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Oxford Walking Tour |
Oxford is a city best seen on foot and this walking tour begins and ends in one of Oxford's most famous streets - Broad Street.
Broad Street is home to The Oxford Story - a time car ride through the history of Oxford. The full journey takes about 40 minutes and is a lot of fun for old and young alike. It also gives people new to the city some ideas about the places they will see as they follow this walk
(1) If you don't see the Oxford Story, walk to the end of Broad Street and turn left into Cornmarket Street. Walk down past the shops until you come to the junction of Carfax
(2) If you do see the Oxford Story, turn right as you come out of the back door of the museum. When you come to Cornmarket Street, turn left and walk down to the junction of Carfax
Carfax is the old Saxon centre of the city and its name comes from the Latin word quadrifucus - which means four forked
Carfax Tower was once part of a garrison used to survey the surrounding countryside
Its is a good idea to climb the Tower (small entrance fee applies) as you get a great view of the High Street and the college roof tops - "the dreaming spires of Oxford"
From Carfax, walk down St Aldates to Christ Church College
Christ Church is the largest college in Oxford
It has about 500 students and is home to the city’s cathedral
Originally Christ Church was the site of St Frideswide Priory, razed to the ground in 1002 by Danish raiders
In 1525 it was founded as a college by Cardinal Wolsey and re-endowed in 1546 by Henry VIII
Inside the college is Christ Church Cathedral - the smallest cathedral in the United Kingdom
The famous Tom Tower was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and gets its name from the bell (Great Tom), which hangs in it. The bells weighs 7 tons and it tolls 101 times at 9:05pm every night - in theory, the time by which Oxford’s students are meant to be in bed!
There is also a picture gallery including a famous portrait of Henry VIII by Holbein
On Sundays, you can also have tea in Christ Church - one of Oxford's best kept secrets!
Fourteen British Prime Ministers studied at Christ Church - including Lord Liverpool, George Canning, Sir Robert Peel, William Gladstone and Anthony Eden
Famous literary students include Lewis Carroll, Auberon Waugh, and W. H. Auden
William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania also studied here
Continue along St Aldates for 100 meters and enter the Memorial Gardens through a large iron gate on your left. (The entrance to Christ Church is on your left.) Follow the gravel path and take the first turning on the left, following the path between a stone wall and iron railings. Continue along the path, through an iron gate. At the end of the path, turn right onto the cobbled Merton Street and the College is immediately on your right
Merton College claims to be the oldest College in Oxford
It was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton to train MA graduates for careers in the church, medicine and the law
The Chapel is the largest and oldest chapel in the city and contains a rare 13th century stained glass window
The central quad (Mob Quad) contains the oldest library in the country which houses a selection of medieval books chained to the shelves
Famous students include Thomas Bodley, the founder of the Bodleian Library; Lord Randolph Churchill (Sir Winston Churchill's father), the writer T.S. Elliot, and the musician/actor Kris Kristopherson
Leave Merton, turn left and double back towards Corpus Christi College, which is situated on your left. Following the road around to the right and enter Oriel Square, with Oriel College immediately on your right.
Oriel College was founded in the 14th century
It was the last college to remain all-male and did not admit women until 1985
Famous students include the explorer Walter Raleigh and the founder of Rhodesia, Cecil Rhodes
From Oriel, continue through the square keeping to the right and head down Oriel Street. This narrow street leads to the High Street - opposite the University Church of St Mary the Virgin.
This is the Church of the University and has been in existence since the late 13th century
In the early days of the University, the Church was a centre of administration and teaching, with the side chapels acting as lecture theatres
In 1556, it hosted the trial of three protestant Bishops, Ridley, Cranmer and Latimer. These "Oxford Martyrs "where burnt at the steak for heresy by the Catholic Queen of England, Bloody Mary
The Church is open every day and visitors can climb up the 127 stairs to the top of the spire to get another brilliant view of Radcliffe Square and the dreaming spires
Proceed down Catte Street, to the right of the church, into Radcliffe Square.
