Wellington Square is a

garden square A garden square is a type of communal garden in an urban area wholly or substantially surrounded by buildings; commonly, it continues to be applied to public and private parks formed after such a garden becomes accessible to the public at large. ...

in central

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, a continuation northwards of St John Street. In the centre of the square is a small park, Wellington Square Gardens, owned by the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. A bicycle route passes into

Little Clarendon Street Little Clarendon Street is a short shopping street in northwest Oxford, England. It runs east-west between the south end of Woodstock Road opposite St Giles' Church to the east, Somerville College to the north and Walton Street to the west ...

through the pedestrian area at the front of the University Offices in the north-east of the square. The street name is used to refer

metonymically Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as salespe ...

to the

central administration Central administration is the leading or presiding body over an organization and the highest administrative department which oversees all lower departments. Education In most cases, a school or school district will have a leading group of people ...

of the University of Oxford, which in 1975 moved from the

Clarendon Building The Clarendon Building is an early 18th-century Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building of the University of Oxford. It is in Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street, Oxford, England, next to the Bodleian Library and the Sheldonian Theatre an ...

to new buildings with an address in the square but built at that time, along with graduate student accommodation, along the adjacent

. In May 2024, 16 students were arrested in the administration offices during a sit-in protest for Palestine, part of the wider Oxford Action For Palestine movement. The university's Department for Continuing Education is in the square in Rewley House, which was designed in 1872 by the Oxford architect E. G. Bruton, who also laid out the square. This was the initial location of

Kellogg College Kellogg College is a graduate-only constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1990 as Rewley House, Kellogg is the university's 36th college and the largest by number of students both full and part-time. Named after ...

. Number 47 houses the administrative offices of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, as well as the university's Slavic and Modern Greek collections. Barnett House (named after the social reformer

Canon Samuel Barnett Samuel Augustus Barnett (8 February 1844 – 17 June 1913) was a Church of England cleric and social reformer who was particularly associated with the establishment of the first university settlement, Toynbee Hall, in east London in 1884. H ...

and his wife Henrietta), home of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention is found along one side of the square. The

Oxford University Broadcasting Society The Oxford University Broadcasting Society (OUBS) was a student society at the University of Oxford, England. It covered radio and television broadcasting. The officers include a president, secretary, treasurer, programme coordinator, technical di ...

used a studio of Radio Oxford in the square.

Palestinian protests and occupation

On 23 May, protesters occupied the office building of Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey, overlooking Wellington Square, hanging a Palestinian flag and list of demands out of an office window.

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley region, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in South East England. It is the largest non-metropolitan police force ...

made an initial 16 arrests on suspicion of aggravated trespass, and one on suspicion of common assault, after the university authorities called the police. A 17th arrest was later made. The university reported that at least 12 of those arrested were current students. According to a protester, they agreed to leave when police said they would be arrested if they did not, but they were arrested anyway. They were released on conditional bail that night.

References

Squares in Oxford Parks and open spaces in Oxford Kellogg College, Oxford {{Oxfordshire-geo-stub