All Souls College

Founded in 1438 by Archbishop Henry Chichele as a memorial to those killed in the Hundred Years' War, All Souls College holds a singular place at Oxford: it admits no undergraduate students, its membership consisting entirely of fellows. Admission to a Prize Fellowship is decided by an examination widely regarded as one of the most demanding intellectual tests anywhere — past fellows include figures such as T.E. Lawrence and Isaiah Berlin. The college's Gothic buildings enclose two quiet quadrangles, with a particularly ornate 18th-century North Quad designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Public access is restricted to Monday through Friday, 14:00–16:00, lending the college an atmosphere of scholarly seclusion that few Oxford institutions can match.