 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
 The Golden Cross from the Cornmarket Street entrance | |
| Location | Oxford, England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°45′09″N1°15′27″W / 51.7524°N 1.2575°W Coordinates: 51°45′09″N1°15′27″W / 51.7524°N 1.2575°W |
| Opening date | 1987 |
| Architect | Dunthorne Parker Architects |
Golden Cross (also previously known as the Cross Inn [1] ) is a shopping arcade at 5 Cornmarket Street in central Oxford, England. [2] The original structure on the site dates from 1193, when it was called Maugershall after the then owner, and consisted of shops with an inn on the upper storeys. The building structures now on the site date from the late 15th century, when they were used as a traditional coaching inn, as is clear from its layout and historical documents. [3] The collection of historic buildings in the Golden Cross courtyard to the east off Cornmarket Street, one of Oxford's main shopping streets. Golden Cross is now used as Oxford's branch of Pizza Express. The courtyard is used as a thoroughfare which leads to the historic Covered Market and has been redeveloped as a small shopping centre, with upmarket shops, a branch of iGlasses Opticians, Holland and Barrett and a Chinese herbalist.
Cornmarket Street is a major shopping street and pedestrian precinct in Oxford, England that runs north to south between Magdalen Street and Carfax Tower.
Oxford is a university city in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 155,000. It is 51 miles (82 km) northwest of London, 57 miles (92 km) from Birmingham and 30 miles (48 km) from Reading.
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
There is strong but circumstantial evidence to link the buildings with William Shakespeare, given his player's company's known performances in Oxford and the route from Stratford-on-Avon to London passing through Oxford. It is believed that Hamlet was performed in the inn courtyard and a signature that is reputedly his can be seen on the wall in the bursar's office on the first floor of the adjacent building occupied by New College, Oxford.
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham, the full name of the college is St Mary's College of Winchester in Oxford. The name "New College", however, soon came to be used following its completion in 1386 to distinguish it from the older existing college of St. Mary, now known as Oriel College.
The buildings were comprehensively restored in 1986/87 by Cordwell Property and Mal Parker of Dunthorne Parker Architects when the buildings were converted into a variety of retail uses, and a new structure carefully integrated into the existing building ranges to allow a sensitively constructed direct route through to the adjacent Covered Market. This covered market was constructed in 1774 so as to relocate the stalls previously pitched on the Cornmarket. but no direct access had been possible from the main retail street of Cornmarket up until the completion of this development.
The poet Alexander Pope stayed here in 1735. The 15th century buildings have original timberwork and there are various examples of early wall paintings and hand painted wallpaper on the upper floors of the building, still easily accessible and viewable via the pizza restaurant that currently occupies the upper floors of the north range of buildings.
Alexander Pope is regarded as one of the greatest English poets, and the foremost poet of the early eighteenth century. He is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry—including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism—as well as for his translation of Homer. After Shakespeare, Pope is the second-most quoted writer in the English language, as per The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, some of his verses having even become popular idioms in common parlance. He is considered a master of the heroic couplet.
