On the history of Oxford during the tenth and eleventh centuries, (912-1100) : the material of a lecture delivered before the Oxford architectural and historical society, Feb. 28, 1871.

  • Parker, James, 1834-1912.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the history of Oxford during the tenth and eleventh centuries, (912-1100) : the material of a lecture delivered before the Oxford architectural and historical society, Feb. 28, 1871. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

    74/90 (page 70)
    also to the river, like the property of S. Frideswide's. Here again it is not easy to decide whether the fields without the city were considered originally as within the parish, or whether the advent of the Grey Friars and Black Friars to this district was afterwards the cause of the ground being includedc. The central parishes of All Saints and S. Edward, lying to the east of S. Martin's, have probably not changed materially, except that the latter has been absorbed partially by the former, partially by S. Aldate's, and perhaps in some parts by S. Frideswide's. S. Mary's parish, it will be observed, occupies a long narrow space—reaching nearly to the city wall on the north, and as far to the south as the piece of ground afterwards occupied (if not then) by S. John's parish. Of this S. John's parish, the truth is, we find no mention whatever during the eleventh or even the twelfth century, but because there is no record, it would be rash to argue that it had no existence. The first reference I have been able to find (and I am dependent on Woodd for it) is the statement that the Church of S.John was transferred to Walter de Merton for his newly-founded college, by Reading Abbey, to which it then belonged. It may be noted, that the property of S. Frideswide's extended the whole length of S. John's parish, on the south side the city wall only dividing the two. The parish of S. Peter remains to be spoken of, to complete the survey of the whole of the space within the walls. This parish has for its northern boundary exactly the outer edge of the city ditch. The ditch here remains occupied by gardens, and there is a sloping piece of ground between it and the city wall. Against this wall there may ' In a Charter of Henry the Third's reign (1244) the Grey Friars had permission to enclose the street that lay along the city wall, much in the same manner as S. Frideswide had before them ; and they had further permission to pull down a portion of the wall, on condition that they fortified their own property down to the river. The new wall of enceinte could hardly then have been but just com- pleted, if completed at all. At all events, it seems to me to imply that the former line of defence was exactly followed by the newer one, and that therefore, if the parishes extended originally to the river, they must have included ground without the city wall as well as within it. d I can find no details of the transfer, which throws any light upon the history of the church, either in the copies of the Merton rolls, to which I have access, or in those of Reading Abbey.