Dating back to the 13th century, St Edmund Hall claims to be one of Oxford's more interesting as well as ancient institutions. Originally one of the numerous academical halls which in the middle ages, before the colleges took over, housed the vast majority of undergraduates, it continued as their sole survivor until the early 1950s. It then sought incorporation as a college and in 1978 opened its doors to women, both as dons and students. This book explores the Hall's connnection with St Edmund of Abingdon, Oxford's first archbishop of Canterbury, and then traces its evolution through many ups and downs from a tiny student hospice in 1300 to one of Oxford's largest colleges.