Its civic origins go back to the Middle Ages, when Oxford was a small town built on a mound of gravel between two deep rivers, the Thames and the Cherwell, at a place where oxen could ford the waters.

• 牛津作为城市起源于中世纪，那时还只是一座小镇，建于泰晤士河和切尔维尔河之间的砾石堆上，两河水都很深，但小镇所在之处牛群可涉水而过。