MAGDALEN BRIDGE & MAGDALEN TOWER VIEW
Directions
Continue to the end of Longwall Street until it meets the busy High Street. Turn left and walk a few paces to the centre of Magdalen Bridge, which spans the River Cherwell.
Pause here for one of the most celebrated views in Oxford — Magdalen Tower rising over the trees.
Orientation cue: You are standing midway across the bridge, the Tower directly ahead through the branches.
About
“Continue to the very end of Longwall Street where it meets the busy High Street. Turn left and walk past the entrance of Magdalen College on to the centre of Magdalen Bridge, which spans the River Cherwell.
As you turn to face Magdalen College, you will find one of the most beautiful sights in all of Oxford, the glorious Magdalen Tower. Built between 1490 and 1510, it is more than 150 feet high.”
Every May Morning since the 1500s, the Magdalen College Choir has greeted dawn from the top of this tower with the Hymnus Eucharisticus. Lewis often listened from the bridge below, describing it as “a sound too pure for sleep.” The view symbolises the Oxford he came to love — a union of learning, faith, and landscape.
