Freshers' Guide - Around College

Merton has everything you need to live a happy, clean (this is optional) and productive (again, optional) life. There's a map below, but you will soon know it inside-out anyway. Merton is arranged into quads – there's Mob Quad (the oldest quad in Oxford University – other Colleges imitated the design), Front Quad, St. Alban's Quad and Fellows' Quad. There are also the Grove building (not to be confused with Grove House), the Rose Lane buildings and North Lodge at the other end of Fellows’ Garden, with the admin (Finlay) building, OWL library and Merton Street houses just outside the main site. Most of the quads in College consist of rooms for either students or tutors. About five minutes' walk away is Holywell Street, where most second years will have their accommodation, and about ten minutes away is the Pavilion and the Manor Place accommodation.

With all that the College owns, it's no surprise that you are offered accommodation for all the years of your course, whether three or four. You'll often see people referring to their rooms in the form Quad/street, Staircase: Room. For example, the old JCR President's room was Front, 3:1; my old room was Merton Street, 20:10.

The nerve centre of the College is the Lodge, home to our Porters, who are on duty from 6am to midnight – although there is always someone on duty through the night, in case of emergency. If you ever have any practical enquiries, just ask one of the Porters – you will find that they know everything there is to know about the college. Next door is the Post Room, where you’ll find your pigeon hole (pidge). The pidge has many uses – a source for in-college communications, the place to pick up your mail, and a useful store for bits and bobs you can’t be bothered to take back to your room. It'll contain various pieces of information, such as your room number, when you arrive. Also in the Post Room is the machine for topping up your laundry card.

The Lodge's gate closes at 11pm; after this time you will have to use the “Late Gate” (on Merton Street, next to the JCR) or the “North Lodge Gate” (funnily enough, next to North Lodge) to get into or out of college. You can just about see them on the map:

Click on the map to view the interactive tour of Merton College