ALL SOULS COLLEGE, Oxford

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ALL SOULS COLLEGE, Oxford

All Souls College, Oxford, was founded by Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry VI in 1438.  It doesn’t have any students.  Its purpose is to allow graduate fellows to undertake further studies and pray for the souls of all the faithful departed.  The entrance exam is said to be one of the hardest in the world and is followed up with an interview.  Past fellows include Christopher Wren, TE Lawrence, Leo Amery, Cosmo Lang, AL Rowse, Keith Joseph and John Redwood. Many college buildings, including the chapel, date from 15th and 16th centuries. The Codrington Library was completed in 1751.

Every hundred years, All Souls holds the ritual of 'hunting the mallard', in commemoration of the chase after a huge wild duck which flew from a drain during 15th-century building works. Archbishop Chichele is said to have had a premonition about the duck in a dream - as you do. The last commemoration took place in 2001, late at night and allegedly after much drinking and eating, when some of the finest minds in the world marched around their college behind a wooden duck held aloft on a pole.

Region/Nation
Location/Address
Catte Street
Oxford
County
Oxfordshire
Post Code
OX1 4AL
Main Historic Period
Medieval
Useful Website Address
Tip/Nearby
Oxford City Centre, near the Sheldonian
Primary Management
Educational establishment

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