160 
O X F 
chite&ure will difcover, in the very curious buttrefles and 
northern window of the eaft front, the remarkable fquare 
door on the north fide, and in the defign of the tower, a 
peculiar charadter in the proportions, mouldings, and or¬ 
naments, belonging to that period, and not to a later. 
Nor is the mafonry of this raoft ancient work unworthy 
of remark : the eaft and north walls are nearly twice as 
old as that of the fouth aide, but are yet far more fub- 
itantial and ftrong ; and, to the decay of the fouth wall, 
and its being the molt feen, muft be chiefly attributed 
the fear of fome accident, and the demand for a new 
church. The bold undertaking of opening fpacious win¬ 
dows where only lancet-arches were originally defigned, 
has, in this church, been executed with peculiar fuccefs; 
and their magnitude and beautiful tracery, particularly 
that of the great eaft window, excites no regret at thefe 
alterations, which, in many cafes, have proved dangerous 
ar.d mifchievous. On the fouth fide are three handfome 
windows ; and between them and a double tier of fmall 
windows is the door, once a pointed arch, but altered 
in the year 1624 to a heavy Doric frontifpiece. At the 
fame time, the pediment of the eaft end was deformed as 
it now appears, and the heavy clock and chimes placed 
by its fide. The upper, or clere, ftory, has four windows 
on the fouth, and the fame number on the north fide, 
where, in the aifle beneath, are large windows, the molt 
weftern of them containing tracery like the elegant eaft 
window of the fouth aifle. The tower is without a door; 
but each fide has a long narrow window, fpreading to a 
confiderable width infide, where it is quite plain, and 
fufficiently maflive to withftand afiege, if required. The 
upper ftory of the tbwer is lefs ancient ; each fide has a 
window, and the whole a parapet of carved blocks and 
battlements. 
The architecture of the interior of this church is very 
noble. The aiftes are feparated by three arches on each 
fide, fupported by odtagonal columns, capitals, and bafes, 
and are beautifully proportioned, very lofty, fpacious, 
and uniform. The divifion of the body and chancel was 
formerly made at the molt ealtern column of each fide by 
a very elegantly-carved wooden fcreen, portions of which 
ftill remain unobfcured and uninjured; over this flood 
the ancient rood-loft; but, together with this fcreen, this 
alfo was removed, except the canopy, which is a richly- 
carved oak cove, quite entire. The roof of thenave'is 
ancient, fubdivided by arches and ribs, the whole of it 
painted, and the cornice ornamented with ftiields and 
arms. At the weft end of the body, before the arch of 
the tower, and between the two entrances to the church, 
Hands the font, raifed on a ftep. Its form is odtagonal, 
with a niche and figure in each face ; at the angles are 
pannelled buttrefles, and on the parapet quatrefoils and 
ftiields. In Oxford there are a few more ancient fonts, 
but certainly none more curious, notwithftanding that, 
between wanton injury and the whitewalh of centuries, 
it is much defaced. 
The abfence of neatnefs, and confequent gloominefs, 
of the interior of this church, and, above all, the ufelefs 
bulk of the galleries, and ill-difpofed cumbrous pews, 
which occupy much mere room than is neceflary, are among 
the objeftions to the prefent building. And we fuppofe 
it to be a preliminary to removing the whole edifice, that- 
a group of ancieijt and very-pidturefque houfes, conti- 
guous'to the church-yard on the north fide of the church, 
have been demolilhed ; and the large plot of ground which 
fora confiderable period has been thus occupied, is laid 
open to the fpacious ftreet leading towards St. Giles’s 
church, But, whether any building of magnitude and 
ufe, or merely an obelilk, is to be eredted within that fpace, 
js not known at prefent. 
St, Ebb's, fo called from Ebba, daughter of Ethelfrid 
jdng of. Northumbria, lias, we underftand, been re-built, 
gnd was. opened Feb, 9, 1B17. 
