THE EXAMINATION SCHOOLS: WARTIME LECTURES AND TEACHING LIFE
Directions
From Merton College, walk back up Merton Street to the High Street.
Turn left and continue along the High; in just a few steps, the grand stone façade of the Examination Schools will appear on your left-hand side.
You’ll recognise it by its large arched entrance, decorative carvings, and the steady flow of students going in and out.
Orientation cue: It’s one of the largest and most imposing university buildings on the High Street — directly opposite the University Church spire in the distance.
About
“As you return to the High, turn left and continue along the High. You will immediately find the Examination Schools on your left. Here and in other venues, Lewis, Tolkien and Williams presented their lectures to Oxford students.
C.S. Lewis in a letter of February 1940:
‘On Monday Charles Williams lectured, nominally on [Milton’s] Comus but really on Chastity. Simply as criticism it was superb—because here was a man who really cared with every fibre of his being about “The sage and the serious doctrine of virginity” which it would never occur to the ordinary modern reader to take seriously.’”
The Examination Schools, built between 1876 and 1882, serve as Oxford’s main venue for university exams, lectures, and major academic events.
During the Second World War, when parts of the university were commandeered for military use, these halls also hosted lectures by some of Oxford’s most famous figures — including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams.
Lewis’s lectures here were legendary. Students described him as a magnetic speaker — brisk, funny, deeply learned, and utterly without notes.
Even in the darkest days of wartime Oxford, he filled the hall to capacity, speaking passionately about the enduring relevance of truth, faith, and literature.
Many of these talks later became the foundation for his books The Abolition of Man and Mere Christianity. One student wrote that hearing him lecture “felt like light cutting through fog.”
Today, the Examination Schools remain active, but if you pause outside and listen to the echoing footsteps within, you can almost imagine the young Lewis hurrying to a podium, gown flapping, spectacles in hand — ready to awaken minds.
