Oxford Scavenger Hunt and Self-Guided Tour

The route: from Oxford Castle via Broad Street and Radcliffe Square to Christ Church Meadow

10 stops · about 42 min walking · start: Oxford Castle and Prison · finish: Christ Church Meadow

The hunt starts at Oxford Castle and Prison and heads to the Covered Market, then north to the Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street. On Broad Street you visit the History of Science Museum and the university's Sheldonian Theatre before reaching the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera. The route then turns south past the Story Museum to Christ Church and finishes in Christ Church Meadow. Every answer can be found on walls, gates and statues from the street, so you never queue at a college lodge or a museum desk, and the app lets you start at the Radcliffe Camera or any other stop and shuffle the order to suit you.

Open the route map ↗

1. 

   1Oxford Castle and PrisonStart

   Robert D'Oyly built a castle here in 1071 for William the Conqueror, and its mound and St George's Tower still stand. In 1142 Empress Matilda is said to have escaped the besieged castle across the frozen river, dressed in white against the snow. The site was used as a prison until 1996.

2. 

   2Covered Market

   The Covered Market opened in 1774, when the city moved untidy street stalls off the main streets into one building between High Street and Market Street. Its long, roofed avenues are still lined with small independent traders, from butchers and bakers to cafés.

3. 

   3Ashmolean Museum

   Founded in 1683 around the collection that Elias Ashmole gave to the university, the Ashmolean is often called Britain's first public museum. Its present neoclassical building on Beaumont Street, designed by Charles Robert Cockerell, opened in 1845. The collections range from ancient Egyptian objects to European paintings.

4. 

   4History of Science Museum

   This building on Broad Street was completed in 1683 for the original Ashmolean Museum and is considered the oldest surviving purpose-built museum building in the world. Today it displays scientific instruments such as astrolabes and early clocks, as well as a blackboard used by Albert Einstein in a lecture in 1931.

5. 

   5University of Oxford

   Teaching took place in Oxford by 1096, which makes it the oldest university in the English-speaking world. On Broad Street stands the Sheldonian Theatre, designed by Christopher Wren and completed in 1669, where degree ceremonies are held. Look for the large carved stone heads on the pillars in front of it.

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6. 

   6Bodleian Library

   Sir Thomas Bodley refounded the university library, which reopened in 1602 and still bears his name. The Old Schools Quadrangle is entered beneath the Tower of the Five Orders, which shows the five classical types of column stacked one above the other. Since an agreement of 1610, the library has collected books published in England.

7. 

   7Radcliffe Camera

   Paid for by a bequest from the royal physician John Radcliffe, this round, domed library was designed by James Gibbs and completed in 1749. It stands in the middle of Radcliffe Square, surrounded by colleges and the University Church, and today serves as a reading room of the Bodleian Library.

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8. 

   8The Story Museum

   The Story Museum on Pembroke Street is devoted to stories and storytelling for children and families. It suits Oxford well, a city linked with authors such as Lewis Carroll, Tolkien and Philip Pullman, whose books were written or set here.

9. 

   9Christ Church

   Cardinal Wolsey founded this college in 1525, and Henry VIII refounded it in 1546 as Christ Church, with its chapel serving as Oxford's cathedral. Christopher Wren designed Tom Tower above the main gate, and its bell, Great Tom, rings 101 times every evening. Lewis Carroll taught mathematics here.

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10. 

    10Christ Church MeadowFinish

    This wide stretch of open meadow belongs to Christ Church and lies between the Thames and the river Cherwell. Its paths offer views back to the towers of Christ Church and Merton College, and cattle often graze in the fields, a rural scene a few minutes from the city centre.