DDiscover AloneMapAbout

Brasenose College

Heritage attraction
Brasenose College
Photo: N Chadwick, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original Geograph photograph · Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Brasenose College was founded in 1509 around older student halls, taking its unusual name from a bronze nose-shaped door fitting remembered for centuries.

Read the whole record

Brasenose College was founded in 1509 around older student halls, taking its unusual name from a bronze nose-shaped door fitting remembered for centuries.

What this place is

Brasenose is an Oxford college whose old quadrangle, chapel, hall and later buildings occupy a central site beside Radcliffe Square.

People and events

Bishop William Smyth and Richard Sutton founded it in 1509; generations of students, teachers and servants then shaped its shared life.

How it was used

It provided rooms, meals, worship and teaching, expanding from the old quadrangle into new buildings as student numbers grew.

What survives

The early stone quadrangle, seventeenth-century chapel and hall, door fitting tradition and later ranges survive in daily use.

Why it mattered

It matters because more than five hundred years of education remain legible in a compact set of buildings grown from older medieval halls.

Sources for this account

Sources checked 16 August 2026.

From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) w23680177

This does not grant access. Check current paths, opening conditions and ownership before entering.

Operator
University of Oxford
What do you know about this place?Tap to add a comment or ask a question

What you write will be public.

Places near here

Photo credits
  • Charles Ricketts, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
  • Philip Halling, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Mr Ignavy, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • David Dixon, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Jim Osley, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Rod Allday, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Steve Daniels, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • David Sankey, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Stuart Taylor, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Derek Harper, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Siege of OxfordSiege · 259 ydNuffield CollegeListed building · 590 ydThe Old SchoolListed building · 619 ydWorcester College, Entrance Screen and Gates on Beaumont StreetListed building · 679 ydWelcome to the Oxford CanalVisitor information · 786 ydOxford : Oxford Ox statueMonument or public art · 1068 ydSculpture in a small riverside park near GrandpontPublic sculpture · 1136 ydOsney CemeteryCemetery · 1191 ydRewley Road Swing BridgeMemorial · 1198 ydWelcome to The Rewley Road Swing BridgeVisitor information · 1207 ydOsney IslandIslet · 1466 ydFiddler's IslandIslet · 1.1 mi

More things to do in Oxford · All of Oxford

Add to this placeAdd a picture Add a detailed tip Add a story

Explore the map1,095,414 places to discover

Next place · or swipeSiege of Oxford