Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/173

 CfK ^rcOafoIofffral Siourna JUNE, 1851. REMARKS ON THK CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, OXFORD. The few historical notices of St. Mary's Church which are to be produced on the present occasion have no claim to the credit of originahty. They are principally derived from sources of information which are universally accessible, and scarcely deserve to occupy your time, except so far as they may serve for an appropriate introduction to some observa- tions on the fal)ric, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the accomplished architect^ now employed in effecting the restoration of the Tower and Spire. The original foundation of St. Mary's Church has been referred by an ancient and certainly not incredible tradition to the great King Alfred. It is alleged that when, on the resuscitation of the Uni- rersity after its devastation by the Danes in the nintli
 * entury, that prince erected Schools of Grammar, of Arts,

ind of Theology within the walls of Oxford, the place of conferring degrees, and celebrating other public acts f»f the University, was transferred from its former situation, where ■^t. Giles's Church now stands, to the Church of St. Mary the V'irgin ;2 so called, as the learned President of Trinity College has observed, in contradistinction to the still earlier foundation of St. Frideswide's, which in the most ancient locuments is denominated, not St. Frideswide's, but St. Mary's " prope Tamesin."^ John Rous, or Ross, a Chantry Priest of Guy's Cliff in ihe county of Warwick, who wrote about the middle of the ' J. C. niicklcr, Esq. 3 Pcshall, 55. ^ Momorii.ls of Oxfonl. vol. iii. VOL. VIII. s