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Oxford Local Information
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History of Oxford
Featured Property
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Local Information
Oxford Misc Links
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Oxford is renowned as one of England's two great university towns, steeped in history and tradition. The university is not a campus but a collection of 36 colleges and 5 halls scattered around the city centre alongside the shops and offices of commercial Oxford.
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The Bodleian Library, founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1602, is one of the world's greatest libraries and contains over 5 million books. The collections are housed on three separate sites linked by tunnels. Oxford's famous museums include the Ashmolean Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Museum of the History of Science, the Bate Collection of Historical Instruments and the Museum of Oxford.
Oxford is a lively cultural centre and offers a wide variety of performing arts featuring distinguished artists. Music at Oxford presents concerts in historic settings such as the Sheldonian Theatre, Christ Church Cathedral and the Holywell Music Room. The City of Oxford Orchestra offers Summer Proms and a programme of 'Beautiful Music in Beautiful Places'. Opera, ballet, pantomime, musicals and major concerts are all in the programme at the Apollo Theatre, and the Oxford Playhouse has Shakespeare, modern drama, comedy and musicals in its programme
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Oxford straddles two rivers and is served by the Oxford canal. The river Thames (known as the Isis in Oxford) flows along the west side of the city. The river Cherwell flows down the east side through meadows with pleasant footpaths. The Oxford Canal runs north-south providing opportunities for angling, boating and walking along the towpath. Traditionally flat bottomed punts are used on the river, and rowing is a well-known university sport with inter-collegiate events in February and May. Steamers ply for hire between Oxford and Abingdon during the summer and shorter trips are also available
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Local customs and traditions include the May Morning (May Day) when choristers sing madrigals from the top of Magdalen College Tower from 6.00am. Another custom is the rounding up of horses and cattle on Port Meadow once a year - this is to ensure that only those belonging to freemen of the city are benefiting from grazing rights there which are controlled by the Sheriff of Oxford. The Sheriff's Races are held on nearby Wolvercote Common annually in July. During spring and summer, Morris Dancers put on displays in and around the public houses in the city.
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| Oxford is famous for its bookshops - Blackwell's, Thornton's, Parker's and Dillon's are superb places to browse. And when it comes to refreshments, many of the city's fascinating pubs are open all day and serve light meals as well as a good range of ales. Sightseeing is made easier with a tour organised by the Oxford Guild of Guides, booked through the Information Centre; alternatively you can view the city and the colleges from an open topped double deckers bus - circular tours pick up at many points in the city. The Oxford Story is a ride-through exhibition of the story of the university. |
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