Editing List of fictional Oxford colleges

{{Short description|None}}
{{distinguish|text=[[List of fictional Oxbridge colleges|Oxbridge colleges]]}}{{No significant coverage|date=August 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
'''Fictional [[Colleges within universities in the United Kingdom|colleges]]''' are found in many modern novels, films, and other works of fiction, probably because they allow the author greater licence for invention and a reduced risk of being accused of libel, as might happen if the author depicted unsavory events as occurring at a real-life institution. Below is a list of some of the fictional colleges of the [[University of Oxford]].

==''His Dark Materials''==
[[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' novels feature a number of [[Locations in His Dark Materials|fictional Oxford colleges]], most notably Jordan College,<ref>{{Cite web|title=A 'His Dark Materials' guide to Oxford|url=https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/a-his-dark-materials-guide-to-oxford|access-date=2021-03-16|website=House & Garden|date=8 October 2019 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2003-04-05|title=Pullman brings back Lyra for Oxford mystery|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/apr/06/books.booksnews|access-date=2021-03-16|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> including:<ref>''His Dark Materials'' series, Phillip Pullman</ref>
*Cardinal's College
*Foxe College
*Gabriel College
*Jordan College
*Queen Philippa's College
*St Michael's College
*St Scholastica's College
*St Sophia's College
*Wordsworth College
*Wykeham College

==Inspector Morse==
The [[Inspector Morse]] series of books by [[Colin Dexter]] is predominantly set within Oxford and its environs, including the University. Consequently, many fictional colleges are named. The derived television series, ''[[Inspector Morse (TV series)|Inspector Morse]]'', ''[[Lewis (TV series)|Lewis]]'' and ''[[Endeavour (TV series)|Endeavour]]'', continued this practice.

''T''=TV series
{| class="wikitable"
!width="160pt"|Name!!Source!!Details!!width="150pt"|Filmed<br>(College)
|-
|Alfreda's College||''Endeavour T'': "Fugue"|| ||[[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity]]
|-
|Arnold College||''Inspector Morse T''|| ||
|-
|Baidley College||''Endeavour T'': "Home"||Last episode of Season 1||[[Keble College, Oxford|Keble]]
|-
|Beaufort College||''Inspector Morse T''; ''Endeavour T'': "Girl"||Named after [[Henry Beaufort]], a [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenet royal]] and [[List of Chancellors of the University of Oxford|Chancellor of the University of Oxford]] from 1397 to 1399||
|-
|Beaumont College||''Inspector Morse'' novels
Inspector Morse episode
”The Last Enemy”
Series 3 Episode 2
| [[Beaumont Street]] is a short street in central Oxford. One end emerges opposite Balliol's side entrance, and it extends to the front of [[Worcester College, Oxford|Worcester]]. Beaumont Street was formerly the site of [[Beaumont Palace]], perhaps the "location" of the college.||
|-
|Benison College||''Lewis'', episode "Intelligent Design" Series 7 episodes 5/6|| ||
|-
|Carlyle College||''Lewis'', episode "The Soul of Genius"|| ||[[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter]]
|-
|Chaucer College||''Lewis''|| Based on [[Merton College]]. Named after [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], whose son [[Thomas Chaucer|Thomas]] also managed the affairs of Henry Beaufort, Oxford's Chancellor.||
|-
|Courtenay College||''Inspector Morse T''||Based on [[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel]]. [[Nuneham Courtenay]] is a village 5 miles south-east of Oxford; in the 14th century, the village belonged to the influential Courtenay family. [[Nuneham House]] now belongs to the University.||
|-
|Gresham College||''Lewis'', episode "Dark Matter"|| Stand-in for [[Lincoln College, Oxford|Lincoln]]. The "[[Invisible College]]" was a group of Oxford scientists (including [[Robert Boyle]], [[Robert Hooke]] and [[Christopher Wren]]) who went on to establish the [[Royal Society]]. The group met at [[Gresham College]] in London.||
|-
|Hescott College||''Endeavour T'': "Confection"|| ||[[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel]]
|-
|Lady Matilda's College||''Lewis'' episode "Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things"; ''Endeavour'' episode "Home"||Amalgamation of [[Lady Margaret Hall]] and [[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's]]||[[Lady Margaret Hall]]
|-
|Lonsdale College||''Inspector Morse'' novels and subsequent ''Lewis T''|| College attended by Endeavour Morse.
|[[Brasenose College|Brasenose]]
|-
|Lovelace College||''Endeavour'' TV series; "Game", the first episode of Season 4|| ||[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's]]
|-
|Mayfield College||''Lewis'' episode "Life Born of Fire"||Mayfield Press is based in [[Cowley Road]]; the nearest college would be [[Greyfriars, Oxford|Greyfriars]] on [[Iffley Road]].||In and around Brasenose
|-
|Penville||''Lewis'' episode "Old School Ties"||The leader of the Oxford Union says she usually lives here; this is presumably a reference to her fictional college.||
|-
|St Gerard's Hall||''Lewis'' episode "Wild Justice"|| Fictional [[permanent private hall]]<br>Exterior of college filmed at [[New College, Oxford|New College]], with a barn entrance in [[New College Lane]].
|[[St Edmund Hall]] and [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]]
|-
|St Jude's College||''Lewis'' episode "Generation of Vipers"|| date=November 2021}}|| ||
|-
|St Saviour's College||''Inspector Morse'', episode "Fat Chance"|| ||[[New College, Oxford|New College]]
|-
|St Sebastian's College||''Lewis'' episode "Lions of Nemea"|| ||St Edmund Hall
|-
|Savile College||''Lewis''|| ||In and around [[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity]]
|-
|Trevelyan College||''Lewis''|| ||
|-
|Wolsey College||''Inspector Morse'' novels and ''Endeavour''|| Based on [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]]: Cardinal Wolsey founded Christ Church.||
|}

