Oxford University

Oxford: You Cannot Visit the University Because the University Is a City

Oxford has no campus. The university is a federation of 38 colleges distributed across a medieval city, each autonomous and self-governing, with the central university providing examinations and degrees. You visit the colleges rather than a university, and what you find in each is a quadrangle, a chapel, gardens, a hall, and sometimes a portrait gallery – miniature self-contained worlds that have operated continuously for 700 years. Some are partially open to tourists; some require paid entry; many close during exam period (May and June) and at other times for events. The experience is messier than a single attraction, and considerably more interesting.

Christ Church

The most visited college. The Tom Tower gateway, designed by Christopher Wren in 1682, opens onto a large quadrangle. The Great Hall – the model for the Hogwarts dining hall in the Harry Potter films, used for filming on location – is open for viewing outside meal times. Entry to Christ Church costs around 16 pounds for adults. The Christ Church Picture Gallery has a small but significant collection of Old Master drawings including Michelangelo and Leonardo studies.

Harry Potter tours of Oxford are a substantial industry now. The Divinity School of the Bodleian Library, used as Hogwarts’ infirmary in several films, is the key filming location; New College’s cloisters also appear. Various guided Harry Potter walking tours operate from the centre and include college access – useful if you want the context rather than finding the locations independently.

The Bodleian Library

The Divinity School (completed 1488), the oldest examination room in the university, has a fan-vaulted stone ceiling that remains one of the most ornate medieval ceilings in England. Entry to the Divinity School during library hours is free. The rest of the Bodleian’s historic buildings require paid tours or exhibition tickets. The Radcliffe Camera, the circular domed library visible from the High Street, is an active reading room and not generally open to visitors, but it anchors the best streetscape in Oxford.

The Bodleian is a legal deposit library – it has received a copy of every book published in the UK since 1611. Its underground book conveyor system connects multiple Oxford libraries. These details are more impressive than most visitor-facing displays acknowledge.

The Museums

The Ashmolean on Beaumont Street is Britain’s oldest public museum (opened 1683) and has one of the better university art collections outside London: Egyptian antiquities, Greek and Roman sculpture, Raphael drawings, and the Alfred Jewel – a 9th century piece of Anglo-Saxon goldsmithing commissioned by King Alfred the Great, found in Somerset in 1693. The museum is free.

The Pitt Rivers Museum, accessible through the University Natural History Museum, holds an anthropological collection assembled since 1884 in a Victorian display style that has not significantly changed: cases packed with objects from almost every culture on earth, organised by type rather than by culture. The shrunken heads are there. The collection is considerably more complex and ethically interesting than any single exhibit suggests, and the curation has become more thoughtful in recent years. Also free.

Punting

Hiring a punt on the Cherwell from Magdalen Bridge boathouse or Cherwell Boathouse is genuinely pleasant in decent weather. The Cherwell passes the Botanic Garden and through the meadows behind Magdalen College. Most people are bad at punting initially; the boats are stable enough to survive the learning curve. Rates run around 25 to 30 pounds per hour for self-hire.

Eating and Practical Notes

The Covered Market off the High Street has operated since 1774. Bakers, butchers, cheese sellers, and cafe counters make decent breakfasts and lunches without the tourist markup of the main street. The Turf Tavern, reached through a medieval alley off Holywell Street, is genuinely old (parts dating to the 13th century) with a good range of real ale. Oxford is 55 to 60 minutes from London Paddington by train. During June exam period, college access is significantly restricted; plan accordingly.