Oxford: City and University

Oxford was an amazing town full of wonderful universities and stunning architecture. The town itself was founded in the 9th century and began to host scholars and to build up the universities as early as the end of the 12th century. A few of the older buildings still survive along with the rituals and traditions that had been developed within them. These older buildings that are still used have been converted into churches, classrooms and flats but there has also been almost continual building since the universities foundation. The history and the age of the buildings add an air of beauty and romance during the day but at night the buildings, alleys and roads can turn eerie and frightening with its winding streets hiding objects from view. The city of Oxford and the universities have also produced cascades of successful and powerful people and with this power and success inevitably comes secrets and mystery. While there are many Prime Ministers and Noble Peace Prize winners that have graduated from the universities the figure that is significant to us is Dorothy Sayers. Dorothy was born in Oxford and also graduated from Somerville College, Oxford. These experiences added to her mystery novels, like Gaudy Night, in which she used her vast knowledge and understanding of academic life within Oxford to solve a mystery. Oxford being the setting gave the novel some gothic undertones that mysteries should have if at all possible. These gothic undertones were mostly from setting being a really old college.