The Church of St Peter-le-Bailey is a church on

New Inn Hall Street New Inn Hall Street is a street in central Oxford, England, and is one of Oxford's oldest streets. It is a shopping street running north–south parallel and to the west of Cornmarket Street, with George Street to the north and Bonn Square at ...

in central

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It was formerly next to Bonn Square, which was originally the churchyard. Now it is located halfway up New Inn Hall Street to the north. Several churches have existed on or close to the site. The current church is now the chapel of

St Peter's College, Oxford St Peter's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is located in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, United Kingdom. It occupies the site of two of the university's medieval halls, dating back to at least the 14th ...

History

The church of "St Peter at the Castle", subsequently known as "St Peter-in the-West" or "St Peter-le-Bailey", was granted to

St Frideswide's Priory St Frideswide's Priory was established as a priory of Augustinian canons regular, in 1122. The priory was established by Gwymund, chaplain to Henry I of England. Among its most illustrious priors were the writers Robert of Cricklade and Phi ...

in 1122. The Church has existed in or near the area now known as Bonn Square, since the twelfth century The suffix "le-Bailey" was due to its position close to

Oxford Castle Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined medieval castle on the western side of central Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Most of the original moated, wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced in stone in the late 12th or early 13th century and ...

. It also distinguished it from Oxford's other church dedicated to St Peter, namely St Peter-in-the-East, near the original east gate of the city, now the library of St Edmund Hall. Since the inception of the parish, there have been three different church buildings. The first church was built in the 12th century. It had a single, pitched-roofed nave with a low tower at the southwest corner. A second church was built on the site of the original church, opening in 1740. It was a flat roofed rectangular building with a tower at the northwest corner. The churchyard remained in its original position since there was no room to expand it. The church remained in use until the middle of the 19th century, when in 1848

Holywell Cemetery Holywell Cemetery is next to St Cross Church in Oxford, England. The cemetery is behind the church in St Cross Road, south of Holywell Manor on Manor Road and north of Longwall Street, in the parish of Holywell. History In the mid 19th cen ...

Osney Cemetery Osney Cemetery is a disused Church of England cemetery in Osney, west Oxford, England. It is in Mill Street south of Botley Road and near the site of Osney Abbey. It borders the Cherwell Valley Line railway a short distance south of Oxfor ...

, and St Sepulchre's Cemetery opened. In 1855, new burials were forbidden at all city churches, apart from existing vaults. This church was demolished in 1873 as part of a road widening scheme. The third church was built to the north of the old church, approximately halfway along

, to designs by

Basil Champneys Basil Champneys (17 September 1842 – 5 April 1935) was an English architect and author whose most notable buildings include Manchester's John Rylands Library, Somerville College Library (Oxford), Newnham College, Cambridge, Lady Margaret Hal ...

. It was opened in 1874 and was photographed by

Henry Taunt Henry William Taunt (1842–1922) was a professional photographer, author, publisher and entertainer based in Oxford, England. Birth Henry Taunt was born in Penson's Gardens in the parish of St Ebbe's, Oxford. His father Henry was a plumber an ...

. When St Peter's Hall was founded in 1928, this church took on the combined role of the parish church and a college chapel. In 1961, St Peter's Hall became a full Oxford University college. In the same year, with a decreasing number of residents in the parish, it was merged with

St Ebbe's St Ebbes is a district of central Oxford, England, southwest of Carfax. St Ebbes Street runs south from the western end of Queen Street. __TOC__ Overview The area takes its name from the parish church of St Ebbe's, dedicated to Saint � ...

and the church building was solely used as the college chapel. The original churchyard was retained as a memorial garden when the church was moved in 1874. Many of the gravestones were moved at that time.

Excavations

Bonn Square was redeveloped in 2008 and this made it possible to inspect and record a number of gravestones which had been buried since the church on the site was demolished in 1873. During the redevelopment,

Oxford Archaeology Oxford Archaeology (OA, trading name of Oxford Archaeology Limited) is one of the largest and longest-established independent archaeology and heritage practices in Europe, operating from three permanent offices in Oxford, Lancaster and Cambridge, ...

undertook the archaeological investigations on behalf of

Oxford City Council Oxford City Council is the lower-tier local government authority for the city of Oxford in England, providing such services as leisure centres and parking. Social Services, Education and Highways services (amongst others) are provided by Oxfor ...

.Oxfordshire Family History Society Monumental Inscriptions at St Peter-le-Bailey, Bonn Square, OxfordOxfordshire Family History Society: Monumental Inscriptions

References

External links

* Richard Cox Hales,
Six sermons preached at St. Peter-le-Bailey church, Oxford, to which are added, prayers for particular occasions
'. J, Vincent, 1852. (

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peter Le Bailey, Church 1122 establishments in England 19th-century Church of England church buildings Chapels of the University of Oxford Peter-le-Bailey Churches completed in 1874 St Peter's College, Oxford

History

Excavations

See also

References

Further reading

External links