The establishment of the College, together with that of Wolfson (originally Iffley) College, arose out of pressure on the University during the early 1960s to solve the related problems of the increasing numbers of graduate students who needed a college affiliation, and the substantial number of senior members of the University with full-time teaching or research responsibilities who were entitled to a fellowship but had not been elected to a college.
Please click on the links below to read more about the different phases in the College's history, written by Professor Emilie Savage-Smith, FBA, Archivist and Former Fellow.
For further information on the College and its history, see:
• W. E. van Heyningen, The Founding of St Cross College, Oxford: An Interested Account (Oxford, 1988).
• Kenneth Hylson-Smith, David Sturdy & Brian Atkins, A History of St Giles and the St Cross College/Pusey House Site (Oxford, 1993).
• Kenneth Hylson-Smith, A History of Holywell and St Cross College/Brasenose College Residential Site (Oxford, 1996).
Or 'St Cross College at Fifty', published in 2015 to celebrate the College's 50th Anniversary. Please contact the Alumni Office to purchase a copy.