St. Giles's. It is conjectured that thofe churches which 
were dedicated in former times to St. Giles, the patron 
O R D. 
faint of lepers^ufually occupied a pofition at one extre¬ 
mity of the town to which they belonged, and were in¬ 
tended principally for the refort of thofe perfons afflicted 
with the leprofy, and who refided in an hofpital near the 
fpot. The church thus dedicated at Oxford, Hands at its 
northern extremity, a confiderable diftance beyond the 
gate called Bocardo, which joined, or very nearly fo, the 
ancient tower of St. Michael’s church. St. Giles’s church 
is the molt extenfive of the parilh-churches contained in 
this city. It is compofed of architecture of various pe¬ 
riods ; the molt ancient of which, appearing in the tower, 
and in the mafiive and plain pointed arches by which it 
is fupported, belong to the twelfth century, the age when 
fome of the charafteriftic features of the Norman ftyle 
were united to thofe belonging to the pointed arch. The 
body of this church is compofed of three very handfomely- 
proportioned allies, which are each fpacious and well 
lighted ; the centre by a clere ftory of windows, and the 
fide-ailles by lancet-windows, which on the fouth fide are 
fingle openings, of lofty and narrow proportions, uni¬ 
formly placed on each fide an elegant Hone porch, which 
is the principal, and indeed now the only, entrance to the 
church. The north aifle is lighted by double and triple 
lancet-windows, in five divifions. ‘ Four of thefe di vifions 
are covered with pediments, which increafe the variety of 
the defign, and augment the elegance of this fide of the 
church, now the moll concealed from public view. The’ 
other component parts of this church are, a chancel, and 
a fouth aifle, the walls of which are not lefs ancient than, 
thofe of the body, having a lancet-window on the fouth 
fide, and another on the north fide; the other windows 
poflefs various forms, and are of various dates; and 
fo extenfively and injudicioully has the ealtern portion of 
the edifice been altered, that internally it appears gloomy 
and inelegant. Under the windows, towards the eaft end 
of the fouth aifle, are two receded arches and a pifeina. 
Every divifion of windows in the north aide has an arch 
extending acrofs from the great columns to the oppofite 
piers, where are brackets for their fupport. One of thefe 
arches has been destroyed ; and we may conjecture that 
each divifion or fpace of this aifle was formerly ufed as a 
chapel, having been feparated by wooden fereens which 
are now removed. Whether this conjedture be probable 
or not, a more reafonable one cannot perhaps be fuggefted 
that will lead us to account for the Angular variety ap¬ 
pearing in all the windows, fuch as double and triple 
openings ; fome with attached, others with infulated, 
columns; feveral of the arches are plain, and feveral are 
carved, with mouldings ; fome of the capitals plain, while 
others are enriched with exquifitely-fculptured foliage. 
The font is placed on a fub-bale at the weft end of this 
aille. It poflelfes confiderable elegance in defign, with 
great novelty, and was certainly conitrudted early in the 
13th century. Its general form is a fquare, the body 
being compofed of broad femi-circular mouldings divi¬ 
ded by rows of ornaments, and reding on a column with 
two (lender and detached columns at every angle. A 
well-proportioned pointed arch opens from the fouth aifle 
of the body to the aide of the chancel, which is now 
ufed as a veftry-room. A more fpacious arch divides the 
body and chancel. A large femi-circular arch opens the 
chancel to the fouth aide, which was made a chapel or 
chantry by one of the Fitzwarrens, and dedicated to the 
blefl’ed Virgin Mary. It contains a Hone feat for the of¬ 
ficiating prieft, and a pifein.a. The eaft window of this 
aille is peculiarly elegant, while the larger window of the 
chancel is quite plain. At the eaft end of. the north 
aide is a large marble monument, confiding of two 
arches, fupported on columns, and forming canopies to 
the kneeling figures of a male and female, and three chil¬ 
dren. Along infeription records the worth of Henry 
Bofworth, who was buried Jan. 3, 1633. A view of this 
church is added to the annexed Plate. 
The above are the churches principally worthy of no¬ 
tice 5 and, as difienters from the eftablilhed church are 
comparatively 
