Dating its foundation to ‘about’ 1263, Balliol College claims to be the oldest college in Oxford, though its current buildings are largely 19th-century. Scorch marks on the huge Gothic wooden doors between its inner and outer quadrangles, however, supposedly date from the public burning of three Protestant bishops, including Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, in 1556.
Notable alumni include Prime Minister Boris Johnson, writers Gerard Manley Hopkins and Aldous Huxley, and three former British prime ministers.