From Magdalen College along the High Street to Queen's, cut up Queen's Lane and you'll dog-leg your way north to New College
(daily: April-Oct 11am-5pm; Nov-March 2-4pm; £2, free in winter; tel
01865/279555). Founded in 1379, the college has splendid Perpendicular
Gothic architecture in its Front Quad , even if the addition of an extra storey in 1674 spoiled the overall effect. The Chapel
has been mucked about, too, yet it can still lay claim to being the
finest in Oxford, not so much for its design as its contents. The
ante-chapel contains some superb fourteenth-century stained glass and
the west window - of 1778 - holds an intriguing (if somewhat
unsuccessful) Nativity scene based on a design by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Beneath it, shoved up against the wall, stands the wonderful Lazarus
by Jacob Epstein - Khrushchev, after a visit to the college, claimed
that the memory of this haunting sculpture kept him awake at night.
Notable New College alumni include the Labour Party leader Hugh
Gaitskell, Tony Benn and the author John Fowles.
An
archway on the east side of the Front Quad leads through to the
grounds, a pleasant lawn skirted by the best-preserved part of the
thirteenth-century city walls . You can leave the college
either through the north entrance into Holywell Street, or back the way
you came and into New College Lane. Both are close to the east end of
Broad Street.
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