Oxford Literary Festival

The Mercury Fountain stands in the centre of the Great Quadrangle, commonly Tom Quad, at Christ Church, Oxford, England. The third statue to stand at the site, it was donated in 1928. The figure of Mercury, Roman god of business, communication, divination, eloquence, gain, luck, thieves, travellers, and trickery, is modelled on a 16th-century statue by Giambologna. The large basin in which the statue stands is earlier, from the 1670s. The statue's pedestal is by Sir Edwin Lutyens and dates from 1935. The fountain is a Grade I listed structure.

The Great Quadrangle, more popularly known as Tom Quad, is one of the quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, England. It is the largest college quad in Oxford, measuring 264 by 261 feet. Although it was begun by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525–1529, he was unable to complete it before his fall from power. Wolsey planned a cloister, but only the starts of the arches on the walls, and of the supports jutting into the lawn were done; these can still be seen around the quadrangle. The main entrance was also left incomplete, and it is not known how the gatehouse was planned to look. After some 150 years, the gatehouse was completed in 1681–1682 with Tom Tower, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, when John Fell was Dean. A statue of Queen Anne on Tom Tower overlooks the main entrance to the Quad. The quad is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England.

Christ Church War Memorial Garden is a garden in Oxford, England, created in 1926 to commemorate the First World War.The war memorial garden, in memory of members of Christ Church, Oxford, one of the Oxford colleges, is located east off St Aldate's at the western end of Broad Walk, which leads along the northern edge of Christ Church Meadows. To the north is Christ Church with a view of Tom Tower above its main entrance, also on St Aldate's. There is an inscription in the paving of the path through the garden with a quotation from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.Post Second World War development planned for central Oxford included a relief road passing through the northern edge of Christ Church Meadow along the route of Broad Walk and joining the district of St Ebbe's, via the location of the garden. The proposal was defeated after vigorous opposition.

Christ Church (Latin: Ædes Christi, the temple or house, ædēs, of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniquely a joint foundation of the university and the cathedral of the Oxford diocese, Christ Church Cathedral, which also serves as the college chapel and whose dean is ex officio the college head. As of 2022, Christ Church had the largest financial endowment of any Oxford college at £770 million. As of 2022, the college had 661 students. Its grounds contain a number of architecturally significant buildings including Tom Tower (designed by Sir Christopher Wren), Tom Quad (the largest quadrangle in Oxford), and the Great Dining Hall, which was the seat of the parliament assembled by King Charles I during the English Civil War. The buildings have inspired replicas throughout the world in addition to being featured in films such as Harry Potter and The Golden Compass, helping Christ Church become the most popular Oxford college for tourists with almost half a million visitors annually. The college's alumni include 13 British prime ministers out of the 30 educated at Oxford (the highest number of any college at Oxford or Cambridge), as well as former prime ministers of Pakistan and Ceylon. Other notable alumni include King Edward VII, King William II of the Netherlands, the founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, seventeen archbishops, writers Lewis Carroll (author of Alice in Wonderland) and W. H. Auden, philosopher John Locke, and scientist Robert Hooke. Albert Einstein was also associated with the college. The college has several cities and places named after it.

The Canterbury Quadrangle is one of the quadrangles of Christ Church, Oxford, England. It stands on the site of the former Canterbury College.On the west side is Christ Church Library, whose north façade completes the four sides of Peckwater Quadrangle. On the east side is Canterbury Gate with access to Oriel Square and Merton Street. The Christ Church Picture Gallery is accessed through staircase 4 in the south range, originally designed to house the college's most noble undergraduates. Designed by Philip Powell & Hidalgo Moya in 1968, the exterior of the Picture Gallery cannot be seen from within Canterbury Quadrangle, as it is partially sunk into the Deanery garden behind.The original quadrangle was created 1632 to 1636 by a group of masons from London led by John Jackson and Robert White.Canterbury Quadrangle was redesigned by the architect James Wyatt (1746–1813), in a style similar to the neighbouring Peckwater Quadrangle, and was completed in 1783. The money needed to build the quadrangle was donated to the college by Richard Robinson, 1st Baron Rokeby, Archbishop of Armagh. The quad is Grade I listed. As an undergraduate at Christ Church from 1828, future Prime Minister, William Gladstone lived in a "leisured set" in Canterbury Quadrangle.