==''Jude the Obscure''==
[[Thomas Hardy]]'s novel ''[[Jude the Obscure]]'' is set in Christminster, [[Thomas Hardy's Wessex|"Wessex"]], a thinly fictionalised version of Oxford, and mentions the following colleges of Christminster University:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Booth |first1=James |title=An Exploration of Hardy's Christminster and Larkin's Oxford |journal=The Hardy Society Journal |date=2014 |jstor=48562198 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=92–100 |issn=1746-4617 |orig-year=1895}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hardy |first1=Thomas |title=Jude the Obscure |date=August 1994 |publisher=[[Gutenberg.org]] |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/153/pg153-images.html |access-date=16 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="pinion1968">{{cite book |last1=Pinion |first1=F. B. |title=A Hardy Companion |chapter=Dictionary of People and Places in Hardy's Works |date=1968 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-00481-2 |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-00481-2_12 |pages=278–280 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/hardycompaniongu0000pini/page/278 |language=en }}</ref>
*Biblioll College<ref>Hardy 1994 Part 2 Chapter 6</ref> ([[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]])
*Cardinal College<ref name="judep6c9">Hardy 1994 Part 6 Chapter 9</ref> ([[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]])
*Crozier College<ref name="judep6c9"/> ([[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel]]?)
*Oldgate College<ref>Hardy 1994 Part 6 Chapter 11</ref> ([[New College, Oxford|New College]])
*Rubric College<ref name="judep6c9"/> ([[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose]]?)
*Sarcophagus College<ref name="judep6c9"/>
*Tudor College<ref name="judep6c9"/>

==''Loss and Gain''==
''[[Loss and Gain]]'' by St [[John Henry Newman]] tells the story of the conversion of Charles Reding, an Oxford student, to [[Catholicism]]. In the novel, Newman creates the following colleges:
*'''Saint Saviour's''' (the college of the main character, Charles Reding)
*'''All Saints'''
*'''Leicester College'''
*'''Nun's Hall'''

