Cornmarket Street
Encyclopedia
Cornmarket Street (often called just Cornmarket by Oxonian
s) is a major shopping street and pedestrian precinct in Oxford
, England that runs north-south between Carfax Tower and Magdalen Street
.
Retailers in Cornmarket include:
To the east is the small Golden Cross
arcade of small jewellery and craft shops in a historic courtyard, leading to the Covered Market. To the west is the indoor Clarendon Shopping Centre
that connects in an L-shape to Queen Street
.
Cornmarket was pedestrianised in 1999. In 2002, it was voted Britain's second worst street in a poll of listeners to the Today programme
. The rating was due largely to the first attempt to repave the street in 2001. This attempt was a failure as the granite sets laid extensively cracked and the contractor went into liquidation. In 2003 it was repaved yet again and new benches installed, amidst reports of budgetary problems.
and was investigated and restored in 1983.
Boswells of Oxford
established what is now the largest department store
in Oxford at 50 Cornmarket Street in 1738. In 1928 the shop opened a new main entrance on Broad Street, but it still retains an entrance on Cornmarket Street.
The Victorian
photographer Henry Taunt
set up a shop at 33 Cornmarket Street in 1869. It was a small shop and in 1874 he moved to larger premises in Broad Street
.
Woolworth's
bought the historic Clarendon Hotel on the west side of the street in 1939 to demolish it and build a new store on the site. Thomas Sharp
, in his report Oxford Replanned for Oxford City Council, warned that Oxford was already short of quality hotel accommodation and the Clarendon's demolition would be a mistake. Notwithstanding Sharp's advice, Woolworth's demolished the hotel in 1954–55. In earlier centuries the Clarendon had been the Star Inn. It was a complex of 16th and 17th century buildings, one of which had a vaulted Norman
cellar dating from the second half of the 12th century: possibly the oldest vaulted structure in Oxford. After demolition of all the buildings above the surface, parts of the 12th century vault were destroyed to make way for one of the columns of Clarendon House built in its place.
Clarendon House was designed by William Holford
and built in 1956–57. The facade is of coursed and squared rubble masonry
with panels of slate, which Nikolaus Pevsner
commended as tactful and elegant. The building is now part of the Clarendon Shopping Centre
.
The tower of the Church of england parish church
of St Michael at the Northgate
is the oldest building in Oxford. It is Saxon
and dates from about AD 1000–50. The church is named after the medieval gate of Oxford's city walls that spanned the north end of Cornmarket.
Near this church was the Bocardo Prison
, where the Oxford Martyrs
were imprisoned in 1555–56 before being burnt at the stake outside the town wall in what is now Broad Street
nearby.
Oxonian
An Oxonian is a member of the University of Oxford, England. The term is derived from Oxonia, the Latin form of Oxenford or Oxford. The term can also refer to an inhabitant of the city of Oxford, but is less used in this context.The matching word for Cambridge and the University of Cambridge is...
s) is a major shopping street and pedestrian precinct in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, England that runs north-south between Carfax Tower and Magdalen Street
Magdalen Street
Magdalen Street is a short shopping street in central Oxford, England, just north of the original north gate in the city walls.At the southern end, Magdalen Street meets Cornmarket Street continuing to the south, Broad Street to the east and George Street to the west. At the northern end it...
.
Retailers in Cornmarket include:
- Austin Reed
- Boots
- Boswells of OxfordBoswells of OxfordBoswells of Oxford is the largest independent department store in Oxford, England. It has been trading since 1738, initially located at 50 Cornmarket Street...
- Burger KingBurger KingBurger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
- The Clarendon Centre
- KFC
- McDonald'sMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
- Pret A MangerPret A MangerPret a Manger is a British sandwich retail chain based in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. The name "Pret a Manger" comes from the French prêt à manger, meaning "ready to eat", a reference to prêt-à-porter .The company was founded in London in 1986 by friends Sinclair Beecham and...
- StarbucksStarbucksStarbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
- WHSmith
- HMV
To the east is the small Golden Cross
Golden Cross, Oxford
Golden Cross is a shopping arcade in central Oxford, England. The original structure on the site dates from 1193, when it was called Maugershall after the then owner, and consisted of shops with an inn on the upper storeys...
arcade of small jewellery and craft shops in a historic courtyard, leading to the Covered Market. To the west is the indoor Clarendon Shopping Centre
Clarendon Shopping Centre
The Clarendon Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in central Oxford, England. It is located to the west of Cornmarket Street and to the north of Queen Street. It is accessible from both of these streets and is in the form of an L-shape between them...
that connects in an L-shape to Queen Street
Queen Street, Oxford
Queen Street is a shopping street in central Oxford, England. It is one-way for buses and taxis, two-way for cyclists outside main shopping hours, and forbidden for cars. It runs west from the centre of Oxford at Carfax...
.
Cornmarket was pedestrianised in 1999. In 2002, it was voted Britain's second worst street in a poll of listeners to the Today programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
. The rating was due largely to the first attempt to repave the street in 2001. This attempt was a failure as the granite sets laid extensively cracked and the contractor went into liquidation. In 2003 it was repaved yet again and new benches installed, amidst reports of budgetary problems.
History of shops
26–28 Cornmarket on the corner of Ship Street is a 14th century timber-framed building. It is the surviving half of a building completed in about 1386 as the New Inn. The building belongs to Jesus College, OxfordJesus College, Oxford
Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...
and was investigated and restored in 1983.
Boswells of Oxford
Boswells of Oxford
Boswells of Oxford is the largest independent department store in Oxford, England. It has been trading since 1738, initially located at 50 Cornmarket Street...
established what is now the largest department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
in Oxford at 50 Cornmarket Street in 1738. In 1928 the shop opened a new main entrance on Broad Street, but it still retains an entrance on Cornmarket Street.
The Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
photographer Henry Taunt
Henry Taunt
Henry William Taunt was a professional photographer based in Oxford, England. His studio was in Broad Street, Oxford.Henry Taunt was born in Penson's Gardens in St Ebbe's, Oxford...
set up a shop at 33 Cornmarket Street in 1869. It was a small shop and in 1874 he moved to larger premises in Broad Street
Broad Street, Oxford
Broad Street is a wide street in central Oxford, England, located just north of the old city wall.The street is known for its bookshops, including the original Blackwell's bookshop at number 50, located here due to the University...
.
Woolworth's
Woolworths Group
Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...
bought the historic Clarendon Hotel on the west side of the street in 1939 to demolish it and build a new store on the site. Thomas Sharp
Thomas Wilfred Sharp
Thomas Wilfred Sharp was an English urban planner and writer. He was born in Bishop Auckland in County Durham, England. He attended the local grammar school and then spent four years working for the borough surveyor...
, in his report Oxford Replanned for Oxford City Council, warned that Oxford was already short of quality hotel accommodation and the Clarendon's demolition would be a mistake. Notwithstanding Sharp's advice, Woolworth's demolished the hotel in 1954–55. In earlier centuries the Clarendon had been the Star Inn. It was a complex of 16th and 17th century buildings, one of which had a vaulted Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
cellar dating from the second half of the 12th century: possibly the oldest vaulted structure in Oxford. After demolition of all the buildings above the surface, parts of the 12th century vault were destroyed to make way for one of the columns of Clarendon House built in its place.
