W-I-D-E on Wednesday: "Old"

Well, as we're staying in Oxford this week I was spoilt for choice today for my blip for (14th blip birthday girl) Jensphotos' Widwed challenge of "Old". Initially I had in mind to photograph New College, which counterintuitively is one of the oldest colleges here, having been founded in 1379 and named to distinguish it from an earlier Oxford college (Oriel) founded in 1326.

However my attention was drawn to an alternative subject by my younger brother and sister-in-law who live 30 miles away in Reading and who joined us for the day. This narrow alleyway (St Mary's Passage) contains this doorway which is said to have inspired CS Lewis in his writing of the Narnia stories. The door is sometimes known as the "Narnia Door" with an image of Aslan the Lion on the door itself and the fauns either side of it looking like Mr Tumnus.

The lamp post is very similar to the one Lucy walked past when entering Narnia and may also have inspired Lewis.

I took this wide angle shot to include the old doorway and the lamp post, with The Radcliffe Camera building seen in the background. It's pretty old, being designed by James Gibbs in a Baroque style and built in 1737–49, initally to house the Radcliffe Science Library.