England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Oxford St Ebbe

The Parish

The city of Oxford, the capital of its county of Oxfordshire, actually sits on the ancient border of the county with neighbouring Berkshire. St Ebbe parish is merely one of 15 into which the ancient city is divided. St Ebbe largely forms the southwestern portion of the ancient mediaeval centre of the city. Oxford is, of course, famous for its university and other public buildings, the so-called city of dreaming spires. Oxford lies about 55 miles northwest of England's capital of London. The city stands on the conjunction of the Thames with a major tributary, the River Cherwell. The city of Oxford has ancient origins although its name indicates a Saxon foundation and is literally the place where oxen forded the Thames. It was this crossing point which eventually became the crossroads for the A40 & A34 roads which lead to Oxford's growth. Granted its market in the 12th century Oxford grew to become one of the major cities of southern England, at times rivaling London as a centre for the crown. Oxford is sited at around 60 metres above sea level, St Ebbe's' church is also at that height. Oxford's parishes were typically small, only covering the area of a few hundreds of metres in any direction. The city would have had a population of around 22,000 at the time of this transcript and St Ebbe parish was the most populous at that time supporting almost 4,200 of that population. In Domesday times Oxford received 13 mentions, the King, himself, being the principal landowner. As an urban centre it was deficient in the usual agricultural features but still a great source of revenue for the crown.

The Church

St Ebbe's church sits appropriately enough on the western side of St Ebbe's Street at its junction with Penny Farthing Lane. Documentary evidence dates the origins of the church to around 1141, there is no architectural evidence, however, earlier than circa 1170 within the western portal. The basal portion of the tower is 13th century, the western face showing the lancet window characteristic of the Early English Gothic period. The remainder of the church has been produced by successive major restorations, the first in the 1810s, a further major restoration in the 1860s and 20th century work in 1904. As a result little of the mediaeval building survives and today's church is probably unrecoginisable from that in which these events occurred. Like much of Oxford, the area around the church has little parking and much is pedestrianised, an approach on foot is encouraged. The church has no surviving churchyard being flush with the pavements around it and tightly enclosed by commercial properties making for a challenging building to adequately capture.