St Giles’ Church, Oxford - Parish Profile
St Giles’ Church is situated at the north end of the main road of St Giles where it divides into
the Woodstock and Banbury Roads. It was built in the 12th century and, although there have
been many modifications since that time, it is one of the oldest buildings in Oxford. It is half
a mile north of the centre of the city and much of the parish is now dominated by buildings
and institutions associated with the University. The church is very close to a busy street of
shops and restaurants and there are many offices within easy walking distance of this
church. Main pedestrian thoroughfares pass by the north and south doors of the church.
The Radcliffe Quarter is close to the church and this is currently under redevelopment as a
major university site for humanities. There are few permanent residents within the parish,
probably around 500. The census estimates the population of the parish at 2600 but the age
profile indicates that the great majority of these are students. At the northern edge of the
parish there is one small housing estate for elderly residents.
Over the past fifteen years, the church and its surroundings have been developed so that
they provide more of a resource to the community. The churchyard was opened up and
seating placed in it so as to provide a green space open to the public in this otherwise urban
setting. Vestries were built within the church to facilitate the work of the church and enable
the building to be used more easily for non-worship events. More recently a new heating
system was introduced into the church which now enables the church to be comfortably
used throughout the year. The adjacent Parish Rooms have also been refurbished and are
now a well-used resource for the local community and hosts The Gatehouse, a local charity
for homeless people.
St Giles’ church hosts various activities during the year, including Quiet Days, Prayer
Stations, Lunch-time talks, and autumn series of Jazz concerts, musical events and art
exhibitions. The church is kept open at lunch-time on five days of the week. To enable this,
we employ a church steward. In the southern churchyard there is a labyrinth which
incorporates various tombstones in its lay-out
St Giles’ Church has a long tradition of working with the homeless and disadvantaged
members in our community. At present this takes the form of housing the activities of The
Gatehouse, making a shower available to homeless people on Saturday mornings and
hosting AA and NA groups in our Parish Rooms. Members of the congregation also support
the work of the Gatehouse by providing sandwiches on one day a month. The Vicar is
currently chair of Trustees of The Gatehouse.
Pattern of Worship
The worship at St Giles’ takes a traditional Anglican form and can be described as being of a
central churchmanship. The church is noted for providing a very welcoming environment to
many visitors to this country who are in Oxford for a short stay. Within the congregation
there is a core of retired people coming from an academic background. This mix creates
promotes an environment for wide-ranging and stimulating conversations after the services.
The Sunday Services are:
8:00am
Holy Communion
BCP
10:30am
6:30pm
Holy Communion
Evensong
Common Worship, Rite B
BCP
There is a choir to assist the worship at most of the 10:30am and 6:30pm services. Originally
the choir was an all-male choir (men and boys) but this has been substantially developed in
recent years. There is now a choir academy which trains around 24 boys and 10 girls. There
is also a mixed choir that sings at some of the services.
The average attendance at these services in 2014 was:
8:00am – 7; 10:30am – 43 communicants, 58 attending; 6:30pm – 37
The recent growth of the choir has caused a significant rise in the attendance at the
10:30am and 6:30pm services which is not reflected in the figures for 2014.
During the week there is a said service of Evening Prayer from Monday to Saturday at
5:30pm. On Wednesdays there is a said service of Holy Communion (Common Worship,
traditional language) at 12:30pm. On Fridays at 1:15pm there is a Taizé service. All of these
weekday services are held in the Lady Chapel. The Lady Chapel is kept as a quiet place of
prayer for visitors to the church.
The only other regular services held in the church are those which celebrate a major Church
Festivals, e.g. Christmas and Good Friday. In 2014 there were three baptisms and five
funerals and (unusually) no weddings.
Parish Life
Besides the regular pattern of worship, there are several ways in which the church of St
Giles’ strives to develop the faith of its members and connect with the wider society. These
are:
1) Quiet reflection – Every weekday the church is open between noon and 2:00pm and
for Evening Prayer at 5:30pm. We try to encourage people to come in and enjoy the
space to reflect on life and become more aware of God.
2) Thursday lectures – Each academic term St Giles’ runs a course of lectures at
Thursday lunch-time. Over the past few years these have been on topics associated
with prayer and spirituality.
3) House Group – A house group has recently been set up and meets fortnightly in the
church.