Radcliffe Square consists of several famous buildings which are all part of the University
The circular domed building is called the Radcliffe Camera
Funded from the estate of the Royal Surgeon Dr John Radcliffe, it was built in 1749 as a library of science and medicine
It now part of the Bodleian Library, housing a collection of books on History and English Literature
Follow the road in an anticlockwise direction around the Camera. In the building on the opposite side of the square to the Church, you will see some stairs leading to a doorway. Standing at the stairs and looking back towards the Camera, you will see two colleges which complete the square - Brasenose on the right and All Souls on the left.
All Souls College was founded in 1438 to pray for the souls of soldiers who had died in the Hundred Years War with France
Its front quad, surrounded by spires and towers, was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, a student of Sir Christopher Wren
The college is exclusive, admitting neither graduates nor undergraduates, only distinguished Fellows
Brasenose College dates from 1509 and is so called because it was built on the site of Brazen Nose Hall
The Hall had a bronze knocker in the shape of an animal snout which can now be seen in the dining hall
On weekdays, you may enter the doorway at the top of the steps to emerge into the ‘Old Schools Quad’, home of the oldest part of Oxford’s famous Bodleian Library.
The Bodleian Library was founded by Thomas Bodley in 1598
He used it to store books that had been collected from around the world during the Renaissance and to house new texts rapidly being produced since the invention of the printing press
The library is the largest academic library in the world containing 6 million books and 1 million maps
Most of these items are kept underground in 130km of tunnels under the City and in the much larger ‘New Bodleian’ (1939) on the corner of Broad Street and Parks Rd
The old library around you is built on 3 floors
The oldest and most prestigious part is the Duke Humphrey Gallery on the 2nd floor. This was named after Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and brother of King Henry V, who in the 15th century travelled widely around Europe collecting manuscripts for the University
The gallery has an elaborate vaulted ceiling covered with coats of arms and shelves of old leather bound books
The Library is built around a quad called the Old Schools Quad
In the centre is a statue of the Earl of Pembroke, dating back to the 17th century
The doors situated around three sides of the quad bear gold Latin lettering identifying the original names of the University faculties (e.g. Scholae Grammaticae et Historiae)
The ‘Tower of the Five Orders’ which completes the Quad is so called because it is made from five sets of columns. Each set is in the style of one of the five orders of classical architecture - Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite - in ascending order
Walking through the Quad and through the doorway opposite, you are faced by 2 large buildings across a gravel pathway
The heavy rectangular building opposite is the Clarendon Building, original home of the Oxford University Press, but now used for University administration
The semi-oval building to the left is the Sheldonian Theatre. Built in 1669, it was the first architectural commission of Sir Christopher Wren and was built specifically for university ceremonies such as matriculation and graduation
Visitors can view the painted ceiling and the Chancellors hand carved throne and can climb to the ‘Cupola’ on the roof
Looking through the railings to the right of the Clarendon Building, you will see Oxford’s famous Bridge of Sighs. This was built in 1913 and is part of Hertford College. It’s inspiration is the Bridge of Sighs in Venice
Walk down the steps in front of the Sheldonian Theatre back into Broad Street
The pillars in the railings are mounted by large, carved heads (or Terms), variously attributed to the apostles and the Caesars
Opposite is Blackwells bookshops and the early Tudor White Horse pub
Broad Street, used as a market place in the middle ages, is now used mainly as a car park
Walk down Broad Street towards The Oxford Story where this walk started
On the left is Balliol College. This is another very old College founded in the 13th century. On the wall, there is an inscription to the martyrs, Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer who were burnt at the stake outside the college in 1555, during the persecution of the catholic queen "Bloody Mary"
In the centre of Broad Street, opposite this plaque there is an iron cross marking the place were the executions took place
* All information believed to be correct at time of publishing.
Ranking on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high):
9 - a great walk through one of the UK's most distinct cities
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