Cornmarket Street

Zacharias and Co. (colloquially known as "Zac's") was a waterproof clothing manufacturing firm and retailer based at 26–27 Cornmarket Street Oxford, England.Abraham Zacharias was a silversmith, jeweller, and watchmaker/clockmaker at 2 Cornmarket and 95 High Street in Oxford. He bought 27 Cornmarket and operated a china and glass warehouse here. Later, by 1880, Abraham Zacharias' son Joel Zacharias was in charge of the business. He married Rebecca Fankenstein from Manchester on 16 August 1882. By 1884, Joel Zacharias was selling waterproof clothing on the Oxford site. He also ran a branch in Manchester. In the late 1880s, Joel Zacharias expanded the business into 26 Cornmarket next door to the south. The two shops have been combined into a single premises one since this time. By around 1896 Joel Zacharias stopped selling china and glass to concentrate on the waterproof clothing business for which Zacharias and Co. became well-known. Joel Zacharias died in 1905 and the business was taken over by Henry Osborn King of Wolvercote. Henry King's son Cecil King later inherited the business. The original name Zacharias was retained until the business finally closed in 1983. The slogan "Zac's for Macs" was used by the business.The site of 26–27 Cornmarket Street subsequently housed a Laura Ashley shop. The building dates from the 15th century. It was completely dismantled and reconstructed closer to its original form. The building is owned by Jesus College, Oxford. The site now houses a Pret a Manger sandwich shop.

The Clarendon Centre (or Clarendon Shopping Centre) is a shopping centre in central Oxford, England, opened in 1984. The centre faces Cornmarket Street, and has other entrances onto Queen Street and Shoe Lane. The fascia onto Cornmarket Street is that of the Woolworths store which had, in a decision later criticised, replaced the Georgian Clarendon Hotel; it was discovered during demolition that medieval construction had been present within the hotel. The shopping centre was expanded in 2012–14. Major tenants include TK Maxx, H&M and Gap Outlet.

St Michael at the North Gate is a church in Cornmarket Street, at the junction with Ship Street, in central Oxford, England. The name derives from the church's location on the site of the north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded by a city wall. Since 1971, it has served as the ceremonial City Church of Oxford, and has joined the parishes of the two earlier City Churches with its own. The entire tower is accessible to the public, including the top which provides a view of the city as well as an original clockwork mechanism

The City Church in Oxford, England, is where the mayor and corporation (local government officials) are expected to worship. There have been three churches designated the City Church in Oxford, first established around 1122: St Martin's Church, Carfax (c. 1122–1896), demolished apart from the tower All Saints Church, High Street (1896–1971), deconsecrated and now the library of Lincoln College St Michael at the North Gate, Cornmarket (1971 onwards), the present City Church

Golden Cross (also previously known as the Cross Inn) is a shopping arcade at 5 Cornmarket Street 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. The building structures now on the site date from the late 15th century, when they were used as a traditional coaching inn, as is clear from its layout and historical documents. The collection of historic buildings in the Golden Cross courtyard to the east off Cornmarket Street, one of Oxford's main shopping streets. Golden Cross is now used as Oxford's branch of Pizza Express. The courtyard is used as a thoroughfare which leads to the historic Covered Market and has been redeveloped as a small shopping centre, with upmarket shops, a branch of iGlasses Opticians, Holland and Barrett and a Chinese herbalist. There is strong but circumstantial evidence to link the buildings with William Shakespeare, given his player's company's known performances in Oxford and the route from Stratford-on-Avon to London passing through Oxford. It is believed that Hamlet was performed in the inn courtyard and a signature that is reputedly his can be seen on the wall in the bursar's office on the first floor of the adjacent building occupied by New College, Oxford. The buildings were comprehensively restored in 1986/87 by Cordwell Property and Mal Parker of Dunthorne Parker Architects when the buildings were converted into a variety of retail uses, and a new structure carefully integrated into the existing building ranges to allow a sensitively constructed direct route through to the adjacent Covered Market. This covered market was constructed in 1774 so as to relocate the stalls previously pitched on the Cornmarket. but no direct access had been possible from the main retail street of Cornmarket up until the completion of this development. The poet Alexander Pope stayed here in 1735. The 15th century buildings have original timberwork and there are various examples of early wall paintings and hand painted wallpaper on the upper floors of the building, still easily accessible and viewable via the pizza restaurant that currently occupies the upper floors of the north range of buildings.

