Cornmarket Street

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cornmarket Street (often called just Cornmarket by Oxonians) is a major shopping street in Oxford, England that leads north from Carfax Tower towards St Giles'.

Cornmarket seen from the north

Located there is a variety of shops and businesses, including:

Cornmarket seen from the south, 2004; notice the newly-installed benches of unusual shape.

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.

In 2002, Cornmarket was voted Britain's second worst street in a poll of listeners to the Today programme. The rating was due largely to the concentration of buses that use the street. In 2003, it was repaved and new benches installed, amidst reports of budgetary problems.

[edit] St Michael at the Northgate

The Saxon tower of St Michael at the Northgate in Cornmarket Street.

Often missed by Oxford's shoppers in Cornmarket is the oldest building in Oxford, dating from 1040. The tower of St Michael at the Northgate is Saxon in origin. The church is so-called because this is the location of the original north gate of Oxford when it was a walled town. The Oxford Martyrs were imprisoned near here before they were burnt at the stake outside the city walls in what is now Broad Street nearby.