University Church of St Mary the Virgin

The University Church of St Mary the Virgin stands on the north side of Oxford’s High Street. Its parish covers almost only university and college buildings, and the church itself was the seed from which the University of Oxford grew. The 13th-century tower still rises above the city, and the Baroque porch by Nicholas Stone faces the street. Radcliffe Square lies just north of the church, while St Mary’s Passage leads west into the same square. The spire is often counted among England’s most beautiful, though only one of its twelve statues is original. The church has been a centre of academic and religious life since Anglo-Saxon times. From at least 1252 it housed university gatherings, lectures and degree ceremonies. In the 1320s Adam de Brome added a two-storey building whose ground floor became the university parliament’s meeting room. The trial of the Oxford Martyrs took place here in 1555, when Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer were tried for heresy. John Wesley preached his famous sermons in the church during the 18th century, though his final appearance came after he criticised the university’s senior members. Inside, the nave and aisles were rebuilt in the late 15th century with gifts from Henry VII and several bishops. The chancel was rebuilt around 1462 by Walter Hart, Bishop of Norwich. Six-bay arcades with canopied niches line the nave, and the roof shows traceried spandrels. The outer north aisle began as a chapel added by Adam de Brome in 1328. The church’s interior also preserves the sedilia with cusped arches and a vine-leaf frieze, while the tower offers wide views over Radcliffe Square and the surrounding colleges.