List of fictional Oxford colleges
Fictional 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''
's His Dark Materials novels feature a number of fictional Oxford colleges, most notably Jordan College, including:- 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
T=TV series
| Name | Source | Details | Filmed | - |
| Alfreda's College | Endeavour T: "Fugue" | Trinity | - | |
| Arnold College | Inspector Morse T | - | ||
| Baidley College | Endeavour T: "Home" | Last episode of Season 1 | Keble | - |
| Beaufort College | Inspector Morse T; Endeavour T: "Girl" | Named after Henry Beaufort, a Plantagenet royal and 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. 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 | - | |
| Chaucer College | Lewis | Based on Merton College. Named after Geoffrey Chaucer, whose son Thomas also managed the affairs of Henry Beaufort, Oxford's Chancellor. | - | |
| Courtenay College | Inspector Morse T | Based on 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. The "Invisible College" was a group of Oxford scientists who went on to establish the Royal Society. The group met at Gresham College in London. | - | |
| Hescott College | Endeavour T: "Confection" | Oriel | - | |
| Lady Matilda's College | Lewis episode "Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things"; Endeavour episode "Home" | Amalgamation of Lady Margaret Hall and St Hilda's | Lady Margaret Hall | - |
| Lonsdale College | Inspector Morse novels and subsequent Lewis T | College attended by Endeavour Morse. | Brasenose | - |
| Lovelace College | Endeavour TV series; "Game", the first episode of Season 4 | St Catherine's | - | |
| Mayfield College | Lewis episode "Life Born of Fire" | Mayfield Press is based in Cowley Road; the nearest college would be 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 Exterior of college filmed at New College, with a barn entrance in New College Lane. | St Edmund Hall and Christ Church | - |
| St Jude's College | Lewis episode "Generation of Vipers" | date=November 2021''Jude the Obscure'''s novel Jude the Obscure is set in Christminster, "Wessex", a thinly fictionalised version of Oxford, and mentions the following colleges of Christminster University:
Fictional library
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