Skip to content
← All colleges

Central · Founded 1517

Corpus Christi College

One of Oxford's smallest and most charming colleges, known for its Pelican Sundial, humanist library heritage and the tradition of a college tortoise.

Official site ↗

Founded 1517. Founded in 1517 by Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester, as one of Oxford's earliest Renaissance humanist colleges.

Tudor and intimate in scale: a 16th-century Front Quad centred on the ornate Pelican Sundial of 1581, with a chapel, Hall and library, and gardens overlooking Christ Church Meadow.

Don’t miss

  • Pelican Sundial (perpetual calendar)
  • Front Quad
  • chapel
  • hall
  • historic library
  • gardens with Meadow views
  • the tortoise mascot and Tortoise Fair

Notable names

John Keble · James Oglethorpe (founder of the Georgia colony) · Vikram Seth · David Miliband · William Waldegrave

Visiting

Open to visitors at limited times; a small college where access can be curtailed.

Opening hours, admission and current access change often — check the official site before you go.