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OXFORD
Oxford is poised at England’s navel where east meets west, north meets south and two rivers become one.
Oxford is where exceptional talent has produced concepts as varied as Methodism, the MG sports car, marmalade – and architecture so awesomely inspiring and exquisitely crafted that the best poets through the ages have groped for words worthy enough to describe it.
ORIGINS
A thunderbolt lay behind Oxford’s legendary origins. The heavenly intervention stopped King Algar’s wooing of the reluctant Princess Frideswide so she was free to become a nun. St. Frideswide’s priory was founded in the area in the 8th century.
Oxford’s name, first noted in the 10th century, describes its position at the convenient spot for crossing the river – “the ford for oxen.”
The Saxon tower, mound and crypt of St. Michael’s Church, Northgate, are Oxford’s oldest surviving structures, dating back almost a thousand years. When the Normans invaded Britain, they built a castle in Oxford in the 11th century. All that remains today is the tower of the church of St. George-in-the-Castle.
UNIVERSITY
Scholars were first attracted to Oxford from the 12th century. By the 14th century there were three colleges and in the next 600 years a further 32 were added. Each one is a separate community, which together make up the University.
HISTORY
With its acquired importance, legal privileges and wealth, the University inspired resentment within the host town. Antagonism between ‘town and gown’ erupted in a tavern at Carfax and became the St. Scholastica’s day massacre in 1355 in which 62 scholars died.
The 17th century Civil War exposed similar divisions when Oxford became the royalist capital with the University’s loyal support. The town, meanwhile, sided with the Parliamentarians or ‘Roundheads’.
ARCHITECTURE
Oxford’s stately skyscape of towers and “dreaming spires”, developed over 700 years, forms an architectural tapestry woven from different periods and styles, moods and materials. The greatest architects of their time – Sir Christopher Wren, James Gibbs, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Lutyens – have helped sculpt Oxford’s fairest features.
ATTRACTIONS
Oxford today is a celebration for all the senses: Evensong in the City Cathedral, perfect serenity among the immaculate college gardens, silent study within academia’s high walls and mellow courtyards, serious shopping along the main thoroughfares, May Ball revels and fierce competition at the Eights Week river races.