St Giles' Church, Oxford

St Giles’ Church stands at the northern end of St Giles’ thoroughfare in North Oxford, where Woodstock Road and Banbury Road meet. It was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and built for Edwin, son of Godegose, finishing in 1120. The church was granted to Godstow Abbey in 1139 and consecrated in 1200 by Saint Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln. It was built in open fields 550 yards north of Oxford’s old city wall, with no other buildings nearby at the time. The church’s bell tower, completed early in the 13th century, features 12th-century Waterleaf capitals and Gothic lancet windows. The church has survived wars, Reformation changes and centuries of use. During the English Civil War, services continued even as Parliamentary artillery bombarded Oxford in 1645. Monuments inside include figurines of Henry Bosworth, his wife Alice and their three children, though their tomb was destroyed in the conflict. The church passed from Godstow Abbey to the Crown, then to Dr George Owen and later Sir Thomas White, who granted it to St John’s College in 1555. The church’s bells, some dating back to 1632, were removed for repair in 2011 and returned after tuning. Inside, visitors find the nave’s clerestory windows and the lower parts of the bell tower from the 12th century. The Decorated Gothic chancel was added late in the 13th century, and the south chapel was rebuilt in the 19th century. The churchyard borders Oxford War Memorial, and St Giles’ Fair, established in 1200, still takes place each September nearby. The church remains a separate parish but is now united with St Philip and St James with St Margaret.