Christ Church Cathedral hotels in Oxford City Centre, United Kingdom

Oxford is home to some of the world's oldest colleges and is packed with interesting things to see and do. When you stay at any of the numerous B&Bs, guesthouses or indeed hotels such as The Tower House in Ship Street or The Buttery in Broad Street, you'll have easy access to all the sights of this splendid city. One of the old buildings you really should try not to miss is Christ Church Cathedral, a truly unique foundation and known simply as 'The House' to all those associated with it.

Christ Church Cathedral from Oxfordshire Hotels

Christ Church Cathedral is a joint foundation of the cathedral of the Oxford Diocese and a college of Oxford University. It's in fact almost like a museum, famous for its collection of Old Masters in the Picture Gallery, which is open to the public, and for its internationally renowned Cathedral Choir. There is also a small Cathedral School attached to the foundation, and the College is one of Oxford University's largest, with over 100 Senior Members and over 400 undergraduates. Many famous names have studied here down the centuries, including the likes of Robert Peel, William Walton, W.H Auden and William Gladstone.

Stay at Oxfordshire Hotels to See Christ Church Cathedral

To reach Christ Church College, take the scenic approach through meadows from St. Aldgate's. Christ Church dates from 1525 and was originally founded by Cardinal Wolsey as an ecclesiastical college, its purpose being to train cardinals. Wolsey wasn't to know, but the Reformation was just around the corner, and Henry VIII would soon put a stop to all that! Henry, no matter what he thought of the Cardinal and his faith, admired the elegance of Christ Church, and unlike many buildings that were sacked during the Dissolution, the buildings survive gloriously intact, adapted to other ecclesiastical and scholarly purposes. A rectangular courtyard in the college, called Tom Quad, contains a tower whose upper section was designed and built by Wren in 1682. It's the largest of its kind in Oxford and its Great Tom bell tolls out 101 times at 9.05pm to mark the 1648 curfew for the college's 101 students at the time. Time itself, indeed, often seems to stop or go backwards in Oxford!