List of fictional Oxford colleges

Fictional colleges are found in many modern novels, films, and other works of fiction, probably because they allow the author greater licence for invention and a reduced risk of being accused of libel, as might happen if the author depicted unsavory events as occurring at a real-life institution. Below is a list of some of the fictional colleges of the University of Oxford.

His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials novels feature a number of fictional Oxford colleges, most notably Jordan College, including:
 * Broadgates Hall College
 * Cardinal's College
 * Foxe College
 * Gabriel College
 * Jordan College
 * Queen Philippa's College
 * St Michael's College
 * St Scholastica's College
 * St Sophia's College
 * Wordsworth College
 * Wykeham College

Inspector Morse
The Inspector Morse series of books by Colin Dexter is predominantly set within Oxford and its environs, including the University. Consequently, many fictional colleges are named. The derived television series, Inspector Morse, Lewis and Endeavour, continued this practice.

T=TV series

Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure is set in Christminster, "Wessex", a thinly fictionalised version of Oxford, and mentions the following colleges of Christminster University:
 * Biblioll College (Balliol)
 * Cardinal College (Christ Church)
 * Crozier College (Oriel?)
 * Oldgate College (New College)
 * Rubric College (Brasenose?)
 * Sarcophagus College
 * Tudor College

Loss and Gain
Loss and Gain by St John Henry Newman tells the story of the conversion of Charles Reding, an Oxford student, to Catholicism. In the novel, Newman creates the following colleges:


 * Saint Saviour's (the college of the main character, Charles Reding)
 * All Saints
 * Leicester College
 * Nun's Hall

Fictional library

 * In Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series, Oxford's Bodleian Library has a secret part, known and accessible only to practitioners of Magic and containing among other things the secret writings of Isaac Newton on this subject.