St Ebbe's is a Church of England parish church

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 the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 in central Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 which is in the conservative evangelical

Conservative Evangelicalism

Conservative Evangelicalism is a term used in Britain to describe a theological movement found within Evangelical Protestant Christianity, and is sometimes simply synonymous with Evangelical within the United Kingdom...

 tradition. It has members from many nations, many of whom are students at Oxford University. The Rector is Vaughan Roberts

Vaughan Roberts

Vaughan Roberts is the Rector of St Ebbe's Church, Oxford, United Kingdom., an evangelical Anglican church, subscribing to a traditional eleven point evangelical doctrine. In 2009, he became president of the Proclamation Trust.-Life:...

, author and conference speaker.

The church holds Sunday morning and evening services both in central Oxford and in Headington

Headington

Headington is a suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames Valley below. The life of the large residential area is centred upon London Road, the main road between London and Oxford.-History:...

, and holds an additional morning service during Oxford University terms. The church also organises a range of small groups, meeting midweek, including a Christianity Explored

Christianity Explored

Christianity Explored is an informal Christian evangelistic teaching course developed by Rico Tice and Barry Cooper at All Souls Church, Langham Place, a leading evangelical Church of England church, and published by The Good Book Company....

 group aimed at those wanting to find out what Christians believe.

The church stands on the site of one dedicated to St Æbbe before 1005. Most sources suggest that this was the Northumbria

Northumbria

Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...

n St Æbbe of Coldingham, but it has been suggested that Æbbe of Oxford

Æbbe of Oxford

Æbbe was a saint venerated in medieval Oxfordshire. St Ebbe's church in the southern English city of Oxford had been verifiably dedicated to the saint by 1091...

 was a different saint. The name was first recorded in about 1005, when the church was granted to Eynsham Abbey

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 earlier minster, probably founded in the 7th or 8th...

.

The present church was built in 1814–16. It was enlarged and improved

Victorian restoration

Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...

 in 1866 and 1904. A fine Norman doorway of the 12th century has been restored and placed at the west end. The church is a parish church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 for the parish of St Ebbes

St Ebbes

St Ebbes is a district of central Oxford, England, southwest of Carfax. St Ebbes Street runs south from the western end of Queen Street.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...

, a portion of which was demolished to make way for the nearby Westgate shopping centre

Westgate Shopping Centre, Oxford

Westgate Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in central Oxford, England.- Overview :Westgate is located at the west end of Queen Street, where the west gate of the city of Oxford used to be situated. A car park, including a multistory section, is attached to the shopping centre, with access from...

 in the 1970s. The church has a ministry amongst the remaining part of the parish, although most of its members live outside the parish.

Former rectors include Thomas Valpy French

Thomas Valpy French

Thomas Valpy French was an English Christian Missionary in India and Persia, who became the first Bishop of Lahore, in 1877, and also founded the St...

, John Arkell

John Arkell

John Arkell was an English clergyman and a rower who won Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta.Arkell was born at Boddington, Gloucestershire. He was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he was a rower. He rowed for Oxford in the Boat Race in 1857, 1858 and 1859. Oxford won in 1857 but...

, Maurice Wood

Maurice Wood

Maurice Arthur Ponsonby Wood DSC was an Anglican bishop in the Evangelical tradition. He was a Royal Navy commando chaplain in World War II and later the Bishop of Norwich.-Early life and education:...

, John Stansfeld

John Stansfeld

John Stedwell Stansfeld was a doctor and Anglican priest in Oxford, England.He began his career as a civil servant in HM Customs and Excise. In 1877, he moved to Oxford, and later matriculated as a student at Exeter College, where he studied theology. He also studied part-time at Wycliffe Hall,...

, Basil Gough, Keith Weston and David Fletcher.

Sources and further reading