4) Discussion group – An on-going Bible Study Group meets twice a month which over
the summer months becomes the group in which adult candidates are prepared for
confirmation.
5) Concerts & Exhibitions – St Giles’ offers a wonderful space for small scale concerts
and exhibitions. Using St Giles’ for exhibitions has been going on for many years and
has drawn in a wide range of artists and sculptors. Three groups of people facilitate
these happening.
6) Choir & Choir Academy – Music and choir training continually draw people to join
the congregation of St Giles’. The parents of the choir boys and girls also participate
widely in the life of St Giles’, including manning the church during the Fair. (The aim
of the Choir Academy is to provide a wide ranging musical training in voice, piano,
organ and music theory.)
7) Bells – A recently renovated peal of eight bells and a committed band of ringers
continues the tradition of English bell-ringing. (This tradition has been part of the life
of St Giles’ for many years, being immortalised in John Betjeman’s poem “Before the
Anaesthetic”.) There is an on-going source of people being trained up as the next
generation of ringers.
St Giles’ Church is also occasionally used as a training venue for ordinands from Wycliffe
Hall.
Parish Rooms
There are three main rooms, a kitchen and toilets in the Parish Rooms. The main hall of the
Parish Rooms is used for a variety of events in the week. It is used for church related
activities whenever they are required. Otherwise it is used by The Gatehouse, Alcoholics
Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, a group of belly dancers and people performing Tai Chi.
It is also used for parties and some student events. The main room upstairs is rented out on
a long lease to a local Hotel as a staff rest room.
Current Developments
St Giles’ Church is in a major period of transition with many changes going on as it modifies
its character and widens its age profile. The choir and choir academy have been major
drivers in bringing young families into the life of the church. This in turn has encouraged a
Sunday school to be formed. An autumn series of Jazz concerts has caused more people to
take note of St Giles’, the renovated bells have revitalised the life of bell-ringing, evening
prayer on weekdays has formed a nucleus of people regularly praying together and housing
the Gatehouse has given our work in the community a real sense of purpose.
A number of small scale building projects are currently in hand to enable the process of
growth. A new web-site (shortly to be released) and new noticeboards are all directed at
making better connections with the wider community. The series of talks, quiet days and
prayer stations are all endeavouring to help people develop their spiritual life. Within St
Giles’ there is a real desire to welcome people and encourage them on their journey of faith.
The maintenance of such an old building is an on-going issue to be considered. However,
over the next few years there will need to be a major project to restore/ rebuild the organ.
This work may be used as an opportunity to develop a set of small rooms at the west end of
the church and redecorate the whole of the building.
St Giles’ is a growing church currently gaining a higher profile in the life of the local
community. We are seeking to encourage and develop the reach of our church.
St Margaret’s Church, Oxford - Parish profile
St Margaret’s Church is set in suburban north Oxford at the western end of St Margaret’s
Road where it meets Kingston Road. Around half of the housing in this area is Victorian,
being built for the dons and college staff and servants of the time. The foundation stone of
the church was laid on 8th May 1883 and is contemporary with its immediate surroundings.
The other half of the housing in the area west of the canal has been built in the past twenty
years. This housing development has brought a large number of young families into the
area. The population estimated by the last census was 6100.
Although many of the people in the parish have a connection with the University, this is a
residential parish which is not dominated by university and college properties. However, the
following properties associated with the University do lie with the parish: St Hugh’s College
and St Antony’s College and several blocks of student rooms and flats.
St Margaret’s Church has a major influence on the life of the local community through its
ownership or management of two other major buildings associated with the Church. The St
Philip & St James Primary School is a voluntary aided school and has a capacity of 420 pupils.
The St Margaret’s Institute is a community centre on a 999-year lease to the parish which is
managed for the community by church and community members. There are very few shops
in the parish and thus much of the life of the community is related to the use of the church,
community centre and the school.
Pattern of Worship
St Margaret’s is a parish church with a tradition of liberal catholic worship. It has a strong
musical tradition and at major festivals the choir can be up to forty strong. Members of the
congregation are mainly from an academic or professional background and the age profile is
relatively uniform between 0 and 85years. The only exception being a dearth of people in
their late teens as they prepare for A-levels and move on to higher education. Young
families form a sizeable core of the congregation and this aspect of the fringe of the church
has grown significantly over recent years.
