Oxford

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Click images to enlarge
University city and administrative centre of Oxfordshire in south central England, at the confluence of the rivers Thames (called the Isis around Oxford) and Cherwell, 84 km/52 mi northwest of London; population (2001) 134,250. Oxford University has 36 colleges, the oldest being University College (1249). Industries include steel products, electrical goods, car production, publishing (Oxford University Press, Blackwells), and English language schools. Tourism is important.

Features
these include Christ Church Cathedral (12th century); the Divinity School and Duke Humphrey's Library (1488); the Sheldonian Theatre, designed by Christopher Wren (1663–69); the Ashmolean Museum (1845); and the 17th-century Bodleian Library. Other museums include the University Museum (1855–60), designed by Benjamin Woodward, the Pitt-Rivers Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. Features of the colleges include the 14th-century Mob Quad and library at Merton College; the Canterbury Quad (1636) and gardens laid out by ‘Capability’ Brown at St John's College; and Holman Hunt's The Light of the World in Keble College. The Bate Collection of Historical Instruments is housed in the Faculty of Music. The Botanic Gardens (laid out in 1621) are the oldest in Britain. On 1 May (May morning) madrigals are sung at the top of Magdalen College tower. St Giles Fair takes place every September.

History
the town was first occupied in Saxon times as a fording point, and is first mentioned in written records in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 912. The University of Oxford, the oldest in England, is first mentioned in the 12th century, when its growth was encouraged by the influx of English students expelled from Paris in 1167. The fame of the university grew steadily, until by the 14th century it was the equal of any in Europe. As the university grew, there was increasing antagonism between it and the town. Most of the university's buildings were built during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Oxford's earliest colleges were University College (1249), Balliol (1263), and Merton (1264).

During the Civil War, the university supported the Royalist cause while the city declared for Parliament. Oxford became the headquarters of the king and court in 1642, but yielded to the Parliamentary commander-in-chief, Gen Fairfax, in 1646.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the city had experienced rapid expansion and industrialization, and printing and publishing industries had become firmly established. In the 1920s the English industrial magnate William Morris (1877–1963), later Lord Nuffield, began a motor-car industry at Cowley, just outside the city, which became the headquarters of the Austin-Rover group. The group was sold to German car manufacturer BMW in 1994.

Initially the sun and moon had human faces, but they were removed when the flag was updated in 1962. The flag is said to express the hope that Nepal will endure as long as the sun and the moon. The blue border symbolizes peace. Effective date: 16 December 1962. >>