Christ Church College | College History and University Clothing

Christ Church was founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII. It is one of the larger colleges at the University with 629 students. It sits on 175 acres of land which includes the Christ Church Meadow. This is open to the public all year round which is inhabited by English Longhorn cattle.

Christ Church has a number of architecturally significant buildings including Tom Tower and Tom Quad and the Great Dining Hall. The buildings have inspired replicas throughout the world and have featured in films such as Harry Potter and The Golden Compass. This has helped Christ Church become the most popular Oxford college for tourists with almost half a million visitors annually

Christ Church additions have been made to the buildings through the centuries. To this day the bell in the tower, Great Tom, is rung 101 times at 9 pm, for the original scholars of the college. This used to be done at midnight, signalling the close of all college gates. Since it took 20 minutes to ring the 101 bells, Christ Church gates did not close until 12:20. When the ringing was moved to 9:00 pm, Christ Church gates still remained open until 12.20, 20 minutes later than any other college. 

This college has produced 13 British prime ministers out of the 28 educated at Oxford which is the highest number of any college at Oxford or Cambridge.

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