North · Founded 1879
Somerville College
A pioneering women's college with an extraordinary roll of alumnae — from prime ministers to Nobel laureates — set among pleasant gardens off the Woodstock Road.
Official site ↗Founded 1879. Founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of Oxford's first colleges for women, named after the mathematician and scientist Mary Somerville; it became fully coeducational in 1994.
A spacious North Oxford site of Victorian red-brick and later ranges set around lawns and gardens, including its chapel and a notably strong library.
Don’t miss
- Garden quadrangles and lawns
- Somerville College Library
- Non-denominational chapel
- Heritage of pioneering women's education
Notable names
Margaret Thatcher · Indira Gandhi · Dorothy Hodgkin, Nobel Prize in Chemistry · Dorothy L. Sayers · Iris Murdoch · Vera Brittain
Visiting
Access is subject to college policy and academic use; visitors should check current arrangements before arriving.
Opening hours, admission and current access change often — check the official site before you go.