==Other works==
{|class="wikitable"
!style="width:13em;"|Name!!Details
|-
|All Saints College||''[[North and South (Gaskell novel)|North and South]]'' by [[Elizabeth Gaskell]]. Stand-in for [[All Souls College, Oxford|All Souls College]]
|-
|Apocalypse College||''Private's Progress'' by [[Alan Hackney]]
|-
|Baillie College||''[[Yes Minister]]'' and ''[[Yes Minister|Yes, Prime Minister]]'', attended by successive [[Cabinet Secretary (United Kingdom)|Cabinet Secretaries]], [[Sir Arnold Robinson]] and [[Sir Humphrey Appleby]]. A very thinly veiled stand-in for [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]]; in several episodes Sir Humphrey Appleby is seen wearing a Balliol tie, and in the 2011 stage play version, Appleby is stated as having gone to Balliol, not "Baillie"
|-
|Bartlemas College||Kate Ivory [[Detective fiction|detective novels]] by [[Veronica Stallwood]]. Takes its name from [[St Bartholomew's Chapel, Oxford|St Bartholomew's Chapel]], which belonged to [[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel College]]
|-
|Bede College||''[[Operation Pax]]'' by [[Michael Innes]] (pseudonym of [[J. I. M. Stewart]]). Allusion to the Old English [[polymath]] [[Bede]], whose histories give us the account of [[St Hilda]], from whom [[St Hilda's College, Oxford]] takes its name<ref>[http://www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/index.php/history/sthilda.html St Hilda's College History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031105254/http://www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/index.php/history/sthilda.html |date=2010-10-31 }}, st-hildas.ox.ac.uk</ref>
|-
|Brazenface College||''[[Verdant Green]]'' by [[Cuthbert Bede]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vernier |first1=Peter |title=Oscar's Drawing of 'Little Mr Bouncer' |journal=The Wildean |date=2005 |volume=26 |issue=26 |pages=2–10 |jstor=45269253 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45269253 |access-date=24 July 2024}}</ref> Very thinly veiled reference to [[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose College]]
|-
|Cardinal College||''[[A Yank at Oxford]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nugent |first1=Frank S. |title=Robert Taylor Appears as 'A Yank at Oxford' at the Capitol |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/02/25/archives/the-screen-robert-taylor-appears-as-a-yank-at-oxford-at-the.html |access-date=29 July 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 February 1938}}</ref> Based on [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], which was founded by Cardinal [[Thomas Wolsey]] as "Cardinal College" in 1525
|-
|Clapperton College||''The Oxford Virus'' by Adam Kolczynski. Based on Christ Church
|-
|Episcopus College||''Where the Rivers Meet'' and ''Comedies'' by [[John Wain]]
|-
|Hacker College||''The Complete [[Yes Minister]]''
|-
|Judas College||''[[Zuleika Dobson]]'' by [[Max Beerbohm]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCrum |first1=Robert |title=The 100 best novels: No 40 – Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm (1911) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/23/zuleika-dobson-max-beerbohm-100-best-novels |access-date=30 July 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=23 June 2014}}</ref> Based on [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]]. Referenced in [[William Peter Blatty|William Peter Blatty's]] 1960 semi-autobiographical comic novel ''Which Way to Mecca, Jack?''
|-
|The King's College||(Known as "Dick's" after its founder Richard II) – ''Colonel Butler's Wolf'' and ''Our Man in Camelot'' by [[Anthony Price]].<br>"The King's College" is another name for Oriel College; Richard II has no historically significant involvement with Oxford
|-
|Kingsbridge College||''[[World Without End (Follett novel)|World Without End]]'' and ''[[A Column of Fire]]'' by [[Ken Follett]]
|-
|Lancaster College||''[[Incense for the Damned]]'', a [[Peter Cushing]] horror film set partially in [[Oxford]], based on ''[[Doctors Wear Scarlet]]'' by [[Simon Raven]]
|-
|rowspan=3|Lazarus College||''[[Barchester Towers]]'' by [[Anthony Trollope]]
|-
|Several novels by Angela Thirkell, beginning with ''Summer Half'' (1937)
