Sunday 2 October 2022

Oxford: Chancing Upon Dorothy L. Sayers' Birthplace


 As we got to the Christchurch Cathedral gate above, a sense of intrigue drove us towards an interesting narrow lane across the road:


Suddenly, my friend started looking at a house in excitement:


He'd found the house where Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) was born, the Headmaster's House on Brewster Street.


 For my friend, this finding was a massive added bonus to finding Thomas Hardy and C.S. Lewis/Tolkien places in Oxford, because Dorothy L. Sayers is known to have been a friend of C.S. Lewis.

Have just read that Sayers was a crime writer and poet, and a student of Classical and Modern languages.

Just from a quick internet search, I can see that Sayers led quite a colourful and meaningful life, being involved in passionate affairs, while also devoting herself to serious-minded Christian apologetic work, for example, The Mind of the Maker (1941).

Moreover, her famous essay/book, The Lost Tools of Learning (1947), has served as a foundation for the Classical Education Movement in many schools in the USA. Have heard several Traditional Catholic commentators, such as Matt Fradd from Pints with Aquinas, speak in glowing terms about this book.

A few yards down from Dorothy L. Sayers' birthplace, we came across the Christ Church Cathedral School:


 

Which was a grand, red-brick construction:


But our mind was still pre-occupied with Dorothy L. Sayers. 

Must read her Lost Tools of Learning, as this kind of topic is right up my street.


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