The Randolph looking down Beaumont Street

Beaumont Street is a street in the centre of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The street was laid out from 1828 to 1837 with elegant terraced houses in the Regency style. Before that, it was the location of

Beaumont Palace Beaumont Palace, built outside the north gate of Oxford, was intended by Henry I about 1130 to serve as a royal palace conveniently close to the royal hunting-lodge at Woodstock (now part of the park of Blenheim Palace). Its former presence is ...

, now noted by a plaque near the junction with Walton Street.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

considered it "''the finest street ensemble of Oxford.''"

Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

(reigned 6 July 1189 – 6 April 1199) and

John, King of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin Empi ...

who succeeded him (reigned 6 April 1199 – 19 October 1216), both sons of

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

, were born at

in Oxford on 8 September 1157 and 24 December 1166 respectively. At the western end is

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

and the junction with Walton Street to the north and Worcester Street to the south. Halfway along to the north is St John Street. To the south is the

Oxford Playhouse Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F.G.M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road, North Oxfor ...

, designed by Sir

Edward Maufe Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe, Royal Academy, RA, FRIBA (12 December 1882 – 12 December 1974) was an English architect and designer. He built private homes as well as commercial and institutional buildings, and is remembered chiefly for his ...

and built in 1938, where many

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

productions are held. To the north at the eastern end is the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

. Opposite the eastern end is the

Martyrs' Memorial The Martyrs' Memorial is a stone monument positioned at the intersection of St Giles' Street, Oxford, St Giles', Magdalen Street and Beaumont Street, to the west of Balliol College, Oxford, England. It commemorates the 16th-century Oxford Mar ...

. Here, Beaumont Street adjoins St Giles' to the north and

Magdalen Street Magdalen Street is a short shopping street in central Oxford, England, just north of the original north gate in the city walls. Traditionally, the name of the street is pronounced and not as the name of the Magdalen College, which is always ...

to the south. Oxford's foremost hotel, the Randolph, is on the corner with Magdalen Street, designed by William Wilkinson in the

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style and built in 1864. An extension was added in 1952 to the west, designed by J. Hopgood. The Institute of Archaeology, part of the

School of Archaeology The School of Archaeology is an academic department of the University of Oxford comprising the Institute of Archaeology and the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), and is part of Oxford's Social Sciences Division ...

in the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, was established in 1962 and is located at 36 Beaumont Street. In poem "Wherefrom",

Francis William Bourdillon Francis William Bourdillon (22 March 1852 at Runcorn, Cheshire, England – 13 January 1921 at Buddington, Midhurst) was a British poet and translator. He is known also as a bibliophile. Life Born at Trinity Parsonage, Halton Road, Runcorn, Ches ...

a British poet and translator wrote about Beaumont Street legend: ''Just at the end of Beaumont Street,''
''In front of Worcester walls,''
''Strange shrieks of woe the passer greet,''
''As every footstep falls.'' The street is a favoured location for

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

s and

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

s.33 Beaumont Street — Specialist Dental Practice, Oxford

Gallery

File:WorcesterCollegeTHShepherdEarly19thc edited.jpg, A 19th-century print of the main entrance of

, which faces down Beaumont Street at the western end. File:Beaumont Palace plaque.jpg, The plaque noting the site of

. File:Ashmolean.jpg, The

main entrance on the north side of Beaumont Street. File:OxfordPlayhouse.jpg, The

entrance on the south side of Beaumont Street.

References

External links

Oxford Guide information
{{coord , 51.7550, -1.2608, region:GB, display=title 1828 establishments in England Streets in Oxford Art gallery districts Worcester College, Oxford