|-
|''[[The Secret World]]'' [[massively multiplayer online role-playing game]]
|-
|Magog College||''[[A Study in Sorcery]]'' by [[Michael Kurland]]/[[Randall Garrett]]
|-
|Mandeville College||"The Crime of the Communist", a [[Father Brown]] story by [[G. K. Chesterton]]<ref>''Collier's Weekly'' 14 July 1934; repr. in ''The Scandal of Father Brown'' (1935).</ref>
|-
|Mortarhouse College||[[Ghost Light (Doctor Who)]] serial
|-
|Old College||''[[Lot No. 249]]'' by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]
|-
|Pelham College||''The It Girl'' by [[Ruth Ware]]
|-
|Pentecost College||[[Montague Egg]] short story "Murder at Pentecost", in ''[[Hangman's Holiday]]'' by [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]. On the north side of Broad Street, to the east of Trinity
|-
|Persephone College||''Death on the Cherwell'' by [[Mavis Doriel Hay]]. Women's college based on [[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's]], Hay's old college<ref name=MDH>Introduction by Stephen Booth to 2014 edition.</ref>
|-
|Pitt College||''[[Black Chalk]]'' by [[Christopher J. Yates]]
|-
|Plymouth College||''[[North and South (Gaskell novel)|North and South]]'' by [[Elizabeth Gaskell]]; alludes to [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]]<ref name=Sutherland>{{cite book|first=James|last=Sutherland|authorlink=James Runcieman Sutherland|chapter=What are Mr Hale's 'Doubts'?|title=The Literary Detective|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|series=Oxford World's Classics|isbn=978-0-19-210036-8|pages=600–10}}</ref>
|-
|Raleigh College||''The Oxford Inheritance'' by Ann A. McDonald, and ''Sophomore Switch'' (published as ''Life Swap'' in the UK) by [[Abby McDonald]]
|-
|St Ambrose's College||''[[Tom Brown at Oxford]]'' by [[Thomas Hughes]]. Probably based on [[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel College]]
|-
|St Bride's College||''[[Brunette Coleman#Michaelmas Term at St Bride's|Michaelmas Term at St Bride's]]'', by [[Brunette Coleman]] ([[Philip Larkin]]), St Bride's is recognisably based on [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]]<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Andrew Motion|last=Motion|first=Andrew|title=Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life|location=London|publisher=Faber and Faber|year=1993|pages=93–96}}</ref>
|-
|St Christopher's College||''[[The Case of the Gilded Fly]]'' and ''[[The Moving Toyshop]]'' by [[Edmund Crispin]]. Located on the north side of [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's]] (Crispin's old college) at the junction of [[St Giles', Oxford|St Giles']] and [[Banbury Road]]
|-
|St David's College||''[[A Study in Sorcery]]'' by [[Michael Kurland]]/[[Randall Garrett]]
|-
|[[St Ervan]]'s College||''[[An Oxford University Chest]]'' by [[John Betjeman]]
|-
|St Frideswide's College||''What Men Say'' by [[Joan Smith]]
|-
|St George's College||''[[Yes Minister]]'' television series. There was a late-medieval establishment of this name<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol2/pp160-161#h3-0003|chapter=Colleges: St George, Oxford|title=A History of the County of Oxford|volume=2|editor=Page, William|location=London|year=1907|pages=160–161|series=[[Victoria County History]]|access-date=2019-01-08|via=British History Online}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan=2|St Jerome's College||''[[Endymion Spring]]'' by [[Matthew Skelton]]: on [[St Giles', Oxford|St Giles']], with echoes of [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]] (Skelton's alma mater)
|-
|''The Reluctant Cannibals'' by Ian Flitcroft (south of the High Street)
|-
|St Joseph's College||''[[Rumpole]]'' series by [[John Mortimer]] (in "Rumpole and the Younger Generation", Rumpole is said to have attended the real-life [[Keble College, Oxford|Keble College]])
|-
|St Jude's College||''Formosa'' by [[Dion Boucicault]]; ''August Folly'' by [[Angela Thirkell]] (also in ''Lewis''; see above)
|-
|St Margaret's College||''[[Fire and Hemlock]]'' by [[Diana Wynne Jones]]. Probably based on [[Lady Margaret Hall]]
|-
