Jesus College

Jesus College stands in the heart of Oxford, its buildings grouped around four quadrangles. The oldest part, near Turl Street and Ship Street, dates from the 16th and early 17th centuries. A second quadrangle was added between about 1640 and 1713, and a third came in about 1906. A fourth quadrangle was finished in 2021 to mark the college’s 450th anniversary. The college was founded in 1571 by Queen Elizabeth I, with Hugh Price of Brecon playing a key role. Its first buildings reused the site of White Hall, an older academic hall. The college has educated many notable figures. Past students include two British prime ministers, Harold Wilson and H. H. Asquith, as well as Australian leader Kevin Rudd and Jamaican leader Norman Manley. T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, also studied here. Among its fellows are historians such as Yuval Noah Harari and Niall Ferguson, alongside philosopher John Gray. The college has produced a Nobel laureate in Peter J. Ratcliffe and a Victoria Cross winner in Angus Buchanan. Visitors walk past the 16th-century front quadrangle, where Price’s early gifts still shape the stonework. The chapel and hall built by Eubule Thelwall in the 17th century stand at the centre of college life. A library once stood above a colonnade, though it was later removed. The chapel holds a monument to Thelwall, who spent £5,000 of his own money to secure the college’s future. Beyond the quadrangles, modern student flats in north and east Oxford extend the college’s presence across the city.