Hertford College
- 279400
- Catte Street
- OX1 3BW
- hertford.ox.ac.uk
Famous for having a bridge linking two of the quads, named and styled after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Also has a cat called Simpkins, the third of that name (or similar: the original was "Simpkin") following a tradition started in the 1970s by Geoffrey and Mary Warnock when he was Principal of the College. The current Simpkins has been observed slipping over the wall to terrorise not only the cat of the nearby Turf Tavern (called Louvois, after someone famous of the same name) but also the New College cat as well.
Hert is an acceptable spelling of 'hart', an oldish word for a stag (Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind. --Milton). In fact, Hertford was originally founded as Hart Hall by Elias de Hertford around 1282. An ambitious scheme to incorporte Hart Hall as a full college of the University failed in the eighteenth century, and the institution went into a decline. It was eventually dissolved, and the site and buildings taken over by [Magdalen Hall]?. In 1874, however, thanks to a benefaction from Sir Thomas Baring, the college was recreated as Hertford College by Act of Parliament.
Notable former students include