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OXFORD - England’s Ye old College Town
University - History and Lots of Sight-Seeing

In 1071 the Norman lord Robert D'Oily built Oxford Castle, facing a troubled time among the Saxons in central England, but establishing Oxford as a major city of its time. Oxford had been known as a center of learning from medieval times for English clerics, drawing students from the varying monastic orders around the British Isles and Europe, living in separate houses, colleges, established for Domincans, Franciscans. Carmelites and Augustinians. Since it’s beginnings Oxford University has become the centerpiece of this city on the Thames evolved from these religious learning institutions into one of the world’s most recognized and revered.

Oxford has also become a center for modern life. The streets can be filled bumper to bumper with traffic in the morning rush hours (and sometimes with students waiting for a dorm opening). Park and Ride lots have been established around the city for the many commuters from the bucolic landscapes of Oxfordshire to London, and the city has formulated a restrictive parking policy for the many tourists who come to visit the historic sights or visit the students at the colleges.

Oxford Not Just Students

Oxford has seen its share of calamities over the centuries. A fire leveled the city in 1138, but the city’s oldest remaining building, the Saxon Tower remains at the heart of the old village. The Black Plague devasted the population in 1348, allowing the University to aquire a large amount of property. A visit to Trinity Chapel and the dining hall at Oxford will recall scenes from countless movies of English school chaps throwing caps in the air before going off to world wars. Magdalen College is nearby. John Wycliffe as Master of Baliol College in the 1360's. was denounced as a heretic for his questioning the infallibility of the Pope. Wycliffe's followers, known as Lollards, carried on the philosophical movement he began.

Henry VIII took control of Christ Church from its founder, Cardinal Wolsey and abolished the study of canonical law, instituting chairs for Medicine, Civil Law, Greek, Theology, and Hebrew. This marked the shift of the University from its original monastic character to the present.

Oxford became a central player in the Catholic-Protestant struggles of the Reformation. Bishops Latimer, Ridley, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer were tried for heresy in Oxford. Latimer and Ridley were burned outside Balliol College in 1555. The site of the burnings is marked by a cross set in the pavement outside Balliol College, and commemorated by the Martyr's Memorial at the corner of Broad and St. Giles.
Charles I retreated to Oxford and stayed at Christ Church in the face of the advancing roundheads of Oliver Cromwell and after Charles lost his head, Cromwell was made Chancellor of the University.

Some of Oxford's great architectural monuments date from the 18th century. Queen's College was rebuilt, as was Magdalen Bridge and Folly Bridge. New structures from this period included the Radcliffe Camera and Observatory, and the Clarendon Building.

Oxford’s Carfax Tower at the junction of Cornmarket and High Street, now the starting point for walking tours of the city succumbed to the city’s growth in traffic as early as 1896 when much of the church was demolished to make room for the street, only the tower remains with it’s 99 steps to a bird’s eye view of the old city. The Museum of Oxford in Blue Boar Street nearby tells the story of the City and the University.

Park Your Car and Take the Bus

Park you rental car at one of the city's outlying parking lots and take the bus. The “Hop On – Hop Off” double-decker sight-seeing bus makes 20 stops around the central city and the park and ride lots. A direct bus runs from Heathrow to Oxford from the airport’s central bus terminal. © Bargain Travel Europe

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B&B with a bit'o history - Stapleton's Chantry North Moreton

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