Wide Wednesday: "Old"

Bobsblips (thanks again Bob!) has chosen "Old" as the theme for today's Wide Wednesday challenge. Well, being in Oxford for a couple of days I was spoilt for choice.
 
I settled on a photo of "The Cottages" which line the south side of the quadrangle of Worcester College, my alma mater where I spent a happy 3 years as a student in the early '70s. In my second year I actually had a room in The Cottages; needless to say it was very quaint. The floor wasn't level: for example the bed had to be propped up on a plank at one end to level it. I loved it! (The thumbnail is centred over the door to "my" staircase.)
 
Worcester certainly isn't the oldest of the Oxford colleges, dating from 1714, but its predecessor on the same site (Gloucester College) was founded in 1283 and lasted until the dissolution of the monasteries in about 1539; 20 years later it was "resuscitated" as Gloucester Hall and lasted until 1705. The Cottages date from the Gloucester College days.
 
The Cottages are among the oldest residential buildings in Oxford. They were to have been replaced in the 18th Century by a classical range to match the rest of the new quadrangle, but survived because money for this purpose was never available!
 
I blipped a different photo of the quadrangle in October last year.

Notable alumni  of Worcester College include Emma Watson, Richard Adams, Russell T Davies...oh, and Rupert Murdoch!
 
(Thanks to you all for your lovely comments, hearts & stars for my Oxford Spires blip yesterday.)