Bridge of Sighs
Hertford College's skyway over New College Lane, completed in 1914 and known as the Bridge of Sighs.
The best photograph is taken from Catte Street looking east as the bridge rises against the Bodleian — early morning before the tour groups arrive. The arch beneath leads down New College Lane to the city’s quietest medieval lane and Halley’s house.
The Bridge of Sighs is the popular name for Hertford Bridge, which carries Hertford College across New College Lane as a skyway. It ties the college's Old and New Quadrangles together, and Sir Thomas Jackson designed much of what you see today. The bridge was completed in 1914 even though New College had opposed building it. It is Grade II listed.
The name is usually put down to a supposed likeness to the better-known Bridge of Sighs in Venice.
A well-known legend holds that a student health survey found Hertford's undergraduates the heaviest in Oxford, so the college shut the bridge to send them up the stairs instead. It is a false legend: the stair-count works out the other way, with fewer stairs climbed by those who skip the crossing.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
