Tolkien Gleanings #460
* Holly Ordway on “Tolkien and restoring the beauty of the Oxford Oratory” (Substack, but wholly free), which in Tolkien’s day was the Catholic parish church of St. Aloysius. Interior restoration has been underway since 2007, and this work moved into a major new phase in 2025…
“Although it has an unassuming brick facade [1875], the beautiful interior of the church would have been a visual delight to Tolkien, who loved intricate designs in the style of William Morris’s Arts and Crafts Movement. Indeed, he might well have noticed that the enamel, copper, and silver altar of the Lady Chapel was designed by Morris & Company. A double rank of statues of saints and angels curves above and to either side of the main altar; Tolkien would have observed among them his patron, St. John the Evangelist. […] St Aloysius is open for anyone to stop in, whether it’s for some quiet reflection in a beautiful space, to appreciate a place that was important in the life of J.R.R. Tolkien, for a bit of personal prayer or meditation, or to see what a reverently done Catholic Mass is like.”
Even better, Ordway states that this Oxford church now holds to the… “same Oratorian ethos that so deeply formed the young Tolkien”. The restoration target is £3.3 million, and donations are welcomed.
* I’ve restored and colourised this old postcard view of the entrance from the street to St. Aloysius. Judging by the look of the original, and the cultivation of arboreal growth, the view is probably contemporary with the young Tolkien.
* Amarillo Film Festival in Texas has screened the first finished 60 minute episode of The Forge of Friendship: J.R.R. Tolkien & C.S. Lewis, a planned five-part series. This is the fruit of some ten years of production, which has involved scores of interviews with scholars, and extensive re-enactment location shooting with costumed actors.
* From Brazil and currently screening there, the personal documentary travel film Em Busca de Tolkien: Uma Odisseia Criativa (2026) (‘In Search of Tolkien: A Creative Odyssey’).
* In Newcastle in the north of England, the major loan exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Art and Poetry is set to be… “the first large-scale exhibition to explore the connections between Pre-Raphaelite art and poetry”. Ticketed, with a substantial entry price. There is also a published catalogue. Runs from 17th October 2026 – 13th February 2027.
* The Oxford C.S. Lewis Society has posted the list of autumn 2026 talks. Among talks on Lewis, Williams and Benson, the talk “The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the OED — Twenty Years On” is set for 24th November 2026.
* “Oxford and the Rise of Fantasy Literature”, a residential summer school course at The University of Oxford from 28th June – 16th July 2027. Applications appear to be open.
* And finally, aspiring springle-ringers may appreciate a forthcoming event at the Weston Library of the Bodleian in Oxford, “A Day of 18th-Century Country Dance”, on Sunday 8th November 2026. Free, and booking now. A talk, a book launch, and three dance workshops. Also of tangential Tolkien interest — at the same venue and on the same day — is Plain Things: Wonders, an exhibition on the history… “of how paying attention to nature can make plain things into wonders”, 5th November – 29th August 2027.