapel.
Every 1 May, at 6am in the morning, the choir of the college (including boy choristers from nearby Magdalen College School) sings two traditional hymns — the Hymnus Eucharisticus and "Now Is the Month of Maying" — to start the May Morning celebrations in Oxford. Large crowds gather in the High Street and on Magdalen Bridge below to listen, before dispersing for other activities such as Morris Dancing.
Extensive restoration to the stone facing of the tower was undertaken in the 1970s since pollution had badly degraded the surface.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Jennifer Sherwood and Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
[edit] External links
- Magdalen Tower and the Hymnus Eucharisticus
- Photograph by Jim Batty
- Magdalen College Tower photograph
- May Morning, Magdalen Tower by William Holman Hunt (1890)
- Oxford's May Morning from the BBC, 2003
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