Turl Street

Turl Street is an historic street in central Oxford, England.

The street 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, Jesus and Lincoln. It meets 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 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 the middle.

While it is dominated by the three Turl Street colleges, the street houses several shops, including a sports shop, a bar and restaurant (the Turl Street Kitchen), a costume shop, an Oxfam bookshop, two jewellery shops, a cafe, a stationery shop, a leather goods shop, a whisky shop, the traditional shoe shop Ducker & Son and the traditional gentleman's tailors, Walters of Oxford. The site now occupied by the Turl Street Kitchen was once the QI Building ("QI Oxford") (associated with the Quite Interesting television series).

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