The Kilns and Pub Life MON. JULY 19

    In 1929 CS Lewis father—whom he had not been close to since he was shipped off to boarding school at age 9—died, and left the 2 Lewis brothers enough money to think about buying a house.  Since Lewis was also caring for Mrs. Moore, the mother of a friend killed in WWI, she also contributed about 40% of the purchase price, with 'Jack' (the nickname Clive Staples Lewis had given himself as a boy) and Warnie each contributing 30%.  With the crashing market of 1929, they were able to purchase a house on the site of an old brickyard that came with about 20 acres of land, including several ponds which had once been clay pits and a part of the highest hill in the area, known as Shotover Hill.  At the top of Shotover a little beyond their property ran the old Roman and Medieval road from Bath to London, traversed by kings, queens, and armies.  In his 34 years at The Kilns Jack would plant a thousand trees on this property, and today most of it is the CS Lewis Nature Preserve.   After his brother died in 1963 Warnie subdivided the level part around the house and sold the lots to make ends meet, so the house itself now sits on a suburban cul-de-sac (which the English call a 'Close', the term the Scots use for the narrow lanes of Edinburgh).
   I am staying upstairs in  the room which belonged to Mrs. Moore for 18 years, and then became Jack's study.  While she lived there the door to his room next door was closed off, and he had to go down a set of outside stairs to get anywhere else in the house, including the WC.  When it became his study in the late 1940's and throughout the 1950's, Lewis did much of his writing there, looking out toward his woods and pond.  It is safe to say that much of the Narnia Chronicles were written in the room.  So far I am feeling much more inspired to read than to write ;) being here.
   Lewis spent much of his time outside of Magdalen College engaging friends and neighbors at local pubs.  We have been told that a pub is not just a bar, but rather more like a social club.  Many local parishes did not have fellowship halls, and pubs filled the gap.  Many are actually owned by breweries and only sell their lines of beers, ales, stouts, porters, and bitters; others are called 'free houses', independently owned and able to serve whatever they want.  Many are hundreds of years old and nearly unchanged.  An interesting—and fattening—part of our time here is that all of our lunches and half of our dinners are being eaten in various pubs, most of which were frequented by Lewis.  It would not be unusual for him to walk 45 minutes or an hour to reach a favorite pub and spend a lunch or an evening with good friends.  Over the years The Eagle and Child (fondly called The Bird and Baby) has gotten most of the attention because that is where the Inklings met weekly, but it was by no means his favorite.   Pictures are (above) a view of the Kilns when Lewis bought it in 1929 (with some actual kilns still standing),  the house today as seen from the street put in after his death (the smaller photo), one of his favorite pubs, the Perch, that lies by the river (its the Thames but in Oxford they call it the Isis) with its thatched roof, and what I had to drink there (think Dr. Pepper on steroids, then squared).