Oxford: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Strategically placed at the confluence of the River Cherwell and the Thames (called the Isis here, from the Latin name Tamesis), Oxford was a key Saxon town heavily fortified by Alfred the Great in the war against the Danes.

Oxford's importance grew dramatically after 1167, when all Anglo-Norman students were expelled from the Sorbonne in Paris. Oxford's Augustinian abbey attracted students in droves but they managed to create a lasting enmity between themselves and the local townspeople, culminating in the St Scholastica's Day Massacre in 1355. Thereafter, the king ordered that the university be broken up into colleges, each of which then developed its own traditions.

The first colleges were built in the 13th century, with at least three more being added in each of the following three centuries. The newer colleges, such as Keble, were added in the 19th and 20th centuries to cater for an ever-expanding student population.

Today, there are about 16,500 students spread among 39 separate colleges. So many brains in the one place didn't necessarily bring enlightenment, though: lecturers were not allowed to marry until 1877 and women were not admitted to the university until a year later. Even then, it took another 42 years before women would be granted a degree for their four years of hard study.

The arrival of the canal system in 1790 created a link with the Midlands' industrial centres and the town began to expand beyond its academic core.

Modern History

The city's real industrial boom came when William Morris began producing cars here in 1912. The Bullnose Morris and the Morris Minor were both produced in the Cowley factories to the east of the city, where BMW's new Mini runs off the production line today. This was followed by the very successful Oxford University Press publishing house in the 1920s.

The influx of immigrant labour in the 1960s to work at the car plants in the east of the city injected a more multicultural flavour into the city which can today be seen in the Headington, Jericho and Cowley Road areas.

Recent History

Oxford's history in recent times has been marked by stability and consolidation - even the area's car manufacturing plants have managed to avoid the closures affecting so many others in Britain. Meanwhile, much of the talk around the corridors of the university has been about how to broaden the intake of students from state schools. At present about half of Oxford's students are drawn from state schools, as opposed to 93% nationwide.

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