Discover Oxford
Oxford topics of interest and background information to help you learn more about the city
Oxford topics of interest and background information to help you learn more about the city
The original tea party on an Oxford riverbank inspires a beloved fantasy realm
How Oxford's spires (and pints in a local pub) helped inspire Tolkien's Middle Earth
This late 19C Romantic offshoot offered a, well, a romanticized reinterpretation of the Medieval style
Oxford University's origins date to the 12C, but women were not admitted until 1878 with the establishement of the all-women Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville (soon to be followed by others)—and even then, women were basically just auditing. Oxford only began granting degrees to women in 1920, and didn't award full collegiate status to its five women's colleges until 1959. It wasn't until 1974 that the last holdouts—Brasenose, Jesus College, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's—dropped their all-male policies and began admitting women as well. Ironcially, however, it wasn't until 2008 that entire university officially became co-ed... when St Hilda's College finally started admitting men.