St Thomas the Martyr Church is a
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of the
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...
tradition, in
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England, near
Oxford railway station in
Osney
Osney or Osney Island (; an earlier spelling of the name is ''Oseney'') is a riverside community in the west of the city of Oxford, England. In modern times the name is applied to a community also known as Osney Town astride Botley Road, just w ...
. It is located between Becket Street to the west and
Hollybush Row to the east, with
St Thomas' Street opposite.
Overview

The church was founded in the 12th century, dedicated to
St Thomas Becket. The building still retains some of its original architecture, although substantial expansions and repairs have been made, particularly in the 17th century (under the
curacy
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...
of
Robert Burton) and in the 19th century.
The church played a significant role in the early stages of the
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...
, being the site of daily services as well as such
ritualist
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
practices as altar candles and the wearing of
Eucharist
The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...
ic
vestment
Vestments are Liturgy, liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christianity, Christian religion, especially by Eastern Christianity, Eastern Churches, Catholic Church, Catholics (of all rites), Lutherans, and Anglicans. ...
s. The leaders of the Movement preached at the church, and the early
Tractarians were closely associated with St Thomas's.
History
To the Restoration
It has traditionally been held in Osney that the church was founded in the reign of
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...
, but this is unlikely to be true, as
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...
was not martyred until some fifteen years after Stephen's death. It is known that in the 1180s, the site was granted to the canons of the nearby
Osney Abbey
Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinians, Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street, Oxford, Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the rail ...
, and a chapel was erected on the site around 1190.
From the mid-13th century the Osney area was referred to as the parish of St Thomas', but it remained nominally a chapel of the abbey until the
dissolution of the Monasteries under
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
, when it was placed under
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
. Christ Church treated it as a conventional
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
with a
curate
A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are as ...
, and from the mid-19th century the incumbent was styled a
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
.
[
]
After the curacy was placed under the patronage of Christ Church, the incumbents were mostly scholars or members of the college; from 1616 to 1640 the curacy was held by Robert Burton, author of '' The Anatomy of Melancholy'', who enlarged the church. In the English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
the medieval stained glass in the church was destroyed, partly due to the vandalism of Parliamentarian troops captured at Cirencester
Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...
in 1642 and imprisoned in the church. Following the Restoration the holders of the curacy changed rapidly, often remaining in the position for only a few years at a time. From at least 1713 Christ Church leased a house in High Street to parish trustees and the profits were used for repairing the church. This continued until 1923, when the house was sold.[
]
19th and 20th centuries
By the early 19th century, the church and its parish were showing signs of neglect. In 1802 only ten communicants are recorded, and in 1814 some 90% of the parish was thought to be non-churchgoing. The parish was further reduced by the creation of the parishes of St Paul's in 1837, St Barnabas' in 1869, and St Frideswide's in 1873.[
The curate from 1823 to 1842, one John Jones, brought a significant turnaround in attendance; perhaps the most unusual innovation was a ]houseboat
A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily for regular dwelling. Most houseboats are not motorized, as they are usually moored or kept stationary, fixed at a Berth (moorings), berth, and often tethered to ...
– the "Boatmans' Floating Chapel" – acquired in 1839, for use as a chapel serving the families working on the river and the Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to th ...
.[ This boat was St Thomas' first ]chapel of ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
; it was donated by H. Ward, a local coal merchant
A coal merchant is the term used in the UK and other countries for a trader who sells coal and often delivers it to households. Coal merchants were once a major class of local business, but have declined in importance in many parts of the developed ...
, and used until it sank in 1868. It was replaced by a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...
that remained in use until 1892. A second chapel was built in 1860, dedicated to St Frideswide, later replaced by the new parish church of St Frideswide's, which took on the parish of New Osney in 1873.[
Major repairs were carried out beginning in 1825. The floor-level was raised above flood-level, a full three feet. The roof was rebuilt, the south wall was rebuilt using the original materials, and the main features of the 12th-century chancel arch were discarded.][
The vicar from 1842 to 1892 was Thomas Chamberlain (later founder of St Edward's School), a firm believer in the Tractarian movement, who introduced daily services as well as such ]ritualist
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
practices as altar candles and the wearing of Eucharist
The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...
ic vestment
Vestments are Liturgy, liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christianity, Christian religion, especially by Eastern Christianity, Eastern Churches, Catholic Church, Catholics (of all rites), Lutherans, and Anglicans. ...
s – the latter causing him to be rebuked by Bishop Wilberforce in 1855.[ Many of the leaders of the ]Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...
