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Home / Living here / Where you will live / Undergraduate accommodation

Undergraduate accommodation

We’re very proud to be able to offer accommodation to every undergraduate who wishes to ‘live in’ for the duration of their studies, despite the small size of our main college site.

View of a square kitchen, with white units on three sides including a sink, hob and oven. There is a window and red splash-backs.
First-year shared kitchen in Holywell Quad
Two students are casually sat on a raised bed with a third student sat in a red armchair. They are laughing.
First-year bedroom with under-bed storage

 

Students have been living on Catte Street for over seven centuries, and today our main college site is a quirky mixture of buildings and architectural styles. Although ‘living in’ isn’t compulsory beyond your first year, most of our students choose to live in college properties throughout their time at Hertford. The great advantage of this is that you only need to pay rent for the time you spend in Oxford – usually around half the year. You’ll need to empty your room at the end of every term, but this is not unique to Hertford – most other colleges use student rooms for interview candidates and guests during vacations too.
HERTFORD COLLEGE LIVING COSTS

First-year accommodation

As a fresher, you’ll be allocated a room on our main college site in the heart of Oxford. All of our main site rooms cost the same price, so the allocation is random, and automatic, and you’ll find out which room is yours when you arrive at the start of your first term.

First-years live in New Buildings (NB) Quad and Holywell Quad. There are 50 student bedrooms in NB Quad, and this is also where you can find the Junior Common Room (JCR), laundry room and bar. Next to NB Quad, Holywell houses 70 bedrooms in a mix of 18th-century houses and purpose-built accommodation. This is where you’ll find the temporary library (while the library in OB quad undergoes construction).

Across both quads, there are plenty of bathrooms and kitchenettes which our students share. As our accommodation is maintained by housekeepers called scouts, these shared spaces are regularly cleaned. We’ve recently refurbished Holywell Quad to a high standard, with new furniture and decoration.

Student accommodation building
New Buildings Quad
A student bedroom featuring a bed, desk, shelves and leaded widow.
Holywell Quad bedroom

 

A student bedroom with a dormer ceiling line. There is a bed and desk and a window.
Holywell Quad bedroom
An open door with the words 'shower and toilet' painted on it. Through the door there is a sink, toilet and shower.
Holywell Quad bathroom

Second-year and beyond

In the subsequent years of your course, you’ll be able to live in South Oxford or North Oxford. South Oxford consists of annexes at Folly Bridge (with some ensuites available), Abingdon House and Warnock House as well as houses on Abingdon Rd and Western Rd. North Oxford consists of historic townhouses on Banbury Rd.  We have a small number of rooms on the main site available for upper year students. You room choice is determined by a random ballot, with older years picking first.

A building with a glass tower is in the background. In the foreground is a bridge across a river.
Folly Bridge accommodation
A kitchen with grey and purple units, a hob, oven, toaster, microwave and fridge.
Shared kitchen in Warnock House

 

Student bedroom with desk and armchair
Warnock House bedroom
Student accommodation building
Abingdon House accommodation

South Oxford

Just south of the River Thames, the area of Grandpont is home to many of our students in second year and above. There are lots of cycle and running paths nearby, along the river and through the beautiful Christ Church Meadow. Our south Oxford annexes are only a 10-15 minute walk from the main college site, and the rest of Oxford can be easily reached on foot, bike or the regular buses.

  • Abingdon House

    On Abingdon Road, just south of the river, Abingdon House provides 65 single bedrooms in a combination of historic townhouses and purpose-built accommodation, where our students share bathrooms and kitchens. This annexe is just 1.2km from the main college site. We also own several townhouses adjacent to Abingdon House on Western Road and Abingdon Road. These houses provide single bedrooms and each has shared bathrooms and kitchens.

  • Folly Bridge

    This purpose-built accommodation opened in 2000 and provides 85 en-suite bedrooms with showers and toilets around a central courtyard. It’s situated right on the river and has great views across Christ Church Meadow. There are plenty of kitchens and a common room to share.

  • Warnock House

    Geoffrey & Mary Warnock House are purpose-built accommodation annexes at the bottom of St Aldate’s, adjacent to the River Thames and just a kilometre from the main college site. There are around 70 single bedrooms here, sharing bathrooms and kitchens. There is a reading room in Geoffrey Warnock, open to all students in South Oxford to use.

North Oxford

Our college UG houses are located in Park Town, on Banbury Rd, a 15minute walk of the main college site. Students in second year and above live in the these properties, which are popular with our science students thanks to their proximity to the University’s science departments and labs.

  • Park Town

    Park Town is a beautiful 19th-century suburb just north of the city centre near to University Parks, where there are over 70 acres of open parkland, popular jogging routes, and the meandering River Cherwell. The independent shops and pubs of North Parade Avenue are a popular feature of the area too. Hertford owns two neighbouring Victorian houses on Banbury Road, just a 15-minute walk from the main college site. Here we have plenty of bathrooms, kitchens and laundry facilities for our students to share.

     

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