Oxford

Oxford — the «city of dreaming spires» and the oldest university city in the English-speaking world. The Saxon settlement grew up as a ford across the Thames (locally the Isis) and the Cherwell, first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 912. Robert d’Oilly, the first Norman governor, built a castle and the first bridges here, and erected a stone wall enclosing 95 acres.

The University of Oxford, founded in the second half of the 12th century, is the oldest in the English-speaking world. Its colleges in styles ranging from late Saxon to Baroque define the city’s skyline. In 1542 Oxford became a bishop’s see, and Christ Church Cathedral is the smallest in England. The Eagle and Child pub was the meeting place of the Inklings — C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

In the 19th century William Morris (later Lord Nuffield) founded the motor industry at Cowley, and by 1901 the population had grown to 50,000. Today Oxford is a city of around 166,000 people, where Mini manufacturing, publishing and biotech stand alongside centuries-old libraries and rowing races on the Cherwell.