It is thought that Oxford has its name from Oxen-ford, an early medieval settlement around a safe crossing place for cattle in the Thames. By the 13th century Oxford had developed into a bustling town, and it was in that century that the first university colleges, University College, Balliol College and Merton College, appeared. Today there are 39 colleges at the university. The newest, Kellogg College, was established in 1990. All colleges are mixed except for St Hilda's, which is for women only.
Oxford has always maintained close links to royalty and government. During the English Civil War (1642-1651) the city became the Royalist capital of England, with Charles I setting up home at Christ Church and his wife Henrietta Maria keeping court at the neighbouring Merton College. Oxford University has educated 25 British Prime Ministers, including Sir Robert Peel (Christ Church), William E Gladstone (Christ Church), Harold Macmillan (Balliol), Margaret Thatcher (Somerville) and Tony Blair (St John's).
Today Oxford is a vibrant cosmopolitan town with a substantial proportion of both students and residents having non-English backgrounds, and a new urbanism has developed with many bars, cafes, restaurants, clubs, ethnic shops and fast food outlets. Also in the field of learning Oxford is moving forward. While it is still rooted in the university's centuries-old traditions of teaching and learning, it is also embracing new knowledge-based industries, and new hi-tech communities are growing up in the science and business parks surrounding the city.
Sightseeing
Matthew Arnold's description of Oxford as the city with the ‘dreaming spires' is apt, and to get a good view of the spire-pointed skyline, it is a good idea to climb to the top of one of the city's buildings, for instance the Carfax tower or the Sheldonian Theatre cupola, which both afford great views of the historic heart of the city. Several of the university buildings, such as the Bodleian Library and the University Church of St Mary the Virgin are obligatory places to visit while in Oxford. Also some of the university colleges, with their impressive buildings and lovely parks and meadows, should be in the itinerary. Christ Church and Magdalen are both stunning. The university museums, such as the Ashmolean, the oldest public museum in the world, and the Pitt Rivers anthropological museum, are very impressive. Oxford Castle, which for centuries has been a place of incarceration not open to the public, has been developed into a modern urban space with a museum and is well worth visiting. For plant lovers a visit to the Botanic Garden is a must. And no visit to Oxford is quite complete without a boating or punting trip on one of the rivers, the Cherwell or the Isis (the Oxford name for the Thames).
Tourist Information
Oxford Information Centre
15-16 Broad Street
Tel: (01865) 726 871.
Website: www.visitoxford.org
The staff at the information centre provides information about Oxford and the surrounding area, helps with booking of accommodation, transport or entertainment tickets. They also take bookings for the official walking tours of the city with qualified Blue Badge Guides.
15-16 Broad Street
Tel: (01865) 726 871.
Website: www.visitoxford.org
The staff at the information centre provides information about Oxford and the surrounding area, helps with booking of accommodation, transport or entertainment tickets. They also take bookings for the official walking tours of the city with qualified Blue Badge Guides.
Passes
The Oxford Visitor Card is valid for three weeks and entitles visitors to special offers and discounts on a wide range of products and services, including theatres, attractions, restaurants and various activities across Oxford. The card can be bought at the Oxford Information CentreUniversity buildings and colleges
The Bodleian Library is the university's main research library and occupies a complex of historic buildings that includes one of the great masterpieces of English gothic architecture, the Divinity School, completed in 1488 for the teaching of theology, as well as the Duke Humfrey Library, a medieval treasure house of rare books and manuscripts. The Bodleian houses over 7 million volumes, stored on over 180km (110 miles) of shelving. The Sheldonian Theatre, the first major work by Sir Christopher Wren, is used as the university's ceremonial hall and for concerts and public lectures. The University Church of St Mary the Virgin, built in 1280, is believed to be the oldest university building in the world.
In 1555-6 it was the scene of the heresy trials of the bishops Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer who were burnt at the stake in Broad Street (only to be commemorated with a Victorian memorial in St Giles later). Not all of the university colleges are available to the public (e.g. University College), but most are very welcoming. Most of them are open in the afternoons, often free of charge.
Christ Church is Oxford's largest college and home to England's smallest cathedral. The college's Memorial Gardens lead into Christ Church Meadow, which runs down to the rivers Thames to the South and Cherwell to the East. Magdalen College (pronounced ‘Maudlin') has a reputation as one of Oxford's most beautiful colleges, and rightly so. The famous Great Tower stands next to Magdalen Bridge (from where students jump into the river on May Day), and inside the college there are peaceful cloister gardens, riverside walks and a deer park where a herd of fallow deer has been kept for over 300 years. Merton College is one of the oldest colleges (possibly the very oldest) in Oxford. It has the oldest library in the country. It is situated on the picturesque Merton Street, which boasts some of Oxford's most beautiful architecture, including the colleges Merton and Corpus Christi and the grand Canterbury Gate entrance to Christ Church.
