St Martin's Church, Oxford

English Churches - Oxfordshire
St Martin's Church, Oxford Carfax tower is all that is left of a former city church

At the crossroads in the centre of Oxford and better known as Carfax Tower, this is all that is left of the C12th church of St Martin. This was the city church where the Lord Mayor and Corporation worshipped between 1122 - 1896. The church was unsafe by 1820 and was demolished apart from the tower. A splendid new church was built to replace it, but this was also pulled down in 1896 to make more room for traffic at Carfax. Just the tower was left standing. It still has its ring of six bells and a clock that strikes the quarter hours. The tower is owned by the City Council and is now the ticket office for the Hop On Hop Off bus. It is also possible to climb the tower for views of Oxford. After St Martin’s Church was demolished, All Saint’s’ Church on High Street became the City church. All Saints’ was declared redundant in 1971 and was taken over by Lincoln College for their library. St Michael at the North Gate is now the City Church. The C14th font is now in St Michael’s as well as the church silver. The post code is OX1 1ET and the grid reference is SP 513062.
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English Churches - Oxfordshire