North · Founded 1886
St Hugh's College
Prized for its expansive, tranquil gardens and lawns well removed from the crowds of the city centre, a green retreat with a strong reforming heritage.
Official site ↗Founded 1886. Founded by Elizabeth Wordsworth, great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth and first principal of Lady Margaret Hall, as a hall for women and named after St Hugh of Lincoln; it became fully co-residential in the 1980s.
A spacious North Oxford site of red-brick Edwardian buildings set among some of the largest and most secluded gardens of any Oxford college, with the modern Dickson Poon China Centre added on the grounds.
Don’t miss
- Among the largest college gardens in Oxford
- Edwardian red-brick architecture
- Dickson Poon University of Oxford China Centre
- Wolfson and Maplethorpe garden plantings
Notable names
Aung San Suu Kyi (Nobel Peace laureate) · Theresa May (former UK Prime Minister) · Barbara Castle (politician) · Amal Clooney (human-rights lawyer)
Visiting
Located in North Oxford a walk from the centre; the gardens may be open to visitors subject to the college's current arrangements and academic-term limits, so check before visiting.
Opening hours, admission and current access change often — check the official site before you go.