Tom Tower
Sir Christopher Wren's Gothic-revival gatehouse tower at Christ Church (1682) — home of Great Tom, the bell that still rings 101 times every night.
Listen for Great Tom at 21:05 every evening — the bell is rung 101 times, once for each member of the original college foundation. The unusual time is because Christ Church kept Oxford time (5 minutes behind GMT) until well into the 19th century. The tower is best viewed from St Aldate's looking south.
Tom Tower is the gatehouse tower at the western entrance to Christ Church on St Aldate's. The lower stage was begun in the 1520s as part of Cardinal Wolsey's original foundation but left incomplete after his fall from royal favour. The tower was finally finished in 1681–1682 by Sir Christopher Wren, who designed the upper octagonal stage and the ogee dome to match — in his words — "the Gothick manner" of the existing base.
The result is one of the earliest serious attempts at Gothic Revival in England, more than a century before the style became fashionable. Wren's drawings show that he carefully measured medieval Oxford architecture before designing the tower, attempting to extend the existing aesthetic rather than replace it with a classical solution.
The tower houses Great Tom, the largest bell in Oxford, weighing 6¼ tons. It was originally hung in the 14th-century Osney Abbey before being moved to Christ Church after the Dissolution. Every night at 21:05 (Oxford time, 5 minutes behind GMT), Great Tom rings 101 times — once for each of the original 100 members of the college foundation, plus one added in 1664.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
