Balliol Door

The lone figure strolls past the Balliol door, deep in conversation on her phone.

She pushes a blue bike, one that matches her phone. Her face is obscured. She focuses on that all important call. We can’t tell if she’s as a student or just a regular citizen, about her business. Oxford is an old city, with so many narrow streets and alleys that it is often quicker to walk or cycle from A to B. Rather than use a car or the bus. Not that you don’t take your life in your hands when you cycle around Oxford. Cars blame the cyclist’s disregard for rules, and cyclists blame cars for their failure to spot the smaller, vulnerable cyclists. As always, in these cases, there is usually truth on both sides of the argument, but I digress.

This beautiful wooden door with its spiralling hinges is inspired by the organic but very much man-made. The circular movement mirroring the movement of the wheels on the bike. Like the way cartoonists draw movement in their creations. The door dominates taking up most of the image. It’s slightly ajar. We see a dark entry and leafy beyond and that’s all. Enough to pique curiosity, one which we can only satisfy by stepping through. A tantalising glimpse into a world beyond. The woman is oblivious to this potential Wonderland. What treats is she missing? I’d love to know.

The door surroundings are no less impressive than the doors themselves. Pairs of carved columns, with floral capitals, flank either side, with a low Gothic arch spanning the two sides. A carved shield at the apex with the college Coat of Arms in faint detail. The entrance to an academic fortress established in 1263 and still going strong.

The main site is on Broad Street. Behind this19th-century façade is the Front Quad, with a Chapel, built in 1857, and the College’s oldest building dating from the 15th-century.