The Bodleian Library
Broad Street
Tel: (01865) 277 224.
Website: www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/history
The Sheldonian Theatre
Broad Street
Tel: (01865) 277 299.
Website: www.sheldon.ox.ac.uk
The University Church of St Mary the Virgin
High Street
Tel: (01865) 243 806.
Christ Church College
St Aldates
Tel: (01865) 276 150.
Website: www.chch.ox.ac.uk
Magdalen College
High Street
Tel: (01865) 276 000.
Website: www.magd.ox.ac.uk
Merton College
Merton Street
Tel: (01865) 276310.
Website: www.merton.ox.ac.uk
The University Museums
The Ashmolean Museum was established in 1683 and is the oldest public museum in the world. It houses the university's highly impressive collections of art, archeology and antiquities, which pretty much span human history from across the world. The History of Science Museum has a wide-ranging collection of historic scientific instruments (over 10,000 objects), and it is housed in the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street. The Natural History Museum has been called a ‘cathedral to nature', and it does have a vast collection of items from the natural world, with exhibits ranging from rocks and stones to dinosaurs and the remains of the extinct Mauritius dodo. With over one million objects in its possession, the Pitt Rivers Museum, founded in 1884 by General Pitt Rivers, covers the field of human anthropology comprehensively. The displays of amulets, masks, beads, pots, tools and weapons are housed in a splendid Victorian building. For anyone interested in music, the Bate Collection is a treasure trove. It is England's most comprehensive collection of European woodwind, brass and percussion instruments and has 1,500 exhibits.
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Beaumont Street
Tel: (01865) 278 000.
Website: www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk
The Museum of the History of Science
Broad Street
Tel: (01865) 277 280.
Website: www.mhs.ox.ac.uk
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Parks Road
Tel: (01865) 272 950.
Website: www.oum.ox.ac.uk
Pitt Rivers Museum
Parks Road
Tel: (01865) 270 927.
Website: www.prm.ox.ac.uk
The Bate Collection of Musical Instruments
Faculty of Music, St Aldate's
Tel: (01865) 270 944.
Website: www.bate.ox.ac.uk
The University of Oxford Botanic Garden
Founded in 1621, this is the oldest botanic garden in Britain. It is located by the River Cherwell near Magdalen Bridge and contains a national reference collection of 7,000 different types of plant. These are concentrated in a space of two hectares, which makes this botanic garden the most compact and diverse collection of plants in the world. There are three sections: the Glasshouses containing climate sensitive plants, the Walled Garden and the area outside the Walled Garden, which contains classic garden features such as a Water Garden and Rock.
Rose Lane
Tel: (01865) 286 690.
Website: www.botanic-garden.ox.ac.uk
Oxford Castle
Oxford's ‘hidden' castle is the city's oldest new quarter. Built in the 11th century, the walled site was a place of incarceration from 1071 until the closure of HM Prison in 1996. It is now open to the public for the first time, and it offers a dramatic visitor centre sharing secrets of the preaching, teaching, violence, executions and even romantic episodes played out here from Norman times to the grim days of the 18th-century prison established on the site. A new, attractive urban environment with a hotel, restaurants and bars has also been created.
44-46 Oxford Castle
Tel: (01865) 260 666.
The River Cherwell and Isis
Boating or punting along the Cherwell or the Isis (the Oxford name for the River Thames) are popular activities in Oxford, not least since they give wonderful views of the dreaming spires and the many parks, gardens and meadows near both rivers. Magdalen Bridge Boathouse, High Street (tel: (01865) 202 643; website: www.oxfordpunting.com) offers punts and chauffeured punts, pedalos and rowing boats for hire on routes passing the botanic garden and Christ Church Meadow from mid-March to mid-October. Cherwell Boathouse, Bardwell Road (tel: (01865) 515 978; website: www.cherwellboathouse.co.uk) offers punts, rowing boats and Canadian canoes for hire on the River Cherwell in a secluded part of the city from mid-March to mid-October. Salter Steamers Ltd, Folly Bridge (tel: (01865) 243 421; website: www.saltersteamers.co.uk) has punts, pedalos and rowing boats for hire on the Isis, and in addition, the company offers scheduled passenger boat services on the Thames, from Folly Bridge, Oxford, to Iffley Lock (20 minutes each way) and between Sandford and Abingdon (2 hours each way).
