Links to History Pages
- Archive News and Links
- Geology
- Archived Council Documents
- Minutes: 1 & 4 December 1894
- Allotment Committee October 1895
- A.G.M. 1st April 1901
- Minutes: 21st August 1914
- Minutes: 22+26 July 1918
- Election and Results December 1896
- Burial Grants Book
- Receipt and Payment Book
- Village History
- Maps
- Street Names
- Changes in Land Use
- St Nicholas Parish Church
- 1279 Hundred Rolls
- Brasenose Holdings 1525
- Manor House
- Civil War
- Forest Money
- Newspaper Articles 1643 to 1645
- Marston Murder Mystery 1770
- White Hart
- Gentlemen’s Magazine 1799, 1800
- Jack Russell
- Parish Council History
- Reverend Mortimer’s Induction
- Marston Quarterly Notes X-mas 1906
- St Nicholas School
- Reading Room
- By-Pass
- Residents Parking Archives 1
- Residents Parking Archives 2
- OxClean 2008
- Bibliography and References
Our Church
The first reference to the 'Chapel in Marston' is in 1122 when it is assigned to the Augustinian Canons of St. Frideswide. We can still see today part of the building work of the latter end of the C12th in the chancel arch, the arcade of the nave and the inner south door. This work was done when the church was endowed with land by the lord of the Manor of Headington. Further changes and additions continued in the 15th and 16th centuries. Very recently the vestry (built in 1977) has been enlarged.
By the right hand side of the vestry door visitors can find a list of the clergy responsible for the church from 1210, beginning with Osbert, son of Hereward, to the present day, with just a gap between 1529 and1637. The 16th century was a time of upheaval and religious change, but there is little evidence of how people reacted in Marston. The article on the Civil War records our knowledge of the effect on the church of the crisis of the English Civil War.
During the 18th and early part on the19th century Marston had no resident vicar, but was served by various clerics from the university. In 1849, Canon Richard Gordon was appointed vicar here. He had been vicar of Elsfield since 1832, and continued to live there, whilst a curate took most of the services in Marston. The first incumbent to live in a vicarage here was the Revd John Mortimer, who came in 1904 to a house built for a comparatively wealthy Marston family, and stayed for 46 years. He was a keen musician and trained the school choir as well as that in the church. His life here is marked by Mortimer Road and Mortimer Hall. A purpose built vicarage came later when Paul Rimmer was vicar.
Today, the church is at the heart of the village as it has been for almost 900 years. The interior and the graveyard are lovingly cared for by a willing team of volunteers, while the very active congregation play their full part in the community.
Taken from the history of St. Nicholas Church by Tony Kelly.
Printed in Marston Times January 2008
Reprinted by permission Jan Sanders Editor
