MAGDALEN COLLEGE
Directions
Retrace your steps from Magdalen Bridge back towards the entrance gate of Magdalen College, marked by its stone porters’ lodge and crest.
There is a small admission fee; guided tours are highly recommended and are generally led by current students.
Allow at least 45 minutes for your visit.
Orientation cue: The entrance is just before the bridge on the south side of the High Street — look for the grand archway with the college shield overhead.
About
“Retrace your steps to the entrance of Magdalen. There is a small fee for visiting. It is highly recommended that you pay a little more for the guided tour. These tours are generally given by current students who can often take you into areas to which you would otherwise not be allowed. We also recommend that you purchase one of the guidebooks. It will give valuable information on Magdalen College. Allow at least 45 minutes to visit the college.”
Founded in 1458, Magdalen College (pronounced “Maud-lin”) is one of Oxford’s most architecturally perfect colleges, surrounded by deer park, meadows, and cloisters.
C.S. Lewis was elected a Fellow in 1925 and lived here until 1954, when he became Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge.
Visitors can explore the Cloisters, Chapel, Hall, Deer Park, and Addison’s Walk, all of which held deep meaning for Lewis and appear throughout his letters and fiction.
During term-time, choral evensong is held most evenings, continuing a tradition dating back more than five centuries.
