How difficult is it to get PhD funding for the Humanities (UK)?
To be blunt and clear, if your PhD topic is neither particularly novel nor of exceptional value, you are almost certainly not going to be awarded PhD funding in the Humanities in the UK: not at Oxbridge, not anywhere. It simply will not happen. PhD funding in UK humanities is limited at best, cutthroat in reality, and non-existent at worst. We have to turn down scores of projects that are truly important and valuable due to lack of funding for students: a mediocre topic has no chance. This is the same at Oxbridge as it is the same for everywhere else in the UK.

If a prospective student has everything else in line (e.g. they have a first, they have UK/EU student status so they can go in for UKRI funding), they need to work on coming up with an exceptional project. Even if they are spectacular otherwise, an exceptional project is needed.