A glossary of Oxford

ashlar

Smooth-cut, finely jointed stone used in Oxford college facades.

Used in How to Read a Quadrangle

common land

Land with public access rights, historically grazed, not privately enclosed.

Used in Port Meadow Is the Best Free Hour in Oxford · Christ Church Meadow

herbarium

A collection of dried, pressed plant specimens mounted and labelled for study.

Used in The Small Collections

legal deposit library

A library entitled by law to receive a copy of every new publication in the country.

Used in The Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian

porters' lodge

Gatehouse office staffed around the clock controlling college entry.

Used in A First Day, Honestly Planned · How Oxford Is Laid Out · For Every Famous Thing, the Emptier One Nearby · When the Crowds Are and Aren't · Which Colleges You Can Actually Walk Into · How to Read a Quadrangle · The Half-Day Walk · The Covered Market

punt

Flat-bottomed boat pushed with a pole, common on the Cherwell.

Used in A First Day, Honestly Planned · How Oxford Is Laid Out · For Every Famous Thing, the Emptier One Nearby · The Half-Day Walk

quadrangle

Enclosed college courtyard, the basic spatial unit of an Oxford college.

Used in A First Day, Honestly Planned · How Oxford Is Laid Out · For Every Famous Thing, the Emptier One Nearby · When the Crowds Are and Aren't · Which Colleges You Can Actually Walk Into · How to Read a Quadrangle · The Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian · The Stone Itself · The Pitt Rivers Is Not Arranged the Way You Expect · The Ashmolean, Room by Room · The Museum of Natural History · The Half-Day Walk

spalling

When stone flakes away in thin sheets due to frost and water damage.

Used in The Stone Itself

term

Academic teaching periods when college access is most restricted.

Used in A First Day, Honestly Planned · For Every Famous Thing, the Emptier One Nearby · When the Crowds Are and Aren't · Which Colleges You Can Actually Walk Into · How to Read a Quadrangle · The Half-Day Walk · Where to Eat That Isn't on the High · Pubs Worth the Detour

Tower of the Five Orders

Architectural feature stacking all five classical column orders vertically.

Used in The Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian

towpath

The path running alongside a canal, originally for horses towing barges.

Used in The Oxford Canal

tsantsa

Shrunken head made by Shuar and Achuar peoples of the Amazon.

Used in The Pitt Rivers Is Not Arranged the Way You Expect

typological display

Objects arranged by type and function, not geographic or cultural origin.

Used in The Pitt Rivers Is Not Arranged the Way You Expect

A word of warning about one of them: term is the word that governs everything else. When the university is teaching, colleges close more of themselves more often — which is why every page here ends the same way. Check on the day, at the lodge.