Sights in Oxfordshire
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All Souls College
One of the wealthiest of Oxford's colleges and unique in not accepting undergraduate students, All Souls is primarily an academic research institution. It was founded in 1438 as a centre of prayer and learning, and today fellowship of the college is one of the highest academic honours in the country. Each year, the university's top finalists are invited to sit a fellowship exam, with an average of only two making the grade annually.
Much of the college facade dates from the 1440s and, unlike other older colleges, the front quad is largely unchanged in five centuries. It also contains a beautiful 17th-century sundial designed by Christopher Wren. Most obvious, though, are t…
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Christ Church College
The largest and grandest of all of Oxford's colleges, Christ Church is also its most popular. The magnificent buildings, illustrious history and latter-day fame as a location for the Harry Potter films have tourists coming in droves.
The college was founded in 1525 by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who suppressed 22 monasteries to acquire the funds for his lavish building project. Over the years numerous luminaries have been educated here, including Albert Einstein, philosopher John Locke, poet WH Auden, Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and 13 British prime ministers.
The main entrance is below the imposing Tom Tower, the upper part of which was designed by former student Sir Chris…
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Pitt Rivers Museum
Oxford has some excellent (free) museums, among them the University Museum of Natural History, famous for its dinosaur and dodo skeletons, and the attached (and incomparable) Pitt Rivers Museum, an Aladdin’s cave spread over three floors and crammed with such things as voodoo dolls and shrunken heads from the Caribbean and Pacific. Visitors are given torches (flashlights) to ‘explore’ the lower Court Gallery and are allowed to open all the drawers. Great stuff.
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University Museum of Natural History
Oxford has some excellent (free) museums, among them the University Museum of Natural History, famous for its dinosaur and dodo skeletons, and the attached (and incomparable) Pitt Rivers Museum, an Aladdin’s cave spread over three floors and crammed with such things as voodoo dolls and shrunken heads from the Caribbean and Pacific. Visitors are given torches (flashlights) to ‘explore’ the lower Court Gallery and are allowed to open all the drawers. Great stuff.
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Sheldonian Theatre
The monumental Sheldonian Theatre was the first major work of Christopher Wren, at that time a university professor of astronomy. Inspired by the classical Theatre of Marcellus in Rome, it has a rectangular front end and a semicircular back, while inside the ceiling of the main hall is blanketed by a fine 17th-century painting of the triumph of truth over ignorance. The Sheldonian is now used for college ceremonies and public concerts, but you can climb to the cupola for good views of the surrounding buildings.
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Ashmolean Museum
Britain's oldest public museum, the Ashmolean reopened in 2009 after a massive £61 million redevelopment and is now being lauded as the finest university museum in the world. The makeover has made the once intimidating building and stuffy collection a real joy to browse, with a giant atrium, glass walls revealing galleries on different levels, and a beautiful rooftop restaurant.
The museum was established in 1683 when Elias Ashmole presented the university with the collection of artefacts amassed by John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I. It contains everything from Egyptian, Islamic and Chinese art to rare porcelain, tapestries and silverware, priceless musical instrumen…
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Magdalen College
Set amid 40 hectares of lawns, woodlands, river walks and deer park, Magdalen (mawd-len) is one of the wealthiest and most beautiful of Oxford's colleges.
An elegant Victorian gateway leads into a medieval chapel, with its glorious 15th- century tower, and on to the remarkable cloisters, some of the finest in Oxford. The strange gargoyles and carved figures here are said to have inspired CS Lewis' stone statues in The Chronicles of Narnia. Behind the cloisters, the lovely Addison's Walk leads through the grounds and along the banks of the River Cherwell for just under a mile.
Magdalen has a reputation as an artistic college, and some of its most famous students and fellow…
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Oxford University
Thirty-nine colleges make up the university, their elegant honey-coloured buildings wrapping around winding cobbled streets and attracting hoards of tourists each year. Yet despite the rushing traffic and throngs of people, inside their jealously guarded quadrangles an aura of studious calm descends. The oldest colleges date back almost 750 years and little has changed inside the hallowed walls since then.
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Old Library
Just off the Mob Quad is a 13th-century chapel and the Old Library, the oldest medieval library in use. It is said that Professor JRR Tolkien spent many hours here while writing The Lord of the Rings. Other literary giants associated with the college include TS Eliot and Louis MacNeice.
If you're visiting in summer, look out for posters advertising candlelit concerts in the chapel.
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New College
From the Bodleian, stroll under the Bridge of Sighs, a 1914 copy of the famous bridge in Venice, to New College. This 14th-century college was the first in Oxford for undergraduates and is a fine example of the glorious Perpendicular style. The chapel here is full of treasures, including superb stained glass, much of it original, and Sir Jacob Epstein's disturbing statue of Lazarus.
