St Cross College

St Cross is a small graduate college on St Giles', founded in 1965 with the specific aim of providing graduate students with the kind of community and support that undergraduates get at the older colleges. It occupies a mix of traditional and modern buildings in a good central location, but there's nothing here that would draw a casual visitor. The buildings are presentable without being notable, and the college is too small and too new to have accumulated the architectural or historical interest of the older foundations.

What St Cross does well is create a tight-knit graduate community in a part of Oxford — St Giles' — that has a concentration of notable architecture. The street itself, with St John's, the Ashmolean, the Lamb and Flag, and the Martyrs' Memorial, is far more interesting than anything inside the college. If you're a prospective graduate student looking for a small, friendly, well-located college, St Cross is worth considering. If you're a visitor, keep walking along St Giles'.

What makes it special

The location on St Giles' is good, and the college's founding mission — treating graduate students as more than an afterthought — was ahead of its time in 1965. The common room and garden are pleasant enough. But "StX," as members call it, is a place to study, not a place to visit.

Visitor info

St Cross is on St Giles', near the junction with Pusey Street. There are no visitor hours. The college website lists occasional public events. Your time on St Giles' is better spent at St John's College (opposite) or the Eagle and Child pub (a few doors up).