St Giles', Oxford

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St Giles' at the point where it divides into Woodstock Road (left) and Banbury Road (right) to the north. St Giles, Oxford.jpg
St Giles' at the point where it divides into Woodstock Road (left) and Banbury Road (right) to the north.
Southern end of St Giles' Street outside the west entrance to Balliol College. St Giles Martyrs Memorial 011007.JPG
Southern end of St Giles' Street outside the west entrance to Balliol College.
View of Martyrs' Memorial at the southern end of St Giles' with the Macdonald Randolph Hotel and Taylor Institution Library behind. The Taylor Institute from behind the Martyrs' Memorial, in Oxford, England.jpg
View of Martyrs' Memorial at the southern end of St Giles' with the Macdonald Randolph Hotel and Taylor Institution Library behind.

St Giles' is a wide boulevard leading north from the centre of Oxford, England. [1] At its northern end, the road divides into Woodstock Road to the left and Banbury Road to the right, both major roads through North Oxford. At the southern end, the road continues as Magdalen Street at the junction with Beaumont Street to the west. Also to the west halfway along the street is Pusey Street. Like the rest of North Oxford, much of St Giles' is owned by St John's College.

Contents

Church

At the northern end of St Giles' is St Giles' Church, [2] whose churchyard includes the main War Memorial. The church originates from the 12th century. [3]

Other buildings and structures

The Remembrance Sunday in 2011. Remembrance Sunday parade, Oxford (6352329691).jpg
The Remembrance Sunday in 2011.

Working from north to south, on the east side are the Lamb & Flag public house (formerly a coaching inn), St John's College, the Oxford Internet Institute (No 1 St Giles'), Balliol College, and Trinity College. On the west side are the International Study Centre of d'Overbroeck's College, St Benet's Hall, the Theology Faculty, Oxford Quaker Meeting House, the Eagle and Child public house (where J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and other members of the Inklings met; No. 42 was the register office where Lewis contracted a civil marriage in 1956 to Joy Davidman) and is now a dental practice, Regent's Park College (Principal's Lodgings and Senior Tutor's house), Pusey House and St Cross College, Blackfriars, and the Taylor Institution, behind which is the Ashmolean Museum (with its main entrance in Beaumont Street). The southern end meets Magdalen Street at the Martyrs' Memorial (1843), commemorating the Oxford Martyrs (1555–56).

Balliol Hall used to stand on the east side of St Giles' at the point that the Banbury Road and Woodstock Road divide. It was in rooms here that lessons began under A. E. Clarke in September 1877 at a school that was to become known as the Dragon School. [4] The school expanded and moved within two years to Crick Road and then in 1895 to its current location in Bardwell Road in North Oxford.

St Giles' Fair, 2007.

Fair

The street is closed to traffic for two days each September for the traditional St Giles' Fair. [5] Formerly, the University Parks was also closed to demonstrate that they are owned by the University of Oxford rather than formally being public. Their closure date is now Christmas Eve.

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Banbury Road

Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the Woodstock Road, which it meets at the junction with St Giles'. To the north, Banbury Road meets the Oxford Ring Road at a roundabout. The road is designated the A4165. Prior to the building of the M40 motorway extension in 1990, the road formed part of the A423 from Maidenhead to Coventry.

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Summertown in North Oxford is a suburb of Oxford, England. Summertown is a one-mile square residential area, north of St Giles, the boulevard leading out of Oxford's city centre. Summertown is home to several independent schools and the city's most expensive houses. On both sides of Banbury Road are Summertown's popular shops. There is also a smaller street of shops and restaurants, South Parade, that links Banbury Road and Woodstock Road. Summertown is home to much of Oxford's broadcast media. BBC Radio Oxford and the BBC Television's Oxford studios are on Banbury Road. Start-ups also have an increasing presence on the parade, such as Brainomix and Passle. The studios for JACK FM, Glide FM, and Six TV Oxford are on Woodstock Road.

Woodstock Road, Oxford

Woodstock Road is a major road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' in the south, north towards Woodstock through the leafy suburb of North Oxford. To the east is Banbury Road, which it meets at the junction with St Giles'.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Giles' Fair</span> Annual street fair in Oxford, UK

St Giles' Fair is an annual fair held in St Giles', a wide thoroughfare in central north Oxford, England. The origins of the fair can be traced back to medieval times where it became one of England's dynamic trading centers. The fair has survived medieval times and is organised for a two-day duration in September each year by the Oxford City Council with the London and Home Counties section of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain.

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St Giles Church, Oxford Church in Oxford, United Kingdom

St. Giles' Church is a church in North Oxford, England. It is at the northern end of the wide thoroughfare of St Giles', at the point where it meets Woodstock Road and Banbury Road. It stands between where Little Clarendon Street joins Woodstock Road and Keble Road joins Banbury Road.

Pusey Street

Pusey Street links the wide thoroughfare of St Giles' Street to the east with St John Street to the west in the St John Street area of central Oxford, England. Pusey Street, formerly called Alfred Street, was renamed in honour of Edward Bouverie Pusey in 1926. The renaming also avoided confusion with another Alfred Street to the south.

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Oxford War Memorial

Oxford War Memorial is a first world war memorial in Oxford, at the north end of St Giles', on the junction where the road splits into the A4144 Woodstock Road and the A4165 Banbury Road. The memorial stands in St Giles Memorial Garden, about 150 m (490 ft) to the south of St Giles' Church, Oxford. It was unveiled in 1921 and became a Grade II listed structure in 2016. The Grade II* listed Martyrs' Monument stands about 350 m (1,150 ft) south, at the other end of St Giles'.

References

  1. Jenkins, Stephanie. "St Giles', Oxford". Oxford History. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  2. St Giles' Church, Oxford.
  3. Wood, Leslie (June 1974). "St Giles' Oxford: Yesterday and Today — The Story of the Parish of St Giles'".
  4. Jaques, C. H. (1977). "I: Beginnings". A Dragon Century: 1877–1977. Oxford: Blackwell's. pp. 1–7.
  5. Jenkins, Stephanie. "St Giles Fair". Oxford History. Retrieved 28 February 2018.

Coordinates: 51°45′25″N1°15′35″W / 51.7569°N 1.2597°W / 51.7569; -1.2597