Boswells of Oxford was the largest independent family-run department store in Oxford, England. The store closed in 2020.The store first traded in 1738, and was the second oldest family-owned department store in the world. It was initially founded by Francis Boswell and located at 50 Cornmarket Street. Boswells started up in business manufacturing and selling luggage and trunks, and it is believed their wares were taken on Captain Cook's trip to explore the Southern Hemisphere. The business remained in the Boswell family until 1890 when there was no one left for direct succession. The ownership passed to Arthur Pearson, the then owner of the Oxford Drug Company. Boswells and the Oxford Drug Company are still owned by the Pearson family and, unusually for a Department Store, Boswells still contained a Pharmacy - right until it closed. In 1928, it expanded its premises with the main entrance moving to Broad Street, opposite Balliol College and close to the spot (marked with a cross in the middle of the road) where the Oxford Martyrs were burnt at the stake in the 16th century. The store was traditional in style and a local shopping landmark, particularly for toys, kitchenware, and luggage, continuing the tradition from 1738. It retained a smaller side entrance at the north end of Cornmarket Street, which was originally the Oxford Drug Company building. Its address is now 1–4 Broad Street. The company did not use an apostrophe in its name, although others sometimes mistakenly do so. In 2014, the store launched an e-commerce website to replace a purely marketing website and sold products from all its departments online. In 2015, Boswells expanded upstairs to create a new tearoom and customer toilets, and added a takeaway cafe in 2018. The store departments were: Basement – Cookshop and Kitchen Electricals, Hardware, Household Essentials, Lighting, Small Electricals, Tableware Ground Floor – Cosmetics, Accessories, Umbrellas and Bags, Gifts, Luggage, Pharmacy, Tourism, Broad Street Cafe First Floor – 1738 Tearoom, Toys and Games Second Floor – Bedding and Bathrooms, Customer Toilets, Haberdashery, Parcel Collection pointIn 2020, there was a closing down sale after 282 years of trading. The COVID-19 pandemic brought forward the closure of the store. The store closed due to the crisis, apart from the pharmacy, which closed on 11 April 2020.

The Northgate Hall at the present 18 St Michael's Street, Oxford, England is owned by Oxford City Council. It was built in 1870–1 as a United Methodist Free Church chapel and schools to the designs of J. C. Curtis. Until the twentieth century it was confusingly described as being in New Inn Hall Street, the former name for what is now St Michael's Street. It is a Grade II Listed Building.The following report in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 15 October 1870 describes the new building: METHODIST FREE CHURCH, NEW INN HALL STREET [now St Michael's Street]. The congregation at present assembling in the Old Quaker's Chapel have a new Chapel in course of erection in New Inn Hall-street. The site is on that portion of the old city walls whereon stables were lately built, and in digging for the foundation the workmen came upon one of the bastions in a state of perfect preservation, but part of it had to be removed for the new erection. The building will be in the Grecian Doric style of architecture, from the designs of Mr. J. C. Curtis, Mr. Dover being entrusted with the contract. It is to be 52 feet in length and 48 feet in breadth, comprising two storeys, on the basement being the schools, and above the chapel, with the chapel-keeper's residence and other necessary offices. The chapel will accommodate about 500 people, and the contractor anticipates finishing the work before March next, although we believe the stipulated time is the last day in January. The site is held on a lease from the Corporation for 75 years, and the total cost, inclusive of the lease, is estimated at £1500. It was renamed the Northgate Hall in the late 1920s. Following Methodist Union in 1932 the building was no longer needed by the Methodists as the Wesley Memorial Church was only about 100 m away. From 1933 until the summer of 1989 the Northgate Hall served as the base for the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (OICCU). In 1991 Sir Ian McKellen opened the Oxford Lesbian and Gay Community Centre at the Northgate Hall, and it remained here until 2004. Also from 1991 it was the home of the Gatehouse, a drop-in centre for homeless people set up by churches in the centre of Oxford. In 2001, it suffered damage from a fire.The Gatehouse remained in part of the building, but in January 2011 the City Council issued a statement that they were giving it notice to move out, citing financial pressures and the fact that the building was underoccupied as users of other parts of the building had left. Gatehouse moved to new premises in 2012.From 2013 to 2020 the former hall was occupied by the Bill's Oxford restaurant. The lease of the whole building was sold in 2022, and in November that year a planning application was approved for change of use from a restaurant back to its original function as a chapel and church hall.