On Sundays the pattern of services is as follows:
8:00am
10:30am
6:00pm
Holy Communion
Parish Eucharist
Evening Prayer
BCP
Common Worship (modern language)
BCP
The average attendance at these services in 2014 was:
8:00am – 9; 10:30am – 67 communicants, 92 attending; 6:00pm – 9
During the week there is a said Eucharist on Thursdays a celebration of Holy Communion at
9:00am (average attendance 4). Morning Prayer has been said at 8:30am on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursday and Fridays, and at 9:00am on Saturdays, the attendance being
mainly clergy and ordinands. On Fridays there is a Toddlers service at 9:00am at which there
are usually between 30 and 40 people present. On Saturday mornings there are child
focussed activities. On the first Saturday of the month there is a craft-focused morning and
on the other Saturdays there is a music-training session for young children. The craft
mornings bring in up to 100 people and the music training around 40 people from week to
week.
In the past ten years, a great number of building projects have been completed. These
include: rebuilding the organ, installing a dais, re-ordering the Lady Chapel, reroofing the
Lady Chapel, renovating the bell and renewing the kitchen. At present, there are no major
building projects being carried out apart from ongoing maintenance. There is a desire to
redecorate the interior of the church and a need to find more space to accommodate our
work with young people and increase our ability to use St Margaret’s as a venue for
community activities and events.
Parish Life
There are many facets to the life of St Margaret’s Church. In addition to the worshipping life
of the church, the following activities are in place:
1) Prayer Support Group – This was set up nearly ten years ago. A group of ten people
pray for one another at least weekly. Group members meet occasionally to discuss
issues which are developing in their lives.
2) Discussion Groups - These are run throughout the year and strive to develop people
understanding of their faith. Confirmation classes for young people and adults are an
annual feature of parish life. All groups are open to members of both St Margaret’s
and St Giles’.
3) Children and Young Families – Currently we have three Sunday Schools which cater
for different ages, from 0 to 18years. On Saturdays there are craft and music
activities organized for the younger children.
4) SS Philip & James School – There are many links between the church and our
primary school. These include weekly assemblies, monthly “values” assemblies,
church visits, services in church, Family services and providing seven school
governors. We aim to encourage a Christian ethos whilst respecting that many faiths
are represented by members of the school. In the most recent SIAS report was the
school was judged to be outstanding.
5) St Margaret’s Institute – The church leases and runs this Community Centre on
behalf of the community.
6) Links with the community – Our web-site aims to provide ready access to
information on the life of the church community. We encourage the community to
hold concerts and choir rehearsals in church.
7) Charitable Giving - We are working towards a greater awareness and involvement
with our charitable giving. We now give £6000 of our income to 12 charities; local,
missionary & world-wide.
Current Developments
The life of St Margaret’s Church is healthy, outward looking and has good contacts with the
younger families in the area. There are several areas in which provide opportunities for
further growth. These are:
1) Pastoral care – In the past few months, a project is being funded by St Margaret’s to
enable an employee of Age UK to work in this parish to improve the care of older
people in the community. The effectiveness of this project will be assessed in about
a year’s time. It has been set up as a joint church and community project.
2) Spiritual Growth – The programme to develop the spiritual life of the adults
attached to St Margaret’s needs to be re-enlivened. The extent of what we offer has
been reduced over recent years and we need to provide more for younger adults.
3) Commitment – Many members of the church are involved in the wider activities of
the church in the community. However, there is a need to encourage people to take
on roles within the worshipping life of the church. There is also a need to increase
the level of financial giving amongst the members of the church to support its
ordinary operation.
4) Space – With the range of children’s activities on offer, St Margaret’s is a busy
church. We now find that our work with young people and our desire to serve the
local community is prompting us to think of increasing the facilities available to the
church.
A recent significant bequest to the church from a former member of St Margaret’s will
shortly be generating a substantial increase in our recurrent income. This will be used to
develop funding for additional support for:
1) The spiritual life of the church
2) Our work with young people
3) Our engagement with the wider community, both local and further afield.
It will also enable us to think about improvements to the church building, including its
decoration and the possible provision of additional space.
St Margaret’s is on the verge of an exciting phase of its development. Several areas of parish
life are ripe for expansion. Visitors often comment that this church has a sense of all
members being part of one family, a characteristic which we aim to continue.