St Michael at the North Gate

St Michael at the North Gate
St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford
The Saxon tower of St Michael at the North Gate
Location Cornmarket Street, Oxford
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Church of England
Website www.smng.org.uk
History
Dedication St Michael
Architecture
Style Saxon
Years built 1000–1050
Administration
Diocese Oxford
Clergy
Vicar(s) The Very Revd Bob Wilkes

St Michael at the North Gate is a church in Cornmarket Street, at the junction with Ship Street, in central Oxford, England. The church is so-called because this is the location of the original north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded by a city wall.

Interior of the church

History

Originally built around 1000–1050, with the tower from 1040 still in existence, the church is Oxford's oldest building.[1][2] It was constructed of Coral Rag.[3] The church tower is Saxon.[4] The architect John Plowman rebuilt the north aisle and transept in 1833.[4]

The Oxford Martyrs were imprisoned in the Bocardo Prison by the church before they were burnt at the stake in what is now Broad Street nearby, then immediately outside the city walls, in 1555 and 1556. Their cell door can be seen on display in the church's tower.

St Michael at the North Gate is the current City Church of Oxford,[5] which is the church where the Mayor and Corporation of Oxford are expected to worship.[6] The title was originally held by St Martin's Church at Carfax, and then by All Saints Church in the High Street after St Martin's Church was demolished in 1896. City Church status passed to St Michael's when All Saints Church was declared redundant in 1971 and was subsequently converted into the library of Lincoln College, Oxford.[7] The parishes of St Martin's and All Saints are now amalgamated with St Michael's.

People

William Morris and Jane Burden (who lived off Holywell Street nearby) were married here on 25 April 1859.[8] The marriage certificate is on view in the Saxon tower. John Wesley's pulpit is also on view here.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Our History Archived 2 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine.,St Michael at the North Gate Church website. Retrieved (and link updated) 2011-11-12.
  2. ↑ St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford, Sacred Destinations.
  3. ↑ "Strategic Stone Study: A Building Stone Atlas of Oxfordshire". English Heritage. March 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  4. 1 2 Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 295. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
  5. ↑ St Michael at the Northgate: City Church of Oxford 1971–present, Oxford History.
  6. ↑ The City Church, Oxford, Mayors of Oxford.
  7. ↑ All Saints' Church. Oxford History.
  8. ↑ Morris, Jan (1988). "In Art". Oxford. Oxford University Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-0192820655.

Coordinates: 51°45′13″N 1°15′30″W / 51.75361°N 1.25833°W / 51.75361; -1.25833

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