, including Edward Bouverie Pusey, Henry Parry Liddon, John Mason Neale
John Mason Neale (24 January 1818 – 6 August 1866) was an English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter. He worked on and wrote a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval hymns, both Western and Eastern. Among his mo ...
, Charles Fuge Lowder and Edward King preached at the church. In the early days of the movement, Anglo-Catholicism was closely associated with St Thomas'. In 1847 Chamberlain founded the Community of St Thomas Martyr, which was devoted to the assistance of the poor of the parish, by now heavily slumland; this sisterhood remained active until 1958. The convent buildings for it were built in 1886, but have since been demolished.[ In 1846 the north aisle and ]vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
were demolished and a new aisle of five bays with a vestry at its west end was built in its place. The blocked tower arch and two blocked windows in the chancel were opened and a new chancel arch was built.
The vicar from 1896 to 1908 was T.H. Birley, later Bishop of Zanzibar.[ In 1897 the building was again re-roofed and a vestry built against the north wall of the tower. St Thomas' was declared an ancient parish in 1948.
]
Present day
The parish of St Thomas the Martyr had passed Resolutions A and B under the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993
The Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 is a Church of England measure passed by the General Synod of the Church of England enabling the ordination of women in the Church of England.
Both Queen's Consent and Prince's Consent were requir ...
, to reject the ordination of women as priests. It also petitioned for and received alternative episcopal oversight
A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction "are unable to receive the ministry of w ...
from the Bishop of Ebbsfleet
The Bishop of Ebbsfleet is a suffragan bishop who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. From its creation in 1994 to 2022, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet served traditionalist Anglo-Catholic parishes that reject t ...
, then the provincial episcopal visitor for traditionalist Anglo-Catholics.
In September 2015 the parish was united with the neighbouring parish of St Barnabas, Oxford, to form the new parish of St Barnabas and St Paul, with St Thomas the Martyr, Oxford. St Barnabas is the parish church and St Thomas is the chapel of ease. The first vicar of the new parish was Fr Jonathan Beswick. In 2019, he was succeeded by Fr Christopher Woods.
In November 2022, the parish began a consultation as to whether or not to rescind this arrangement, and in January 2023 the PCC voted by a majority to welcome the ministry of women priests and bishops.
Architecture
The church has a nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
with a north aisle and vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
, a Perpendicular Gothic
Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...
west tower, a chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
and a south porch. The nave was rebuilt in the late 15th or early 16th century to meet a tower of approximately the same age; it is often dated to 1521, but appears to be built on older foundations.[ The southern side of the nave contains what are probably thirteenth-century buttresses and a pair of Perpendicular Gothic windows. The north aisle was originally built in the 13th century,][ and rebuilt by H.J. Underwood in 1890; the vestry was built in the 17th century and rebuilt in 1846 to designs by Chamberlain, through the generosity of the curate, Alexander Penrose Forbes.][ The church has been reroofed at least twice, in 1825 and 1897.][
The chancel, which has a ceiling decorated by C. E. Kempe, has three windows in the style of the late 12th century, and a priest's door built into the south side ''circa'' 1250.][ A south porch was built in 1621 at the behest of Dr Robert Burton, whose arms are carved in the gable above the date.] A candelabrum given by Ann Kendall in 1705 hangs in the chancel. The chancel ceiling was decorated with a pattern of gold stars on a blue background in 1914. Two years later, an altar was erected at the east end of the north aisle, and an aumbry placed in the north wall of the chancel. The royal arms of William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...
are displayed in the tower.[
St Thomas' church has been a ]Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
since 1954.
The churchyard contains Combe House, a 1702 building originally built as a school, as well as a vicarage designed in 1893 by C. C. Rolfe. The remains of an earlier Rolfe building, the 1886 Sisterhood of St Thomas, are also present; in 1974, these amounted to a single cottage and a sculptured brick gateway.
The pulpit was carved by James Rogers (1849–1931) in memory of his father, Thomas Rogers (1804–55), one-time Keeper of the Oxford County Hall. James Rogers also carved many of the pew ends and, possibly, the misericords in the choir stalls.
Notes
References
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford, Saint Thomas the Martyr
12th-century church buildings in England
Thomas the Martyr
Saint Thomas the Martyr
Grade II listed churches in Oxfordshire
Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Oxfordshire
Anglo-Catholic churches in England receiving AEO
English churches dedicated to St Thomas Becket