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England > Southern England > Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is most famous for the university town of Oxford. It's a sprawling, commercial city these days but has a wonderfully preserved ancient centre. From the centre it's only a walk to most main attractions - the museums, university, colleges, churches and fascinating little bookshops. The poet Matthew Arnold described Oxford as "that sweet city with her dreaming spires, she needs not June for beauty's heightening". Click on the headings to find out more: The Oxford University colleges are spread around the city rather than being on the one campus and many can only be seen from the outside. Pembroke College was founded in 1624. Dr Samuel Johnson was a former student and Sir Roger Bannister (the first runner to break the four-minute mile) was a past master. Opposite is Christ Church College, which is the grandest and open to the public. Former students include John Wesley, W.H. Auden and Lewis Carroll. Great Tom, the bell in Tom Tower (named after St Thomas of Canterbury) chimes 101 times at 9:05pm, the time when the first 101 students entered in the 16th Century. Another Great Tom, T.S. Eliot, attended Merton College (Great Tom is the title of Eliot's biography by T.S. Matthews). Kris Kristofferson also attended Merton although few would argue that Me and Bobby McGee is up there with The Wasteland. New College (1379) is open to the public and is worth a visit, especially the chapel.

One college warden was Rev. William Archibald Spooner, after whom the spoonerism is named. Announcing a hymn in the chapel in 1879 he said, "Kinquering Congs their titles take" and, when expelling a student from the college he told the lad, "You have deliberately tasted two worms and you can leave Oxford by the town drain". Would love to have had him over for dinner. Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from University College in 1811 for writing The Necessity of Atheism. Bill Clinton also studied here. Balliol College dates back to 1263 and is open to the public in the afternoons. Look for the scorch marks on the wooden doors between the inner and outer quadrangles - Protestant martyrs were burnt at the stake there in the 16th Century.

A lovely way to see the city is to hire a punt (flat-bottomed boat), take a picnic and head up the Thames or Cherwell Rivers.


Winston Churchill is buried in the village churchyard at Bladon, about 7 miles from Oxford. His grave is a simple white slab next to the graves of other family members. Blenheim Palace, the seat of the Churchill family, can be seen from here (as can the cemetery from the palace).


Blenheim Palace (8 miles from Oxford) is truly one of the most spectacular and stateliest of all Britain's stately homes. It was built between 1705 and 1722 as the nation's gift of gratitude to John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough for his victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim. The landscaped grounds cover 2500 acres including a man-made lake with a bridge across it. It looks glorious from the palace at sunset. The house itself covers 3 acres and its scale is matched by its lavish interior. Winston Churchill was born in a small room on the ground floor. A must-see.


Another village 8 miles north of Oxford is the little known Tackley, which has a strange association with Australia. Back in 1845 the parish council encouraged the poor and unemployed to immigrate to Australia because they were a burden on the village. 41 of them took up the recommendation and were pretty much forgotten as soon as they left to board the good ship Cataraqui in Liverpool. Three months later, the ship smashed into the reefs near King Island off Tasmania and 406 people drowned. No one in Tackley knew of their fate until a Sydney journalist pointed it out in the late 1970's and now there is a scroll in the village church in their memory.


And another Australian association with the area... A young fellow called Robert James Lee Hawke was a Rhodes scholar there in the 1950's and, during his tenure, put his name in the Guinness Book of Records for beer drinking. He went on to become Prime Minister of Australia and, for some time, a teetotaller. His favourite pub was The Doghouse in Frilford Heath (9 miles S/W of Oxford).


Lovers of quirky history should also seek out Minster Lovell. There's a pleasant country hotel and a street of thatched cottages but what's really interesting is the church and the ruined mansion next to it. The church was built in 1450 and has a thing called a leper squint. It's a narrow window to the left of the altar and there is a similar window in the outside wall, looking into the vestry. The two windows were so aligned to allow lepers (who were banned from entering the church) to look through them and see the altar. Now, just how Christian is that?!


The ruins next door were once home to the Lovell family, after whom the village was named, and there are two bizarre stories about the Lovells. Lord Francis Lovell took part in an uprising in 1487 and when it failed he went into hiding - in a secret room known only to himself and his servant. Sadly for all concerned, the servant dropped dead and Lovell died from either thirst or starvation. The room was discovered 225 years later, Lovell's skeleton sitting at a table with the skeleton of his pet dog at his feet. The other story is about a Lovell bride who, on her wedding night, played hide-and-seek with her new husband. She hid in a chest and accidentally locked herself inside. Hubby couldn't find her, decided she'd left him, and her skeleton was found several years later.


Abington is a pretty market town 6 miles south of Oxford. St Helen's Church is wider than it is long and the Old Anchor on St Helen's wharf is a friendly pub for a pint or a meal. Henley-on-Thames is known for its annual rowing regatta. Oxford and Cambridge do battle, cheered on by ruddy-faced boys in boaters and blazers every July. Worth attending just to see how the so-called upper classes get their kicks. At other times of the year you can hire a boat and enjoy the river yourself.
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