The Myrmidon Club is a dining club elected from the members of Merton College, Oxford , and with a continuous history exceeding 150 years. Until recently, the club was single-sex, and an equivalent club for women, named the Myrmaids , was established following the college's decision to admit women students in 1980. It is now a mixed-gender society.
19-511: Founded in 1865, it is one of the handful of such clubs with an almost continuous existence from the second half of the 19th century. In the earlier years of its existence it had its own rooms off the High . Describing Lord Randolph Churchill 's membership of the Club towards the end of the 1860s, T.H.S. Escott wrote: L. E. Jones in his memoir described a dinner which (as a member of Balliol) he attended as
38-602: A guest in his first term. He drank 24 glasses of port, was rescued from the shrubbery and was carried to bed by his friends: The club takes its name from the legendary warriors commanded by Achilles , as described in Homer's Iliad . The Club has storage facilities in College, but in common with similar college dining societies is intermittently out of favour with the college authorities. Its colours are purple, gold and silver. Members wear ties with stripes of these colours. The Club
57-602: A member of staff in 1856. Taunt later returned to 41 High Street after the lease for his own shop premises in Broad Street expired in 1894. 83 High Street bears a blue plaque (10 October 2001) commemorating Sarah Cooper (1848–1932) marmalade maker, wife of Frank Cooper whose shop at 83–84 High Street was the origin of the Frank Cooper jam business (a brand now owned by Premier Foods ). The company made " Oxford Marmalade " famous. In June 1879, George Claridge Druce (also
76-456: A noted botanist and later mayor of the city) moved to Oxford and set up a chemist's shop, Druce & Co., at 118 High Street. This continued until his death 1932. The Old Bank Hotel was the first new hotel for 135 years in the centre of Oxford. Quod Restaurant & Bar is also part of the hotel, located between the junctions with Oriel Street and Logic Lane . The architectural critic Nikolaus Pevsner wrote in 1974 that "The High Street
95-492: Is also the site of another famous (probably apocryphal) story. An American tourist is said to have entered Lincoln College and asked the porter: "Say buddy, is this Jesus?" To which the porter replied: "Typical Yank; thinks Lincoln was Jesus." Turl Street Wanderers FC is a football club playing in the London Football League Sunday PM Premier Division. For the first four years of its existence
114-484: Is however disputed with 'The Grand Café' Coffee House, which claims that it was established in 1650 and stands opposite Queen's Lane coffee house. Despite an influx of chain stores in nearby Cornmarket Street , the High is home to a number of specialist independent retailers. These include Shepherd & Woodward (University outfitters), Payne & Son (goldsmiths), Sanders of Oxford (print sellers) and Waterfield's Books. To
133-500: Is located in the city centre, linking Broad Street at the north and High Street at the south. It intersects with Brasenose Lane to the east, and Market Street and Ship Street to the west. These streets link Turl Street to the busy Cornmarket , and to the iconic Radcliffe Square . It is colloquially known as The Turl and is home to three of the University of Oxford 's historic colleges: Exeter , Lincoln and Jesus . It meets
152-595: Is one of the world's great streets. It has everything." He may have been echoing Thomas Hardy 's comment in Jude the Obscure : "And there's a street in the place – the main street – that ha'n't another like it in the world." The following streets, also of historical significance, are off the High Street: The Turl Turl Street is a historic street in central Oxford , England. The street
171-664: Is thought to be the model for the Junta, the fictional club in Max Beerbohm 's Zuleika Dobson , of which the Duke of Dorset was for some time the sole member. Beerbohm was himself Honorary Secretary of the Myrmidons. High Street, Oxford The High Street in Oxford , England, known locally as the High , runs between Carfax , generally seen as the centre of the city, and Magdalen Bridge to
190-494: The High Street by the early 18th century All Saints church, which has been Lincoln College's library since the 1970s. Turl Street was called St Mildred's Street in 1363, but was known as Turl Gate Street by the mid-17th century. It acquired this name from a twirling gate (demolished in 1722) which was in a postern in the city wall. The part to the south of Ship Street was known as Lincoln College Lane in 1751. Originally
209-638: The Turl came to an abrupt halt at its junction with Ship Street, where it reached the city wall and the twirling gate. By 1551, it was extended by a path (known as "The path leading from the Hole in the Wall") to reach what is now Broad Street, and in 1722 the gate was removed altogether. The Turl has been closed to traffic (except for access) since 1985. A rising bollard , installed by the Oxford City Council , cuts it off in
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#1732851765243228-455: The east. The street has been described by Nikolaus Pevsner as " one of the world's great streets ". It forms a gentle curve and is the subject of many prints, paintings, photographs, etc. The looking west towards Carfax with University College on the left and The Queen's College on the right is an especially popular view. There are many historical buildings on the street, including the University of Oxford buildings and colleges. Locally
247-816: The middle. As well as the three Turl Street colleges, the street houses several shops, including an Oxfam bookshop, one jewellery shop, a café, a stationery shop (Scriptum Fine Stationery), a whisky shop, a wine shop (located on the site of the traditional shoe shop Ducker & Son ) and the traditional gentleman's tailors, Walters of Oxford . 16 Turl Street was the site of one of the first Indian restaurants in England outside London, opened in 1937 by an Indian-born law student; Bir Bahadur, who having established an Indian restaurant in London (The Kohinoor in Roper Street), moved to Oxford and opened his second. The exotic decorations of
266-453: The north at the western end between Cornmarket and the Turl is the historic traditional Covered Market , established in 1774. William Henry Butler , later Mayor of Oxford , was a wine merchant with premises in the High Street during the early 19th century. Edward Bracher , a pioneering Victorian photographer, had a shop at 26 High Street. Henry Taunt , another photographer, joined him as
285-529: The restaurant were recalled by Kenneth Tynan , who was a regular diner, in his diaries The Taj Mahal closed in 1992. The building then went on to be a number of different restaurants, before becoming the QI Building ("QI Oxford") (associated with the Quite Interesting television series), a private members club, in the autumn of 2004. In May 2007 the building was purchased by Curious Group, who enlarged
304-551: The restaurant. Turl Street Kitchen later closed and the Hub relocated to Little Clarendon Street . The Turl Street colleges also have student housing above and around many of these shops. Turl Street is the subject of an obscure ecclesiastical joke, based on its location. "How is the Church of England like Turl Street? It runs from the High to the Broad and it bypasses Jesus ." Turl Street
323-784: The south are (west to east): Oriel College , University College (including the Boyle-Hooke plaque outside the Shelley Memorial ), the Examination Schools , the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art , the Eastgate Hotel (at the original entrance to the city) and the Botanic Garden . Queen's Lane Coffee House (at the junction with Queen's Lane ) was established in 1654 and was probably Oxford's first coffee house . This title
342-604: The street is often known as "The High". To the north are (west to east): Lincoln College (main entrance on Turl Street , including All Saints Church , now Lincoln College's library.), Brasenose College (main entrance in Radcliffe Square ), St Mary's (the University Church), All Souls College , The Queen's College , St Edmund Hall (main entrance in Queen's Lane ) and Magdalen College (including Magdalen Tower ). To
361-516: The venue to include a former Millets shop next door at no. 17 and renamed it Corner Club. Corner Club closed in December 2009 after failing to agree a new lease with the building owner; Oxford City Council . From 2011, 16-17 was occupied by the Hub, a centre for Oxford student volunteers, and the Turl Street Kitchen. Profits from Turl Street Kitchen funded the Hub, located in the rooms above
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