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History of Science Museum

History of Science Museum: Our most recommended tours and activities

Oxford: Complete University Tour with optional Christ Church

1. Oxford: Complete University Tour with optional Christ Church

You will begin in central Oxford, with a brief and engaging introduction which will lay the foundation for the vast periods of history to be covered! Then the tour will enter a college renowned for having the most beautiful lawns in Oxford along with an iconic dispute with its neighbour - resulting in a supposed theft of the College tortoise (Oxford Annual Tortoise Race explanation included!). Then the group will visit the Sheldonian Theatre, where students experience the most iconic ceremony at Oxford University. You can hear from your student guide how the experience was for them. Next you will enter a historic museum -complete with a chalkboard used by Einstein in Oxford - and visit the Weston Library, a great example of a hybrid historic and modern interior. This tour will then cover sites that none of our other tours do! Including Rhodes House, the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum. The latter is known to have one of the most exceptional collections in England, including Victorian shrunken heads. The tour stops for lunch at the Eagle and Child pub, a second home to J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis while they were members of the Inklings. After lunch, you can get a photo under the Bridge of Sighs before gazing up at the first round library in England, where your Oxford student guide will give you rare insights into the labyrinth of underground tunnels students. Not to be forgotten, All Souls College. With entrance exams as complex as they are bizarre, this site will highlight how exclusive a College can be and how influential its members are. Heading down to the southern part of Oxford, we visit a hidden door depicting the most famous characters in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Before entering the largest College at Oxford, Home to Oscar Wilde and C. S. Lewis, and its own deer park. Explore the iconic grounds which have been home to Oxford’s most influential writers, complete with medieval cloisters. The tour will head over to Merton College, home of Tolkien, to discuss not only its literary importance, but it’s multi million pound kitchen, funded by the current Emperor of Japan! The tour will then go to Christ Church College, exploring the unique meadows - such a stunning expanse of land incredibly rare in a medieval city. Here you will learn about its close connection to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - along with its decision to be held to a different time zone than the rest of Oxford. Those who have selected the option to enter Christ Church will then have their pre arranged tickets given to them, and they will be free to explore the college at their own pace. The guide will be at hand before entering to offer further advice and guidance. Please note - the structure on the day may differ.

Oxford: Stepping Through Oxford Walking Tour

2. Oxford: Stepping Through Oxford Walking Tour

Discover charming and historic Oxford, renowned for being home to the prestigious University of Oxford, one of the oldest universities in the world. The city boasts a wealth of stunning architecture, picturesque scenery, and fascinating cultural attractions, like the Bridge of Sighs and the Carfax Tower, that you will discover in our walking tours. Discover the iconic Christ Church College and Lincoln College and marvel at their stunning Gothic and Baroque architecture. Learn about the famous alumni that studied there. After the tour, download the Vox City app (included in your tour) to discover more of Oxford and its incredible history with curated audio-guided routes through the main quarters. Our walking tours main sights: Radcliffe Camera Bodleian Library The Tower of the Five Orders Bridge of Sights Hertfort College Clarendon Building University of Oxford The Wenston Library The Old Schools Quad The White Horse Carfax Tower Christ Church The Old Tom St. Aldates Tavern Oxford Town Hall Swindlestock Tavern High Street University Church of St. Mary the Virgin Bodleian Library Alice's Shop The Crown Covered Market St. Micheal at the North Gate Oxford Martyrs Cross The bear Inn The Wheatsheaf St. Aldates Tavern History of Science Museum Sheldonian Theatre Holywell Music Room New College All Souls College Our self-guided route's main sights: St. Margaret's Well Port Meadow Folly Bridge Oxford Castle and Prison Trill Mill Stream Nuffield College Martyrs Memorial Ashmolean Museum Jericho University Parks Rhodes House Headington Shark

Oxford Day Trip from London: City Tour, Colleges & Lunch

3. Oxford Day Trip from London: City Tour, Colleges & Lunch

Travel back in time on this Private Day Trip Tour into one of the world's most academic and intellectual cities. Get away from busy London and tour Oxford with a private local guide. Admire not only the city's medieval architectural beauty and its river and natural environment, but also its traditional English cuisine. Learn about the history of Oxford Castle, an ancient castle over 1,000 years old, famous for having once been a prison. Visit the only 12th-century tower still standing in the city. Take the opportunity to enter the History of Sciences Museum to see the famous blackboard that Einstein once used during a lecture at some Oxford University, and which still preserves its formulas. Relax and enjoy a delicious British lunch with a typical English beer in a traditional 14th-century tavern. Enjoy the best views of this university city by climbing to the top of the 13th-century tower of the University Church of St Mary. See the most prestigious colleges in the world, from Balliol College (the oldest in Oxford) to the most important college in the city: Christ Church College. Enter and breathe the university and intellectual air of Oxford. Get to know its beautiful Gothic building and discover how its students live. Enjoy Oxford in-depth, with its History, its Culture, Gastronomy, Colleges, and local’s lifestyle in this amazing Private Day Tour.

Oxford: Famous Alumni Exploration Game

4. Oxford: Famous Alumni Exploration Game

Explore Oxford in a unique way, by playing an exploration game on your phone via an app. Learn about famous alumni who walked through the city's streets and university's walls, visit locations where Harry Potter was filmed, and have fun with your whole family or friends. Reenact the story of a brilliant former Oxford professor trying to figure out the mystery of their lab partner’s death during your engaging game. Solve challenges and watch the story unfold on your app, as well as exact directions that guide you to your next location. Start your exploration game from The Eagle and Child pub. Best of all, play the game at your own pace, pausing it whenever you feel like a coffee or food break and resuming anytime from the location where you paused it.

Oxford: Oxford and Empire Walking Tour by Oxford Students

5. Oxford: Oxford and Empire Walking Tour by Oxford Students

The Oxford and Empire Walking Tour focuses on the University as an institution that produced knowledge, qualifications, and networks, which found their more durable expression on a global scale. ‘Oxford and Empire’ starts at the Natural History Museum, highlighting the close links between the development of knowledge about the natural world and the early explorations voyages, the start of a documentation of the natural world on European terms. This rise of the sciences within the University courses coincided with the development and rise of the high imperial period in Britain. The Great Evolution Debate took place at the Natural History Museum, and its legacy loomed large with the creation of the Pitt Rivers Museum in a back building shortly after, to host the university’s anthropological collections in a typography which reflected fast developing social Darwinists’ beliefs in a hierarchy of civilisations. The tour thereafter takes us to the Rhodes house, interrogating the origins and legacies of a scholarship made of white men from the colonies, and further questions the imperial origins of a series of faculties in Oxford, such as Geography, Plant Science, and International Development. Ultimately, it is a tour that aims to highlight the complex and reciprocal relationship between Oxford and the Empire, and how it endures through the University's global appeal to this day.

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What people are saying about History of Science Museum

Overall rating

5.0 / 5

based on 2 reviews

Fabulous day with Jamie!! Would highly recommend this tour to get the most out of your time in Oxford. We got lucky being the only people on the tour that day, so we had a private guide!! We covered loads of ground and Jamie was so knowledgeable about the history, people and traditions of the various colleges, some of which are hilariously funny. He answered all our questions, and we had lots. We opted afterwards to take the Christchurch tour. Unfortunately Jamie wasn’t permitted to join us for that part, but he gave us a talk about the college prior to entry and we had the audio guide once inside. This part adds about an hour to the tour.

Jess was a great guide! Loved hearing her insights and in-depth knowledge. Was great to have a chat with her after the tour too!