Britain’s oldest museum just one highlight of this famous university town

3 hours ago 4

David Whitley

Seven wonders of Oxford, England

Tall tales, traditions and bizarre collections reward the nosy in England’s historic university city.

Admire the antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean, the world’s oldest university museum.GLAM, University of Oxford

Opened in 1683, the Ashmolean is Britain’s oldest museum and the world’s oldest university museum. Inside is an outstanding collection of antiquities, including ancient Egyptian coffins, the Scorpion King’s mace head, the deerskin mantle worn by Pocahontas’ father, and startlingly gaudy samurai armour. Where this free-to-enter museum excels is in the presentation of seemingly dull topics. You’ll find yourself unexpectedly gripped by the history of money and the moral dilemmas of conservatorship. See ashmolean.org

Embrace the eccentricity at the Pitt Rivers Museum

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The more eccentric Pitt Rivers Museum.GLAM, University of Oxford

The other great university museum is a darkly lit, manic frenzy of what’s most accurately described as “stuff” from all over the world. Totem poles from Canada mix with glass cases full of lutes, Greenlandic dog sledges and Melanesian canoes hanging from the roof. The Pitt Rivers is gloriously mad. Arranging by theme, rather than geography, leads to sections as “the Human Form in Art” where moss figures worshipping a forest god from Russia sit next to a Congolese drum stand and masks used for dances celebrating jaguar hunts in Mexico. See prm.ox.ac.uk

Browse the shelves at Blackwell’s

The Blackwell’s shopfront.iStock

The Blackwell’s bookshop – in which every Oxford student spends a small fortune – sprawls over several buildings, one of which specialises in sci-fi and manga. The jewel, though, is the basement Norrington Room in the 48-51 Broad Street building. The list of topics covered – theology, environmental studies, literary criticism and engineering – is consciousness-expanding enough, but this is also where top-tier authors regularly hold discussions, talks and events. See blackwells.co.uk

Do time at Oxford Castle and Prison

The Norman Crypt inside the Oxford Castle and Prison.Oxford Castle & Prison

There are plenty more stories at Oxford Castle and Prison, built around the 1000-year-old St George’s Tower. Amid the grimness of children being locked up for stealing food, there are tales of drunken ghosts, daring royal escapes and rumours of strange curses. The hugely entertaining tours finish in the dark, spartan basement cells, instantly killing off any ideas of embarking on a life of crime. See oxfordcastleprison.co.uk

Try to outdrink Bob Hawke at the Turf Tavern

Oxford’s most famous pub is the Eagle and Child, where the “Inklings” literary discussion group including C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien regularly met. Alas, it’s closed for renovations until at least 2027. You can try the agreeable Lamb and Flag across the road, which the Inklings occasionally decamped to, but the city’s most storied pub is the Turf Tavern. A higgledy-piggledy maze of low ceilings, real ale and beer gardens sprouting at all angles, the Turf was where Bill Clinton “did not inhale”. And, more importantly, where former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke secured the Guinness World Record in his youth for downing a yard of ale in 11 seconds. See greeneking.co.uk

The Bodleian Libraries

The Divinity School at the Bodleian Libraries.University of Oxford

Lewis and Tolkien also spent plenty of time in Duke Humfrey’s Library, where medieval bookshelves sprawl under a painted ceiling. This 15th century reading room is part of the Bodleian Libraries complex, which houses more than 13 million books. For non-students, admission is by tour only. Pick the tour that also shows off the Gothic vaulted ceiling and biblical carvings of the Divinity School and the grandiosely circular Radcliffe Camera reading room – Oxford’s most photographed building. See visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

The Quadrangles

The Old Schools Quadrangle.Experience Oxfordshire

The Bodleian Libraries are built around the Old Schools Quadrangle, and these quadrangles – centrepiece squares of colleges and university buildings – are a signature feature of Oxford. It’s worth taking the Oxford University and city tour by Oxford Official Walking Tours to have key features pointed out. At the Old Schools Quadrangle, the guide highlights the Tower of the Five Orders, which features columns in all five classical styles. And, at St John’s College, the student accommodation on the upper floors, statue of King Charles I and busts representing the liberal arts are showcased as part of an engrossing explanation of the college system and the English Civil War. See oxfordofficialwalkingtours.org

The writer was a guest of Visit Britain, see visitbritain.com and experienceoxfordshire.org

David Whitley is a writer based in Sheffield, England, who has made it his mission to cover as much of Australia as possible. He has a taste for unusual experiences and oddities with a great story behind them. As far as David’s concerned, happiness is nosily ambling around a history-packed city or driving punishing distances through the middle of nowhere on a big road trip. He is also probably the only person to have been to Liechtenstein and the Cook Islands in the same week.