Oxford (England) -- History; University of Oxford -- History
In the days of Robert D'Oigli, then, Oxford was provided with no less
than eight churches, dedicated to S. Frideswide, S. Martin, S. George,
S. Mary Magdalen, S. Mary the Virgin, S. Peter, S. Michael and S. Ebbe.
By the end of the reign of Henry I. this number had been more than
doubled. And seeing that much church building is and always was a sign
of prosperity and security, the fact that eight new churches sprang up
within so short a time after the Norman Conquest may be taken to prove
that under her sheriffs and portreeves Oxford enjoyed good government
and made rapid progress in population and wealth. Of these eight or ten
new churches no trace remains of S. Mildred's, save the pathway across
the old churchyard which survives in the modern Brasenose Lane; and the
church dedicated to S. Eadward the martyr, which lay between S.
Frideswide's and the High, has likewise disappeared; the exact sites of
the church of S. Budoc, the Chapel of the Holy Trinity and of S. Michael
at the South Gate, cannot be identified; the Chapel of S. Clement, on
the other side of Magdalen Bridge, gave way to a fourteenth-century
church, and was wholly cleared away at the beginning of the nineteenth
century; All Saint's and S. Peter's, in the bailey of the Castle, were
entirely rebuilt in the eighteenth century, and the latter re-erected on
another site in the nineteenth. The old chancel arch in the Church of
S. Cross (Holywell) dates from the end of the eleventh century, and this
church was probably founded about this time by Robert D'Oigli or his
successors for the benefit of the growing population on Holywell Manor.
The present Church of S. Clement, on the Marston Road, near the new
Magdalen and Trinity Cricket Grounds, is an early Victorian imitation of
Norman style, and well described as the "Boiled Rabbit."
The Castle tower, the tower of S. Michael's, the crypt of S. Peter's in
the East, Holywell and the Castle mill, the chancel of S. Cross, these
are all landmarks that recall the days when D'Oigli governed Oxford, and
the servants of William surveyed England and registered for him his new
estate. But there is one other item in the Domesday record which
deserves to be noticed:
"All burgesses of Oxford hold in common a pasture without the wall
which brings in 6s. 8d."
How many Oxford men realise, when they make their way to Port Meadow to
sail their centre-boards on the upper river, that this ancient "Port"
(or "Town") Meadow is still set apart for its ancient purpose, that the
rights of the freemen of Oxford to have free pasture therein have been
safeguarded for eight hundred years by the portreeve or shire-reeve
(sheriff), annually appointed to fulfil this duty by the Portmannimot
(or Town Council)?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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