St Ebbes is a district of central

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, southwest of Carfax. St Ebbes Street runs south from the western end of Queen Street. __TOC__

Overview

The area takes its name from the parish church of St Ebbe's, dedicated to Saint Æbbe the Elder. The name was first recorded in about 1005, when the church and other nearby property was granted to

Eynsham Abbey Eynsham Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, in England between 1005 and 1538. King Æthelred allowed Æthelmær the Stout to found the abbey in 1005. There is some evidence that the abbey was built on the site of an earlie ...

. The parish extended to the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. By 1279 the area was known for property inhabited by the poorer townsfolk, and remained so until the middle of the 20th century. In 1818

gas works A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

were built on the north bank of the

in St Ebbes, to supply the city of Oxford with

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

. St Ebbes expanded significantly in the 19th century, and by 1882 there was no room to expand the gas works, and new

gasholder A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows t ...

s had to be built on the south bank of the river. A railway bridge (the Gasworks Bridge) was built across the river to connect the gas works to the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

line. The gas works were closed in 1960. The area was redeveloped between the 1950s and the 1980s.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 328 A new main road, Thames Street, was built through the area in 1968. Between 1970 and 1972 the Westgate Shopping Centre was built in St Ebbes, and much of the rest of the area became car parks. Only a few residential properties remain to the north of Thames Street. There is a small housing estate between Thames Street and the river, known as St Ebbes by the River. St Ebbe's Street runs south from Queen Street past Pembroke Street (on the right), to

Brewer Street Brewer Street is a street in the Soho area of central London, running for about 350 metres west to east from Glasshouse Street to Wardour Street. The street was developed in the late 17th century by the landowner Sir William Pulteney. It f ...

(on the right). There the street becomes "Littlegate". St Ebbe's

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 each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

in Pennyfarthing Place, on the corner with St Ebbes Street is now a conservative

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

congregation. St Ebbe's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Primary School is south of the river, outside St Ebbe's parish. The

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

photographer

Henry Taunt Henry William Taunt (1842–1922) was a professional photographer, author, publisher and entertainer based in Oxford, England. Birth Henry Taunt was born in Penson's Gardens in the parish of St Ebbe's, Oxford. His father Henry was a plumber a ...

was born at Penson's Gardens, St Ebbes, on 14 June 1842.

References

Sources and further reading

* * * *

External links

Photographs
on

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

. Areas of Oxford Streets in Oxford Odonyms referring to religion Odonyms referring to a building {{Oxfordshire-geo-stub

Overview

See also

References

Sources and further reading

External links