Oxford Local Information: 10 top things to know... more

  • 1. History of Oxford

    It is thought people have been living in the Oxford area for thousands of years, but it was certainly an established town by the 9th century. Oxford Castle was built in 1071 and is still very much a part of the city today. Oxford University is the oldest English-speaking university, although the exact date of its foundation is not known. There is evidence of teaching in the cit...Read morey in 1096. The university and its buildings are a big part of the city’s history. Read less

  • 2. Now in Oxford

    The Oxford Castle area has been developed, with buildings added, and now houses restaurants, a hotel, apartments, bars, the O3 art gallery and shopping. The university is still at the heart of the city and tourists can visit many of its 39 colleges and museums. Oxford is a cosmopolitan city with a mix of old and new that makes it popular for tourists. There are plenty of museum...Read mores, entertainment venues, family attractions, historical buildings and shopping facilities. Read less

  • 3. Events in Oxford

    Annual events in Oxford include the Oxford Jazz Festival, the Oxford International Women’s Festival, the Wood music and nature festival, the Oxjam music festival, the Battle Proms concerts and the Oxford Science Festival. New exhibitions and lectures are always held in the city’s art galleries and museums, and the calendar of theatre and music events is packed all year. Fam...Read moreily-friendly events are not hard to find, from workshops and activities in the museums to family-style tours of the city. Read less

  • 4. Attractions in Oxford

    Oxford is home to Britain’s oldest public museum, the Ashmolean. Among the city’s other museums are the Pitt Rivers Museum, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Oxford. Among the historical buildings to visit in Oxford are Christ Church, which is now a university building, Magdalen College, St John’s College and N...Read moreew College. Blenheim Palace, on the outskirts of the city, is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. The beautiful building and gardens make a popular day out. Read less

  • 5. Things To Do in Oxford

    Visitors can take a tour of Oxford’s many television and film locations. Parts of Harry Potter have been filmed in the city as well as The Golden Compass and James Bond. Inspector Morse was also filmed in Oxford. The top of Carfax Tower is a great place to view the city. The tower, in the 14th century church of St Martin, has 99 steps to climb. Other good views of the city ar...Read moree from the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, in the High Street, and St Michael Northgate, in Cornmarket. There are a wide variety of tours on offer in Oxford, from ghost tours to family tours and from Harry Potter themed tours to a stained glass tour. Read less

  • 6. Business in Oxford

    Oxford has a thriving business community with many business parks, including the Oxford Science Park. Conference venues include the Pinpoint Facilitation Centre and The Oxford Centre.

  • 7. Transport in Oxford

    Oxford is linked to London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports via the 24-hour Airline coach service. The city is linked to London’s Stansted airport by the National Express 757 coach service. There are direct trains from Oxford to London. Trains to the north go via Birmingham and to the south and west via Reading. There are good coach services to London and the rest of the UK....Read more Coaches travel in and out of the city centre’s Gloucester Green Coach Station. The A34 connects Oxford to the M40, the M4 and the M3. The A40 from Oxford links to the M5. Read less

  • 8. Entertainment in Oxford

    The city’s New Theatre and Oxford Playhouse are the venues for big shows, while smaller performances can be seen at Burton Taylor Studio and Pegasus Theatre. The biggest venues for live music in Oxford are the Regal and O2 Academy and comedy can be seen at The Glee Club. In the summer, the city’s Creation Theatre stages outdoor productions.

  • 9. Famous Landmarks in Oxford

    The bridge of sighs is a covered bridge linking the two buildings of Hertford College. It was built in 1913 and named after the famous bridge in Venice, although it does not look the same. The Radcliffe Camera, is a large circular building with a high dome, built between 1737 and 1749 for a library. It now contains two reading rooms, mainly used by undergraduates. A cross in th...Read moree road in Broad Street marks the spot where Protestant Bishops Latimer and Ridley were burnt at the stake in 1555. Read less

  • 10. Interesting Facts about Oxford

    England’s first coffee house opened in Oxford in 1651.

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  • Odd shoes for marathon runner

    London Marathon runner Dawn Williams had to run the event in odd shoes after her trainer was lost during the starting mayhem. Dawn, of Banbury, lost her shoe at the start of the race when another runner caught the back of her heel. A kind spectator handed the 46-year-old her own trainers but Dawn could only take one as her other trainer was the one carrying the time chip she needed for the race. She said: “She was just a …

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  • Musicians play in library and museum

    Folk was heard in funny places as musicians took their talents to unusual venues. There was music amongst the library bookshelves at Westgate Central Library and beside the displays at Ashmolean Museum during the initiative, organised as part of Oxford’s new Folk Weekend. The Folk Weekend took place in April for the second time this year, after being set up to replace the cancelled Oxford Folk Festival. As well as the Folk in Funny Places events, there were concerts, ceilidhs, …

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  • Teens are offered free summer of fun

    Teenagers are being offered the chance to try coasteering, surfing, rock-climbing, gorge-walking and more in a free programme of summer events. The Summer Challenge is being offered to 16 and 17-year-olds from the end of July until the end of August by Oxfordshire County Council. The scheme is being organised as part of a national initiative called the National Citizen Service (NCS), which aims to promote the personal and social development of young people. Ryan Johnson, NCS co-ordinator for Oxfordshire …

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  • Record year for sports centres

    Women, pensioners and the disabled are getting fit in Oxford by paying more visits to the city’s sports centres. Oxford City Council has reported a record year for its leisure centres for the period up to March 31. Figures show a total of 1.4 million visits were made to the seven council-owned leisure facilities, compared to 990,000 visits last year. The majority of the extra visits were made by women, whose usage increased by 23%, and those over 60, whose …

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