|St Mark's College||''[[The Pursuit of Love]]'' by [[Nancy Mitford]]; ''Patrick Grant'' crime novels by [[Margaret Yorke]]; ''[[The Stars' Tennis Balls]]'' by [[Stephen Fry]]
|-
|rowspan=2|St Mary's College||''[[Sinister Street]]'' by [[Compton Mackenzie]] (based closely on [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]], Mackenzie's old college, named after St Mary Magdalene)
|-
|''The Poison Tree'' by Tony Strong (based on [[St Peter's College, Oxford|St Peter's College]]); and ''Rough Justice'' by [[Charles Edward Montague]]
|-
|St Matthew's College||''[[The Dimension Riders]]'' by [[Daniel Blythe]]
|-
|rowspan=2|St Paul's College||''Ravenshoe'' by [[Henry Kingsley]]
|-
|''August Folly'' by [[Angela Thirkell]]
|-
|St Sebastian's College||''Arden St Ives'' books by [[Alexis Hall (writer)|Alexis Hall]]; ''[[Hut 33]]''
|-
|St Severin's College||''[[The Late Scholar]]'' by [[Jill Paton Walsh]] using [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]' characters. On Parks Road, next to Wadham
|-
|St Sexburga's College||''Horace Sippog and the siren's song'' by Su Walton
|-
|St Simeon's College||''Death on the Cherwell'' by [[Mavis Doriel Hay]]. Located approximately on the site of [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]]<ref name=MDH/>
|-
|St Thomas' College||''An Oxford Tragedy'' and ''The Case of the Four Friends'' by [[John Cecil Masterman]]. [[St Thomas the Martyr's Church, Oxford|St Thomas the Martyr's Church]] is located near [[Osney]], and belongs to Christ Church
|-
|Scone College||''[[Decline and Fall]]'' by [[Evelyn Waugh]]; ''Something Nasty in the Woodshed'' and ''The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery'' by [[Kyril Bonfiglioli]], in whose novels Scone College represents [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College]]. [[John de Balliol]] was crowned king at [[Scone, Scotland|Scone]], Scotland in 1292
|-
|Shrewsbury College||''[[Gaudy Night]]'' by [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]. Women's college, based on [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]], Sayers' old college, but located on the site of Balliol's cricket ground in Jowett Walk<ref>[http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html Somerville Stories – Dorothy L Sayers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005002943/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html |date=5 October 2013 }}, Somerville College, [[University of Oxford]], UK.</ref>
|-
|[[Simon Magus]] College||''Let Dons Delight'' and ''[[The Footsteps at the Lock]]'' by [[Ronald Knox]]
|-
|Stendell College||''[[The Gentlemen (2019 film)|The Gentlemen]]'' directed by [[Guy Ritchie]]. Mickey Pearson ([[Matthew McConaughey]]) attends the college on a [[Rhodes Scholarship]] and begins selling marijuana while there
|-
|Tresingham College||''The Oxford Virus'' by Adam Kolczynski. Based on [[Keble College, Oxford|Keble College]]
|-
|Warlock College||''Landscape with Dead Dons'' by [[Robert Robinson (broadcaster)|Robert Robinson]]
|-
| ||An unnamed college in ''[[A Staircase in Surrey]]'', a quintet of novels by [[J. I. M. Stewart]], based on [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], but never named; Surrey is the name of a quadrangle within the fictional college
|}

==Fictional library==
* In [[Ben Aaronovitch]]'s ''[[Rivers of London (novel)|Rivers of London]]'' series, Oxford's [[Bodleian Library]] has a secret part, known and accessible only to practitioners of Magic and containing among other things the secret writings of [[Isaac Newton]] on this subject.

==See also==
*[[Colleges of the University of Oxford]]
*[[List of fictional Cambridge colleges]]
*[[List of fictional Oxbridge colleges]]
*[[List of books about Oxford]]
*[[List of fictional University of Oxford people]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{University of Oxford}}
{{Fictional education navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford colleges}}
[[Category:Fictional colleges of the University of Oxford|*]]
[[Category:Colleges of the University of Oxford|*Fictional]]
[[Category:Fictional universities and colleges]]
[[Category:Lists of fictional locations]]
[[Category:University of Oxford in fiction]]
[[Category:University of Oxford-related lists|Fictional colleges]]