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Parish boundaries: inside Marks & Spencer

When Marks & Spencer moved into the old Co-op building in Queen Street in 1976, it absorbed an old alleyway containing this ornate boundary stone dating from 1952. In 1978 the stone was placed in a glass cabinet inside the shop (on the ground floor, at the south-east corner near the lift), twelve metres from its original position. It reads:

Translation of the Latin: “John Edward Cammell laid this holy stone in 1952”. Cammell (1900–1981) was a surveyor and auctioneer who then lived at 7 Harbord Road to the north of Oxford

The parish of St Peter-le-Bailey disappeared in 1961, so the stone was only accurate for nine years. St Martin & All Saints' parish also disappeared in 1971, so the parishes that meet at this point today are St Ebbe’s, St Michael-at-the-Northgate, and St Aldate’s.

The updated cross below was added later, probably in 1971 when All Saints' Church closed. The planning permission granted to Marks & Spencer in March 1975 (74/01018/A_H) included the following condition:

Because of the historic interest of the two boundary markers which are associated with “beating the bounds” in the centre of Oxford, these stones shall be carefully preserved and re-sited in the building in positions to be agreed with the Local Planning Authority.

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The lost parishes that were united with the three surviving parishes above

• St Peter-le-Bailey Church originally stood just to the north of the present Bonn Square but was rebuilt on the west side of New Hall Street in 1874. When it closed in 1961 and became the chapel of St Peter’s College, its parish was united with that of St Ebbe’s.
• St Martin’s or Carfax Church stood at Carfax until 1896, when it was demolished apart from its tower in a road-widening scheme. All Saints Church absorbed its parish, and the conjoined parishes were known as St Martin’s & All Saints. All Saints Church in turn closed in 1971, when it became Lincoln College Library. Its parish was absorbed into the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate.
• The parish of Holy Trinity Church in St Ebbe’s was a relatively new one taken out of St Ebbe’s parish. Holy Trinity Church closed in 1954 and was demolished in 1957, and its parish was united with that of St Aldate’s.