Oxford, City of Dreaming Spires

 

Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire and famous worldwide for its prestigious university, the oldest in the English-speaking world. In his poem ‘Thyrsis’ the Victorian poet Matthew Arnold called Oxford ‘the city of dreaming spires’ after the stunning architecture of these university buildings.

Two rivers run through Oxford, the Cherwell and the Thames (Isis), and it is from this riverside situation that Oxford got its name in Saxon times, ‘Oxenaforda’ or ‘Ford of the Oxen’. In the 10th century Oxford became an important frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and was also strategically important to the Normans who in 1071 built a castle there, first in timber and later in the 11th century, in stone.

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