England’s Best Views: Oxford, Radcliffe Square

published 22 July 2013

‘Oxford at the turn of the 18th century needed to attract the sons of the wealthy and the aristocratic, to become the "academy of the nation". For this, the university needed a central presence beyond the scatter of its component colleges.

The authorities commissioned Hawksmoor to propose what amounted to an academic campus. This would lie between the official university church of St Mary's on the High and the Sheldonian Theatre. It would encompass the old Bodleian library and a rebuilt Brasenose College. At its centre would be an open square with a column in the middle, a true "forum universitatis".

This vision was drastically altered in 1714 with the receipt of an enormous bequest of £40,000 from the royal doctor, John Radcliffe, for a university science library. The job of designing the domed Radcliffe Camera went to the young James Gibbs and it opened in 1748 '

Extracted from ‘England's 100 Best Views' by Simon Jenkins, to be published by Profile books in October 2013 (£25 hardback)

* Subscribe to Country Life from just £51

* Follow Country Life magazine on Twitter

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.