C.S. Lewis Pilgrimage

I consider myself a fairly big C.S. Lewis fan, so it's pretty bad it took me almost two years of living in Oxford to do the proper pilgrimage! But we finally did so on Sunday, with a visit to his parish church, a revisit to his grave with better cameras, and a stop at his house.

1. Holy Trinity Church

Our first stop was Holy Trinity Church in Headington, the suburb/village of Oxford I've mentioned in previous posts. The church looks old but is quite new by English standards: built 1849. It is normally locked, but they have just started opening from 2-5pm on summer weekends.



C.S. Lewis attended services here with his brother Warnie for 31 years, from 1932 until his death in 1963, and they always sat in the same pew near the back. There is a small plaque marking the spot.




Near the "Lewis pew" is the Narnia Window (above right), which was added in 1991 as a memorial to two children of the parish who sadly died young. It features Aslan the Lion and lots of other characters and scenes from the Narnia books.

A lady from the parish was there during our visit and we enjoyed chatting with her. (You can see us if you enlarge the photo at right.) She told me that now only one church member survives who attended at the same time as Lewis, but is too frail to attend services very often. The Lewis stories still circulate, though!

Apparently he and Warnie always arrived early for 8am communion, then left early before the service was over. Lewis didn't like sermons, church music, or small talk.

One popular anecdote is that every time the Lewis brothers would leave early, the door would slam loudly behind them. Finally the churchwarden decided to line the door jamb with rubber to muffle the sound. So the next time they left, it closed quietly behind them. But then when the rest of the congregation went to leave, the door wouldn't open! Someone had to climb outside through an old back door, walk around to the front and shove it open with great effort. They took the rubber off again, and had to go back to the slamming.

The lady we spoke to (pictured at right; I really should have asked her name) asked me lots of questions about my studies and what I plan to do next. She was very interested in my website after I described it, and had me write down the address for her. She also asked David about his job, and noted that he described O2 as a "mobile phone" company. She said she knew from watching TV that Americans say "cell phone" and commented that he was becoming Anglicized. She was very cute.

Towards the end of our visit another lady stopped by and they were chatting about the outdoor church service they'd attended that morning in Oxford. Apparently it was in Broad Street and a lot of people came. They enjoyed it for the most part, but said it was too evangelical for their taste: too long, too many testimonies and songs, and too much insinuation that much of the audience was going to Hell, especially if they attended wild Oxford parties. They also told us that we had missed out on an excellent flower festival in Headington the previous weekend, and showed us one of their entries: a kneeler made entirely of flowers (above left). It was very impressive.

2. Lewis' Grave

Next we headed out to the churchyard to photograph Lewis' grave again, since our first visit was spontaneous and we only had a cell phone camera with us.




The epitaph was written by his brother Warnie, who then was buried with him a few years later.



I just recently learned the meaning of the phrase "Men must endure their going hence" - it is from "King Lear" and was on the Lewis family's Shakespeare calendar the day their beloved mother died. She died of cancer when Lewis was only 10, and the traumatic experience was part of why he became an atheist at an early age.

Next to the church is a pub called the Masons Arms, where Lewis and Warnie often headed after they left church early. We didn't go inside but snapped some pics of the outside. It is clearly still a popular watering hole, as there were lots of convivial noises coming from the open door.

3. The Kilns

Our final stop for the day was the Kilns, C.S. Lewis' home from 1929 to 1963. He lived here with his brother Warnie, an older woman named Mrs. Moore, who was the mother of Lewis' college roommate that had died in World War II, and Mrs. Moore's daughter Maureen. Later, long after Mrs. Moore's death and as seen in the movie Shadowlands, Lewis' wife Joy moved in with them for the last few years of her life.



It was here at the Kilns that Lewis wrote all the Narnia books as well as his other classics. The two windows in the above photo are his study (left) and bedroom (right). The house plays a significant role in the stories as well - in real life, a few children who were evacuated from London during the WWII bombing came to stay at the Kilns.

And that's how The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe begins: a group of four siblings leave London in wartime and go to the country to stay at the "Professor's" house. The Professor is a gruff old man who is a little bit scary but believes their tale of the magical wardrobe - clearly Lewis himself!

The house is not generally open to the public but is owned by and has been thoroughly refurbished by the America-based C.S. Lewis Foundation.

It is used mainly for scholars on sabbatical and for C.S. Lewis conferences, which the Foundation believes is more in the spirit of Lewis than opening it as a museum. I dunno if I agree or not.

Happily, when we arrived there happened to be one such scholar out in the garden. She was from Tennessee and was writing her doctoral dissertation there. She lives in Joy's room! She welcomed us to wander all around the property, and even gave us a quick guided tour of the outside.

