The legendary Ron Brind will explain in detail how to find the places that you won’t want to miss such as the Martyrs Memorial, the Eagle and Child, the Registry Office where Jack and Joy were married in the so-called marriage of convenience in April 1956, Keble College where C. S. Lewis and Paddy Moore were in training for the First World War, Magdalen College where Jack taught English Language and Literature for twenty nine years and where some of the filming for 'Shadowlands' took place. Magdalen College School, the former home’s of J. R. R. Tolkien and Helen Joy Davidman, the Mayfair Suite where Jack and Joy’s marriage was blessed in a bedside ceremony, Holy Trinity Church and the Lewis brothers tombstone, the Narnia window, Mrs Janie King-Moore’s grave (along with a second Mrs Moore who lived at the Kilns - yes it's true!), C S Lewis’ former home the Kilns, the C S Lewis Reserve which inspired Jack to write the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ and Barton (formerly Oxford) Crematorium where Joy’s body was cremated and her ashes scattered near the beautiful Magnolia tree's.

The suggested route is based on ‘The C S Lewis Tour in Oxford’ that I still operate here. Alternatively you may wish to tour with me personally, that being the case please click on the following link http://www.picturesofengland.com/oxford/cslewistours/index.html
 
In my new book (not yet available) and after the tour is over I explain routes, and give general suggestions as to how you return to Oxford City, and/or connect with major routes to allow you to make full use of your time whilst here in the United Kingdom, rather than travelling over the same area twice perhaps! For example the general directions on how to pick up the routes to London, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted Airport’s, or Woodstock, Blenheim Palace, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwick and Birmingham are suggested. In the meantime I am happy to help where I can via email.

See the places of special C. S. Lewis significance in Oxford via the tour as suggested by the author of ‘A Guide to the C S Lewis Tour in Oxford’ ISBN 1857566262. Payments can only be accepted through PayPal at Ronbrind@rbrind.fsnet.co.uk All orders will be dispatched First Class or Airmail upon receipt of payment.

This website may also help you to understand a few of the difficulties that you could encounter if you plan to visit the Kilns, former home of C. S. Lewis because your visit to the Kilns, indeed your visit to Oxford will probably be the first shock when you realise that very few people in Oxford know, or yet even care who C. S. Lewis was, where he lived and/or what he wrote. So why do the locals look at you with a blank stare when you mention his name? Eventually they will say Oh, yes! ah, he wrote 'Alice in Wonderland' didn't he'? He was that old chap, that old guy, that old geezer who lived up the Kilns wasn't he?

The 2003 Survey of 197 people in Oxford City
 
To see what the locals actually knew I conducted a small survey. I interviewed 197 people in Oxford City during 2003 looking specifically for 'Brits' and then I asked the following two questions.

The first question: Excuse me, can you tell me who C. S. Lewis was?

The second question: Have you ever heard of, or did you ever read a book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? The results of this little survey are quite amazing, in fact unbelievable, but sadly true!

When the results were collated 70% had answered the first question with the exact words Alice in Wonderland! So 70% of the Oxford City ‘Brits’ interviewed at the time thought that C. S. Lewis wrote Alice in Wonderland! On that basis I ask, a Prophet in his own City perhaps? The answer to the second question was very different with the majority instantly recognising the title.

So you have planned a visit to Oxford, but what a shame that during your visit to Oxford you will be unable to find a single Memorial to C. S. Lewis, or Mr and Mrs C. S. Lewis. There is no shrine for visitors to indulge a few quiet moments unless you manage to find Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry where brothers Clive Staples Lewis (Jack) and Warren Hamilton Lewis (Warnie) worshipped for nearly 31 years! There is not a single C S Lewis memorabilia shop to visit in Oxford. No postcards, no greetings cards to send back home. Well what about the Kilns you might ask, can we visit the Kilns? Once again, no directions and no plaque on the former home the Kilns to show visitors where C. S. Lewis once lived.

My book titled 'A Guide to the C. S. Lewis Tour in Oxford' has changed that for ever! It emulates the C. S. Lewis Tour in Oxford that I still operate and is therefore a great resource for planning your visit to the Kilns. It virtually allows you to visit the Kilns from your armchair! My book can be purchased at discounted rates through www.picturesofengland.com  www.amazon.com and www.amazon.co.uk  as well as most bookstores.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) was a prolific writer in many fields; some of his most notable titles such as The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain discuss religion and his own passionate commitment after a period of uncertainty. He is perhaps best known among children for the books in his Chronicles of Narnia series. Yet, during his time at the Kilns, the Oxford home he moved to in 1930 and lived until his death in 1963, the magnitude of his contribution to literature was scarcely recognised. He and his older brother Warren Hamilton Lewis ‘Warnie’ were simply known as the Professor and the Major respectively.

Read a detailed and intensely personal account of C. S. Lewis’ life in my book titled ‘A Guide to the C S Lewis Tour in Oxford’ available from bookstores and http://www.picturesofengland.com/oxford/cslewistours/index.html  

Ronald K Brind - The legendary Ron Brind was born in Headington, Oxford just a couple of hundred yards away from Lewis' former home the Kilns. I would visit the Kilns as a 10 year old boy with a shotgun and fishing rod under my arm asking Jack for permission to shoot and fish on his land, he never once refused me. He really was a likeable man even though I didn't know who he was at the time. A shotgun licence in those days could be purchased from the local Post Office for just ten shillings per year, the equivalent of fifty pence today!

Soon there would be two new boys living at the Kilns; Douglas and David Gresham. I got friendly with Douglas and was soon invited into the Kilns brushing past the jacket tails of C. S. Lewis, ‘Jack’ as Douglas referred to him. Little did I realise that this man was to change the hearts and minds of millions of people throughout the world, and indeed continues to do so! Neither did I think for one minute that fifty years later I would be offering a tour in Oxford for visitors from all over the world as well has having written my book in an attempt to preserve the Lewis legacy.

So I was a boyhood friend of Lewis’ step-sons Douglas and David Gresham and a regular visitor to the Lewis household. Indeed, this makes my feelings all the more acute that the lifetime surroundings of this great literary figure should be valued and afforded more respect and attention (other than the passion from the American people who often see the visit as a pilgrimage), than is currently the case here in the UK!

For anyone who is interested in the life of this celebrated author, I have combined my own life-long interest with extensive research to produce a comprehensive guide of the Oxford area, taking in all the sites of significance in the story of C. S. Lewis. The guide can be used in isolation during your visit to Oxford and/or the Kilns, or as a companion publication to the C. S. Lewis Tours that I operate. My hope is that I can encourage visitors to Oxford to follow in the footsteps of the many pilgrims who have already visited the Kilns, Holy Trinity Church, the Lewis brothers grave in the churchyard, the Eagle and Child, Magdalen College and other places of interest at your own leisure, to enjoy it, live it, and feel close to such a wonderful man. You can then bask in the memories forever!