Clarendon House was designed by William Holford
William Holford, Baron Holford
William Graham Holford, Baron Holford was a British architect and town planner.-Biography:He was born in South Africa and educated at Diocesan College, Cape Town. He studied architecture at Liverpool University, where he won the Rome Scholarship in Architecture to the British School at Rome in 1930...
and built in 1956–57. The facade is of coursed and squared rubble masonry
Rubble masonry
Rubble masonry is rough, unhewn building stone set in mortar, but not laid in regular courses. It may appear as the outer surface of a wall or may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or cut stone....
with panels of slate, which Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
commended as tactful and elegant. The building is now part of the Clarendon Shopping Centre
Clarendon Shopping Centre
The Clarendon Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in central Oxford, England. It is located to the west of Cornmarket Street and to the north of Queen Street. It is accessible from both of these streets and is in the form of an L-shape between them...
.
St Michael at the Northgate
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 the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
of St Michael at the Northgate
St Michael at the Northgate
St Michael at the North Gate is a church in Cornmarket Street, at the junction with Ship Street, in central Oxford, England. The church is so-called because this is the location of the original north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded by a city wall....
is the oldest building in Oxford. It is Saxon
Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England, and parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing...
and dates from about AD 1000–50. The church is named after the medieval gate of Oxford's city walls that spanned the north end of Cornmarket.
Near this church was the Bocardo Prison
Bocardo Prison
The Bocardo Prison in Oxford, England existed until 1771. Its origins were medieval, and the most celebrated prisoners were the Protestant martyrs Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley in 1555.-History:...
, where the Oxford Martyrs
Oxford Martyrs
The Oxford Martyrs were tried for heresy in 1555 and subsequently burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for their religious beliefs and teachings....
were imprisoned in 1555–56 before being burnt at the stake outside the town wall in what is now Broad Street
Broad Street, Oxford
Broad Street is a wide street in central Oxford, England, located just north of the old city wall.The street is known for its bookshops, including the original Blackwell's bookshop at number 50, located here due to the University...
nearby.
Adjoining streets
- Broad StreetBroad Street, OxfordBroad Street is a wide street in central Oxford, England, located just north of the old city wall.The street is known for its bookshops, including the original Blackwell's bookshop at number 50, located here due to the University...
- George StreetGeorge Street, OxfordGeorge Street is a street in central Oxford, England. It is a shopping street running east-west. Its eastern end meets Broad Street at a crossroads with Cornmarket Street to the south and Magdalen Street to the north...
- High StreetHigh Street, OxfordThe High Street in Oxford, England runs between Carfax, generally recognized as the centre of the city, and Magdalen Bridge to the east. Locally the street is often known as The High. It forms a gentle curve and is the subject of many prints, paintings, photographs, etc...
- Magdalen StreetMagdalen StreetMagdalen Street is a short shopping street in central Oxford, England, just north of the original north gate in the city walls.At the southern end, Magdalen Street meets Cornmarket Street continuing to the south, Broad Street to the east and George Street to the west. At the northern end it...
- Market StreetMarket Street, OxfordMarket Street runs east-west in central Oxford, England.The street lies north of the Covered Market, a historic roofed market with permanent stalls that is still very much active today, and north of Lincoln College's Lincoln House accommodation complex. To the west is the major pedestrianised...
- Queen StreetQueen Street, OxfordQueen Street is a shopping street in central Oxford, England. It is one-way for buses and taxis, two-way for cyclists outside main shopping hours, and forbidden for cars. It runs west from the centre of Oxford at Carfax...
- St Aldate'sSt Aldate's, OxfordSt Aldate's is a street in central Oxford, England. It is named after Saint Aldate of whom little is known, although it has also been suggested that the name is a corruption of 'old gate', referring to the south gate in the former city walls. St Aldate's Church is on the west side of the street, in...
- St Michael's StreetSt Michael's Street, OxfordSt Michael's Street is a street in central Oxford, England. It runs between New Inn Hall Street to the west and Cornmarket to the east, with Ship Street almost opposite....
- Ship StreetShip Street, OxfordShip Street is a historic street that runs east–west in central Oxford, England.- Location :The street lies north of Jesus College and west of Exeter College, two of Oxford University's historic colleges. To the south, at the western end is the Junior Common Room and to the eastern end is the...