Tom Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England, named after its bell, Great Tom. It is over Tom Gate, on St Aldates, the main entrance of Christ Church, Oxford, which leads into Tom Quad. This square tower with an octagonal lantern and facetted ogee dome was designed by Christopher Wren and built 1681–82. The strength of Oxford architectural tradition and Christ Church's connection to its founder, Henry VIII, motivated the decision to complete the gatehouse structure, left unfinished by Cardinal Wolsey at the date of his fall from power in 1529, and which had remained roofless since. Wren made a case for working in a Late Gothic style—that it "ought to be Gothick to agree with the Founders worke"—a style that had not been seen in a prominent building for a hundred and fifty years, making Tom Tower a lonely precursor of the Gothic Revival that got underway in the mid-18th century. Wren never came to supervise the structure as it was being erected by the stonemason he had recommended, Christopher Kempster of Burford. In 1732–34, when William Kent was called upon to make sympathetic reconstruction of the east range of Clock Court in Wolsey's Tudor Hampton Court Palace, he naturally turned to the precedent of Tom Tower for his "central ogee dome with its coronet of pilaster-like gothick finials". The tower of Dunster House at Harvard University is a direct imitation of Tom Tower, though its details have been Georgianised, and stones from Christ Church are installed in one of the house's main entryways. Tom Tower was the inspiration for the Clock Tower (formally the Old Arts Building) at the University of Auckland.

The Blue Boar Quadrangle is a mid-century quadrangle within Christ Church, University of Oxford. Designed by Hidalgo Moya and Philip Powell, and built between 1965 and 1968, the quadrangle has been described by Lord McIntosh of Haringey as "one of the best buildings of its kind during the expansion of higher education". Since 17 October 2006, the quadrangle has held the classification of being Grade II* listed, due to the unique nature of its 1960s architecture. The quadrangle is primarily used to house Christ Church's first year undergraduates. It is located just to the south of the historic Blue Boar Street, off St Aldate's, hence the name. Blue Boar underwent a substantial renovation from 2007 to 2008, resulting in the conversion of all rooms to modern en-suites.

Blue Boar Street is a narrow historic street running between St Aldate's to the west and the southern end of Alfred Street to the east, in central Oxford, England. It is located just north of Christ Church. At the western end is the Museum of Oxford and the Town Hall to the north. The Bear is a historic public house located on the north side of Blue Boar Street on the corner with Alfred Street. A unique feature is a large collection of short lengths of tie displayed on its walls and ceiling. To the south is Christ Church, one of the largest Oxford colleges. Behind an old wall on Blue Boar Street are the modern 1960s buildings of the Blue Boar Quadrangle in the college, named after Blue Boar Street. In 2006, this was Grade II* listed. The street was formerly known as Tresham('s) Lane. Blewebore Inn, once owned by King Henry III, was located here, hence the current name. The Blue Boar Inn was demolished in 1893 for the building of the Oxford Public Library, later the Museum of Oxford.

