View down Magpie Lane towards Merton College chapel, Oxford.

Magpie Lane runs between Oriel and University Colleges, Oxford. In the 13th Century, its history was disreputable as it was the haunt of the city's prostitutes. In the 17th Century, it was named Magpie Lane because of an alehouse that used a magpie as a sign. By the late 19th Century, the lane was known as Grove Street but by the late 1920s it was changed back to Magpie Lane.