Tom Tower
Today, I present to you Tom Tower of Christ Church. This is a picture which is not so original in either subject or composition. But when the weather is fantastic, you’ve got to make the most of it and so I always end up snapping some pictures of subjects which I’ve already photographed before, simply because you never know if you’ll ever get to see them in such optimal conditions again. The light of the setting sun was splendidly warm, the sky deep blue – and a cyclist just happened to grace my composition – more than enough reason to click the shutter. Right, so now let me jot down just a little bit of information about Tom Tower itself. Tom Tower is the main entrance to Christ Church leading into Tom Quad. It was designed by Christopher Wren and was built between 1681 and 1682. It houses the Great Tom which is the loudest bell in Oxford. It is still rung 101 times every single night, representing the 100 original scholars (and another one added in 1663). It tolls away at 21:05, which equates to 21:00 in what once was Oxford Time (5 minutes after Greenwich time).