St Aldate's () is a street in central Oxford, England, named after Saint Aldate, but formerly known as Fish Street.The street runs south from the generally acknowledged centre of Oxford at Carfax. The Town Hall, which includes the Museum of Oxford, is on the east side of the street. Christ Church, with its imposing Tom Tower, faces the east end of St Aldate's, while Pembroke College (on Pembroke Square) faces its west end. Other adjoining streets include Blue Boar Street to the east side and Pembroke Street, Pembroke Square, Brewer Street, Rose Place, and Speedwell Street to the west. St Aldate's Church is on the west side of the street, in Pembroke Square. Opposite Christ Church is Alice's Shop, formerly frequented by Alice Liddell, and the model for the Sheep Shop in the "Wool and Water" chapter in Through the Looking-Glass. South of Christ Church is an entrance to Christ Church Meadow and, still on the east side, the University of Oxford's Faculty of Music, containing the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments; the building was opened in 1936 for St Catherine's Society. Oxford's police station (designed by H. F. Hurcombe, the City Estates Surveyor, and completed in 1936) and the Oxford Combined Court Centre (designed by Henry Smith and completed in 1932) opposite precede a junction with Thames Street to the west. The police station was featured in the Inspector Morse television series. After Folly Bridge over the River Thames or Isis, St Aldate's enters Grandpont and becomes Abingdon Road (A4144), leading directly south out of the city of Oxford towards the Oxford Ring Road and the villages of Kennington & Radley and the town of Abingdon.

Vine Hall was an academic hall of the University of Oxford, located on Alfred Street in the 16th century. It became a part of the Peckwater Quadrangle of Christ Church, Oxford. The building gave its name to the previous name for Alfred Street, particularly the southwards continuation of it; Vine Hall Lane. Some have said that the current name Alfred Street is of unknown aetiology and pointless, and the street should be renamed Vine Hall Lane. It was previously known as St Edward's Lane, but the name Vine Hall Lane was in use by 1576.Vine Hall, together with Peckwater's Inn and the smaller and older Brid Hall and Maiden Hall were given to Christ Church by King Henry VIII in 1547. It once housed a famous grammar school where John Leland taught.It was a hall of civil lawyers in the 16th century.

Christ Church Library is a Georgian building that forms the south side of Peckwater Quadrangle in Christ Church, Oxford, England. To the east is Canterbury Quadrangle. The library houses the college's modern lending library and early printed books on two floors.

The Bear (historically associated with The Bear Inn) is a pub in Oxford, England, that was founded in 1774 as The Jolly Trooper. It stands on the corner of Alfred Street and Blue Boar Street, opposite Bear Lane in the centre of Oxford, just north of Christ Church, on the site of St Edward's churchyard. It was converted from the early 17th century residence of the stableman (ostler) for the coaching inn, The Bear Inn, which was on the High Street, Oxford. When The Bear Inn was converted into private housing in 1801, The Jolly Trooper changed its name to The Bear (or The Bear Inn). There is a claim that by adopting its name, the current (1774) Bear Inn has acquired the history of the pub on the High Street, and so is one of the oldest pubs in Oxford. In 1952 the then landlord, Alan Course, started a collection of tie ends; a selection of the over 4,500 ties are on display around the pub. The tie collection was used as part of the plot of Colin Dexter's novel Death Is Now My Neighbour, in which Inspector Morse consults the landlord in order to identify a club tie. The building was Class II listed in January 1954. The documented history of the site on the High Street has been traced to 1241, when Lady Christina Pady bequeathed the property to St Frideswide's Priory in return for having a private mass said for her for eternity; at that time it had a dwelling house, later called Parn Hall, but this burned down in 1421. There is evidence of an inn, Le Tabard, in existence by 1432 in addition to a neighbouring piece of land with shops at the rear. It was known as The Bear Inn by 1457, and by 1523 the land at the rear was part of the pub's property; it contained stables for the coaching horses, and was bounded to the south by St Edward's churchyard. During the Dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541 the priory was taken over by Thomas Wolsey, who created Christ Church on the grounds, and the "eternal" masses for Christina Pady ceased. In the early 17th century a dwelling for the pub stableman was built over St Edward's churchyard, and this dwelling was converted in 1774 to the present day pub, with evidence of skeletons from the churchyard still in the cellar. The Mitchells & Butlers pub, All Bar One on 124 High Street, along with the neighbouring shop, 123, now occupies the site of the original Bear Inn on the High Street.