The High, Oxford

The historic Parishes and Wards of the High

Parishes of the High Street

Four historic parish churches of the High

Until 1896 the “long high street of the little town” (as Oscar Wilde described the High) straddled four separate parishes, with the 143 houses/shops in the High divided unevenly and vertically from west to east as follows:

9 were in St Martin's parish
28 were in St Mary-the-Virgin parish
49 were in All Saints parish
57 were in St Peter-in-the-East parish

After St Martin's Church was demolished in 1896, there was a new combined parish of St Martin & All Saints, reducing the number of parishes in the High listed in the censuses from 1901 to 1921 to three.

The table below shows the parish divisions by street numbers (which are the same today as they were in the 1830s):

The parishes of Oxford's High Street
	Nos.	19th century	Currently	Present occupants
N O R T H S I D E	1–5	St Martin’s	St Michael at-the- Northgate parish	Lloyd’s Bank
	6–27	All Saints	St Michael at-the- Northgate parish	Anthropologie shop to middle of Brasenose new buildings
	28–32	St Mary the Virgin parish		Middle of Brasenose new buildings to All Souls College
	33–60	St Peter in the East*	Recently St Cross parish but now St Mary-the-Virgin	Oxford Souvenirs shop to Magdalen College
[Numbering resumes on the other side of Magdalen Bridge]
S O U T H S I D E	61–89	St Peter in the East*	Recently St Cross parish but now St Mary-the-Virgin	Botanic Garden to middle of University College
	90–112	*St Mary the Virgin parish*		Middle of University College to middle of Shepherd & Woodward shop
	113–139	All Saints	St Michael at-the- Northgate parish/p>	Middle of Shepherd & Woodward shop to middle of Oxford Gifts shop
	140–143	St Martin’s	St Michael at-the- Northgate parish/p>	Middle of Oxford Gifts shop to Black Sheep Coffee

* Note that St Peter-in-the-East Church was temporarily closed for the period from July 1836 to November 1844, and the parishioners were transferred for eight years to the parish of St John the Baptist Church (now Merton College Chapel)

Twenty-first century parishes

Following the closure of a number of churches in central Oxford, the High Street is now divided into two parishes:

West end of the High: in St Michael-at-the-Northgate Parish since 1971

In 1896 when St Martin’s Church at Carfax was demolished, St Martin’s Parish was united with All Saints Parish
In 1971 when All Saints’ Church became Lincoln College Library, St Martin & All Saints Parish was united with St Michael at the Northgate Parish

Middle of the High

No change: this has always been in St Mary the Virgin Parish

East end of the High: in St Mary the Virgin Parish since 2009

In 1891 St Peter in the East Parish was united with St John the Baptist Parish (Merton College Chapel)
In 1957 St Peter in the East & St John the Baptist Parish was united with St Cross Parish
In 2009 St Cross Church closed down and it is now Balliol Historic Collections Centre

These two churches mark their parish boundaries each year on Ascension Day, with St Michael's using an upright cross and St Mary-the-Virgin a St Andrew's (diagonal) cross. The following two boundary markers can be seen in the High Street:

Parish marker on Brasenose College
This metal St Michael’s Cross is on the wall of Brasenose in the High Street. It originally marked the boundary of the parish of St Mary-the-Virgin and All Saints, but now that the latter has been taken into the parish of St-Michael-at-the-Northgate, it is chalked with that church’s initials, SMNG.

Boundary marker on All Souls College
This St Andrew’s Cross is on the eastern end of All Souls College’s High Street frontage. As it marks the old boundary of St Mary-the-Virgin parish with that of St Peter-in-the East. As these two parishes are now combined
it has no chalk marking.

Wards of the High Street

The four ancient wards of the city met at Carfax, hence:

The north side of the High was in the North-East Ward
The south side of the High was in the South-East ward,

Map showing Oxford city parishes in the 19th century

Oxford History: The High