During term time, visitors may attend the beautiful Evensong, a choral church service held nightly at 6pm. Access for visitors is through the New College Lane gate from Easter to early October, and through the Holywell St entrance the rest of the year.
William Spooner was once a college warden h…
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Modern Art Oxford
Far removed from Oxford's musty hallways of history, this is one of the best contemporary-art museums outside London, with heavyweight exhibitions, a wonderful gallery space and plenty of activities for children.
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Bodleian Library
Oxford's Bodleian Library is one of the oldest public libraries in the world, and one of England's three copyright libraries. It holds more than 7 million items on 118 miles of shelving and has seating space for up to 2500 readers.
The oldest part of the library surrounds the stunning Jacobean-Gothic Old Schools Quadrangle, which dates from the early 17th century. On the eastern side of the quad is the Tower of Five Orders, an ornate building depicting the five classical orders of architecture. On the west side is the Divinity School, the university's first teaching room. It is renowned as a masterpiece of 15th-century English Gothic architecture and has a superb fan-vault…
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Merton College
From the High St, follow the wonderfully named Logic Lane to Merton College, one of Oxford's original three colleges. Founded in 1264, Merton was the first to adopt collegiate planning, bringing scholars and tutors together into a formal community and providing a planned residence for them. The charming 14th-century Mob Quad was the first of the college quads.
Just off the quad is a 13th-century chapel and the Old Library (admission on guided tour only), the oldest medieval library in use. It is said that Tolkien spent many hours here writing The Lord of the Rings. Other literary giants associated with the college include TS Eliot and Louis MacNeice.
During the summer month…
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Divinity School
On the west side of the Bodleian Library's Old Schools Quadrangle is the Divinity School , the university's first examination room. It is renowned as a masterpiece of 15th-century English Gothic architecture and has a superb fan-vaulted ceiling. A self-guided audio tour to these areas is available.
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Radcliffe Camera
Just south of the library is the Radcliffe Camera, the quintessential Oxford landmark and one of the city's most photographed buildings. The spectacular circular library was built between 1737 and 1749 in grand Palladian style, and has Britain's third-largest dome. The only way to see the library is to join an extended tour, which also explores the warren of underground tunnels and passages leading to the library's vast book stacks. Tours take place on some Saturdays at 10am and most Sundays at 11.15am and last about an hour and a half. Check the website for up-to-date details.
For excellent views of the Radcliffe Camera and surrounding buildings, climb the 14th-century to…
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Balliol College
Founded in 1263 Balliol College is thought to be the oldest college in Oxford. The huge Gothic wooden doors between the inner and outer quadrangles bear scorch marks from when four Protestant clerics were burned at the stake here in the mid-16th century.
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Oxford Castle Unlocked
Oxford Castle Unlocked explores the 1000-year history of Oxford's castle and prison. Tours begin in the 11th-century Crypt of St George's Chapel, possibly the first formal teaching venue in Oxford, and continue into the Victorian prison cells and the 18th-century Debtors' Tower, where you can learn about the inmates' grisly lives, daring escapes and cruel punishments. You can also climb the Saxon St George's Tower, which has excellent views of the city, and clamber up the original medieval motte.
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University Church of Saint Mary the Virgin
The University Church of St Mary the Virgin has a 14th-century tower that can be climbed (124 steps) for a fantastic view of the town’s ‘dreaming spires’.
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Museum of Oxford
A bit dated but still interesting, this is the place to brush up on the history of the city and university, from Oxford's prehistoric mammoths to its history of car manufacturing.
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Museum of Oxford
A bit dated but still interesting , this is the place to brush up on the history of the city and university, from Oxford’s prehistoric mammoths to its history of car manufacturing.
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Tower of Five Orders
On the eastern side of the Bodleian Library's Old Schools Quadrangle is the Tower of Five Orders, an ornate building depicting the five classical orders of architecture.
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New Bodleian Library
Designed in 1938 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect responsible for the Battersea Power Station and the iconic red telephone box (booth).
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Old Schools Quadrangle
The oldest part of the Bodleian Library surrounds the stunning Jacobean-Gothic Old Schools Quadrangle, which dates from the early 17th century.
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Museum of the History of Science
Science, art, celebrity and nostalgia come together at this fascinating museum where the exhibits include everything from a blackboard used by Einstein to the world's finest collection of historic scientific instruments, all housed in a beautiful 17th-century building.
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Carfax Tower
Oxford's central landmark is the sole reminder of medieval St Martin's Church and offers good views over the city centre.
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