She showed us Lewis' bedroom and his study where his books were written. She said he added the stairs on the outside so that he could come and go without disturbing his housemates, especially the elderly Mrs. Moore when she was living there. These rooms are kept as a museum and visiting scholars don't get to stay in there. She also pointed out "the children's room," where the children from London stayed during the war.

She took us around back and pointed out the sitting room, which had a desk from the 1940s, complete with period accessories like a Ration Book. Sadly none of the furnishings are original to Lewis' time, though. And finally she showed us Joy's room on the ground floor (left).

The friendly Tennesseean told us that the Foundation does occasional tours by appointment and that it was well worth setting one up. She even wrote down the phone number for us. She then encouraged us to check out the wooded area with pond out back, where Lewis used to spend a lot of time and that inspired the land of Narnia. She said last winter she went out there when it was snowing and thought, "This is Narnia!"



We were already planning to take a peek back there, but it was nice to have directions and extra encouragement. The house is now on a cul-de-sac called "Lewis Close", but in his time it was all by itself in the middle of 8 wooded acres. Lewis' study was on the top floor and overlooked the wooded area with pond, which is now known as "The C.S. Lewis Nature Reserve."

He used to take a punt out on the pond and even bathe in it. Yuck! Our Tennesseean guide had showed us the very punt, which is now out behind the house under a tarp and partially restored after being found at the bottom of the pond. Beyond the pond were more walking paths through the woods, which were delightful, except that David got stung by a nettle on his leg. They seem to be very prevalent here in Britain.



More photos from the pilgrimage are available here.

Our C.S. Lewis mission thus accomplished very satisfactorily, we made a quick stop at our local Marks & Spencers (which has been renovated since we were last there and was prettier than ever), and made it home just in time for the Formula One Montreal Grand Prix at 5:00.

The F1 Montreal Grand Prix

This race was one of the best ever, so although it will likely bore most of you I have to record a quick summary. The Montreal track is notoriously very difficult and only 13 cars out of the original 22 even completed the race. One very horrifying part of that, though, was an awful crash of a Polish driver named Robert Kubica. He seems like such a sweet guy and he has a wonderfully large Polish nose.

The camera just happened to be following him when he nicked another car, launched into the air, and slammed head-on into a concrete wall at 170 miles per hour. He then rolled across the track several times, as the car crumbled apart completely, then came to rest sideways against the opposite wall. We could see his head bobbing around as the car came to rest and it was so upsetting.

David was sure he was dead and I feared that as well, but held out some hope that the advanced safety features of those cars might make a miracle. We had to wait well over 10 minutes before there was any news, but finally they said he was in stable condition. We don't even know the guy, but we were so relieved!

Later there were further reports that he was conscious and speaking normally with his team manager. In the end, he suffered only a light concussion and a sprained ankle! He may even drive in next weekend's race. A miracle, indeed. You can watch a short video of the crash here if interested, since he turned out to be OK.

On a happier note, this race was also the first win for Lewis Hamilton (right), a 20-year-old Brit who is currently the major focus of Formula One. He is incredibly talented and focused, well-spoken and nice, nice-looking, and fully expected to be the Next Big Thing. This is his first season racing in Formula One yet he has finished on the podium (top 3) every time, which is just unheard of.

He is also the teammate of current world champion Fernando Alonso (with Hamilton below left), who we've always liked the best, so we have mixed feelings as to who should win. But it was great to see Hamilton get his first win. Hamilton and Alonso are now duking it out for the World Champion title this year, with Hamilton currently in the lead.

The next race is the USA Grand Prix, in Indianapolis. Apparently F1 is becoming more popular in the USA this year, thanks in large part to Lewis Hamilton. It's definitely an American-dream story (even though he's British), very reminiscent of Tiger Woods.

Hamilton decided he wanted to drive Formula One from a very young age, and his father worked three jobs to pay for his training. At age 11, he introduced himself to Ron Dennis, owner of the McLaren Mercedes team. After asking for his autograph he said, "I'm Lewis Hamilton and I want to drive for you one day." By the time he was 14, Ron Dennis was impressed by his talent that he began to sponsor his training himself.

And this year, at the age of 20, he achieved his dream of driving for him (that's him with Ron Dennis at right). And not only that, but outperforming all the other drivers who have many years more experience than him.

He has a ton of expectation and pressure on his shoulders and we keep expecting him to choke - I know I would! - but so far he hasn't. Fun stuff. So watch the race next weekend and see if you don't get hooked! :)

For more info, see BBC: Sky's the limit for Hamilton