St Mary's College was a former college in Oxford, England. It is not to be confused with the two other colleges also named "St. Mary's", more commonly known as Oriel College and New College. In the 15th Century, the canons of Oseney Abbey attended lectures at Oxford University. Sometimes other Augustinian canons were allowed to stay at Oseney for the same purpose. However, this was by favour rather than by right. Therefore, in 1421, at a meeting of the Augustinian order in Leicester, a petition was sent to King Henry V to found a college for the order in Oxford. A site was found at the eastern end of what is now the modern frontage of Balliol College. However, this scheme was abandoned because the King died in 1422. Later, in 1435, Thomas Holden and his wife Elizabeth founded St Mary's College, donating land in the parishes of St Michael's North, and St Peter le Bailey, and also building a chapel. Rules were created by the Abbot of Oseney in 1448. Secular clerks could also be admitted, but had to pay for their accommodation. The college was headed by the prior studentium. The construction of the college was slow and Thomas Wolsey attempted to accelerate construction. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the college fell into disrepair.The college was located on the east side of New Inn Hall Street and a gateway still remains. The rebuilt buildings are known as Frewin Hall, named after Richard Frewin (or Frewen), a scholar at Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated in 1698) and later a Professor of Chemistry. On 2 June 1582, Brasenose College leased the house to Griffith Lloyd. For many years the house was the official residence of the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University. In 1860, Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, was briefly in residence at Frewin Hall with his tutors. The surviving buildings of the medieval college and the Norman town house that preceded it have been studied by Professor John Blair, who has reconstructed the plan of the site. The Tudor hammer-beam roof of the lost chapel was re-used in the 17th-century chapel of Brasenose College, where it now remains above a plaster ceiling. Ruins of the college were uncovered during excavations on the site in 2022.

Carfax is the junction of St Aldate's (south), Cornmarket Street (north), Queen Street (west) and the High Street (east) in Oxford, England. It is considered to be the centre of the city. The name "Carfax" derives from the Latin quadrifurcus via the French carrefour, both of which mean "crossroads". The Carfax Tower, also known as St. Martin's Tower (it is the remaining part of what was the City Church of St. Martin of Tours) is a prominent landmark and provides a look-out over the town.

Oxford time is the custom of having scheduled events occur five minutes past the specified time. It is a peculiar tradition of timekeeping in Oxford, especially in connection with the University of Oxford.

The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, UK, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest university unions and one of the world's most prestigious private students' societies. The Oxford Union exists independently from the university and is distinct from the Oxford University Student Union. The Oxford Union has a tradition of hosting some of the world's most prominent individuals across politics, academia, and popular culture ranging from Albert Einstein and Michael Jackson to Sir Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, and Queen Elizabeth II. Many former Presidents of the Union have gone on to hold high office in the UK and Commonwealth, including William Gladstone, Ted Heath, Boris Johnson, and Benazir Bhutto.

St 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. Northgate Hall is located here. Also to be found off the street is the debating chamber of the Oxford Union, a leading student society in the University of Oxford. Vanbrugh House at No. 20 is of particular architectural note as being "almost a parody of Blenheim" according to Pevsner.There is a blue plaque, installed on 2 July 2002 by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board, for the prison reformer Felicia Skene (1821–1899), located at 34 St Michael's Street.