Restaurant Options
Brasserie Blanc
This establishment opened in 1996 as the first of several brasseries run by Raymond Blanc. It is one of Oxford's very best restaurants, and it has reasonable prices. The seasonal menu changes often, but the cuisine is decidedly French, albeit with influences from Asia and Med. The restaurant is located in the Jericho area.
71-72 Walton Street
Tel: (01865) 510 999.
Website: www.lepetitblanc.co.uk
Price: $$$$
Fishers
This is a busy place both at lunchtime and in evenings. A superb seafood restaurant, it has a varied menu based on daily supplies of fresh fish and shellfish. Impulses from Mediterranean, Northern Atlantic and Pacific Rim gastronomy are discernible in the food, which is rarely less than delightful. A stylish place with an extremely assured touch.
35-37 St Clements Street
Tel: (01865) 243 003.
Website: www.fishers-restaurant.com
Price: $$$
La Dolce Vita
What distinguishes this family-run Italian restaurant in Summerton, a couple of miles from the centre of Oxford, is that it offers authenticity - both the food and the atmosphere being genuine and full of character. The food really is exceptional, with a menu full of traditional specialities, and the service is both friendly and professional.
215 Banbury Road, Summertown
Tel: (01865) 553 990.
Price: $$-$$$
Browns
Something of an institution in Oxford, Browns is just as popular for lunch and afternoon tea as for dinner. The cuisine as well as the ambience is mainstream and hence appealing to a wide audience, but there's still no question about the quality of the food. It is not surprising that Oxford has taken Browns to its heart. Its steak and Guinness and mushroom pie is a classic.
5-11 Woodstock Road
Tel: (01865) 511 995.
Website: www.browns-restaurants.com
Price: $$-$$$
Thai Orchid
Great service, a warm, authentic atmosphere, a wide-ranging menu and excellent food combine to make this restaurant a favourite. A wealth of exotic, flavoursome dishes tempts guests while the staff, all dressed in Thai silk, are courteous, discreet and friendly. Open for lunch Monday to Friday and for dinner seven days a week.
58A St Clements Street
Tel: (01865) 798 044.
Website: www.thaigroup.co.uk
Price: $$
Al-Shami
Offering a great selection of traditional Lebanese dishes at very reasonable prices, Al-Shami on Walton Crescent is a very popular Oxford restaurant. Deservedly so, for the food is really good, both the grilled meats and the vegetarian dishes. And if you want something a bit out of the ordinary, try the fried lamb's brains as a starter.
25 Walton Crescent
Tel: (01865) 310 066.
Website: www.al-shami.co.uk
Price: $-$$
Shopping
Cornmarket and Queen Street along with the High and Magdalen Street are the main shopping streets in Oxford, with most high-street shops and brand names represented. These shops and brands can also be found in the Westgate and Clarendon Centre indoor malls.
The Covered Market on High Street has a slightly more alternative feel, consisting as it does of small shops selling everything from hand-made hats and gifts to Oxford sausages and antiquarian books. Cafés, sandwich stalls, butchers, bakers, delicatessens, green grocers and florists are also available.
Oxford is great for book lovers, offering some of the best book browsing opportunities in the land, whether in second-hand and antiquarian bookshops or in the modern bookstores. The main Blackwells bookstore at 53 Broad Street includes the Norrington Room, which houses the largest display of books for sale in one room anywhere in the world.
Little Clarendon Street, Turl Street, Golden Cross and Gloucester Green are smaller streets with many charming gift shops, boutiques, silver specialists, jewellers or other independent shops of character.
Gloucester Green has an open air market on Wednesday and an antiques and bric-a-brac market on Thursdays, plus a Farmers' Market on the first Thursday of each month
Excursions
Stratford-upon-Avon is a charming little town in south Warwickshire, some 49km (30 miles) north of Oxford. It was here that William Shakespeare, the greatest playwright in the English language, was born. One can visit Shakespeare's birthplace (tel: (01789) 204 016; website: www.shakespeare.org.uk) as well as Hall's Croft (the one-time home of his daughter, Susannah) and New Place, which stands on the site of an earlier house the playwright owned. Holy Trinity Church is also worth a visit, as Shakespeare was both baptised and buried here. The town is also home to the Royal Shakespeare Company (tel: (01789) 403 444; website: www.rsc.org.uk), which performs at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and it is a great experience to see a play there.Just 13km (8 miles) from Stratford-upon-Avon is one of the finest medieval castles in Britain,
Warwick Castle (tel: 0870 442 2000; website: www.warwick-castle.co.uk). The first fortifications on the site were erected in 914, and it was in the 13th and 14th centuries that most of the castle buildings were built. The buildings and the gardens offer an interesting insight into times past, and there are plenty of medieval activities going on during the tourist season.
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