Hertford College, Oxford

The College Site

The main college consists of three quadrangles: Old Quadrangle, New Quadrangle and Holywell Quadrangle.

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The Old Quadrangle (Old quad or OB (old building) quad for short), as the name suggests, is the oldest and the original quadrangle. It incorporates the lodge, library, chapel, hall, bursary and other administrative buildings. It is also home to many of the studies of senior fellows and tutors. Old quad is the only Hertford quadrangle to have a lawn in the centre, in the traditional college style, and its flower embossed gate dates from the sixteenth century. The lawn is off-limits during Michaelmas and Hilary terms but freely traversable during Trinity term. Senior fellows of the college are granted the privilege of being able to walk across the lawn all year round.

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The New Quadrangle (New Quad or NB quad for short) is connected to the Old Quadrangle via the famous Hertford Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Sighs, which was designed by Thomas Jackson. New quad is primarily composed of undergraduate housing and associated facilities. With views of the Sheldonian Theatre the MCR (Middle Common Room) 'Octagon' incorporates part of a sixteenth century chapel built into the old city wall. It is also situated in New quad and is off limits to all undergraduates except those enrolled as mature students.

Related Topics:
Bridge of Sighs - Sheldonian Theatre

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Holywell Quadrangle backs directly onto New quad, and the two are connected by an arched corridor that also contains the steps down to Hertford's subterranean bar, the only fully student-run bar in Oxford. Holywell is almost exclusively first-year undergraduate housing and therefore contains the JCR (Junior Common Room). The Baring Room occupies the highest level of one of five staircases in Holywell and is named after the benefactor whose funding aided Hertford's classificatory transition from a hall of residence to a fully fledged college.

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