Parishes of Oxford in the nineteenth-century censuses and registers

In order to find a street in the nineteenth-century censuses and to locate the appropriate parish register and other records, you need to which ecclesiastical parish it came under. This is not always straightforward, as some Oxford streets spread over more than one parish. These include:

In addition longer streets out of Oxford soon passed through the city boundaries, so the north end of the Woodstock and Banbury Road then came under the country parish of Wolvercote, and the area south of Folly Bridge was in the Berkshire parish of North Hinksey.

Civil parishes were formally established in England by the Local Government Act 1894.

East Oxford: A confusing division of parishes

St Clement's Street and the streets running off its north side were straightforward and obvious, as the area was covered by the ancient parish of St Clement's Church, but in the early censuses the new development on the Cowley and Iffley Roads themselves and the streets running off them were divided between two parishes:

  • St James's Church in Beauchamp Lane in the village of Cowley (145 inhabited houses in 1861)
  • St Clement's in the City of Oxford (66 inhabited houses in 1861).

The division between these parishes was not obvious: for example the area next to Magdalen Bridge including Cowley Place and the whole of the Iffley Road came under the village parish of Cowley two miles away, as did all the south side of the Cowley Road, but the houses on the north side of the Cowley Road to the east of Dawson Street were in St Clement's parish.

The Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act of 1882 moved some houses at the start of the Cowley Road from the Parish of St Cowley to that of St Clement's.

The parishes of Cowley and St Clement's both came under the Headington Registration District until 1929.

1861 census for east Oxford (excluding St Clement's Street)

This area was covered in the 1861 census by Enumeration District 9 and has its own separate census book. The following description at the start of that book shows the odd division between these two parishes:

All that part of the Parish of Cowley adjacent to Oxford

Comprising the houses on the Iffley Road from the Maudlen Arms Public House to the Cape of Good Hope — Cowley Place, Milham Ford near Magdalen Bridge, Temple Street, Hockmore Street [renamed Stockmore Street in 1867], Marston Street (or Road), Pembroke Street [now Rectory Road] and three houses on south side of High Street Saint Clements to the East of Pembroke Street, Cowley Terrace, Castle's brickyard and cottages, Cowley Road on the north side from the Plain in St Clement's to the back of the Black Horse Inn Yard and all the houses on the south side excepting a detached house occupied by Charles Hall

Part of the Parish of Saint Clements

Comprising Alma Place, Union Street, the houses on the north side of the Cowley Road from the back of the Black Horse Inn yard to Joel Evan's Brewery inclusive and the house on the opposite side of the road occupied by Charles Hall

The streets of east Oxford were then listed as follows in the 1861 census book itself:

(1) Those that came under the Parish of Cowley (and the City of Oxford, and the East Municipal Ward) were listed first, starting with Marston Road and ending with Temple Street, followed by the words “The end of so much of the Parish of Cowley as is within the Municipal and Parliamentary boundary of the City of Oxford”.

(2) Then came the smaller number of houses in the Parish of St Clement's (and the City and Borough of Oxford and the East Municipal Ward), starting on p. 32 with the north side of the Cowley Road and ending with William Street (now renamed Tyndale Road). This was followed by the words “The end of the Parish of Saint Clement's”.

(3) Finally just one house in the Iffley Road occupied by the publican Charles Petty is listed on its own, and may have been in Robin Hood Terrace in Charles Street, where Petty was described in 1867 as having a beerhouse. This is followed by the words “This House is without the City of Oxford”.

1871, 1881, and 1891 censuses for east Oxford

In 1868 the new parish of Cowley St John was created, with its church on the Cowley Road. In the 1891 census the houses in the first group above are listed in the census book for District 12 (Cowley), but were described as being in the Municipal Borough of Oxford, the East Ward, the urban sanitary district and parliamentary borough of Oxford, and the ecclesiastical parish of Cowley St John.

1901 census for east Oxford

In the 1901 census east Oxford was described as being in both the civil and the ecclesiastical parish of Cowley St John, and in the parliamentary borough and town of Oxford.

 

© Stephanie Jenkins