Jericho, Oxford

Encyclopedia : J : JE : JER : Jericho, Oxford

Jericho, looking north down Walton Street from the southeast corner of the neighbourhood. Oxford University Press is on the left hand side.

Jericho is an historic area of the English city of Oxford. Located outside the old city wall, it was originally a place for travellers to rest if they had reached the city after the gates had closed. With backstreets of 1930s terraced housing and many restaurants, it has become a popular location for student accommodation. In the 1950s it was a red light area with a pornography cinema (now the independent Phoenix Cinema).

Looking from the Oxford Canal towards Jericho. The tower of St Barnabas' Church is prominent in the background.

The Anglo-Catholic church St Barnabas' [St Barnabas Church Website] is the Church of England parish church in Jericho, next to the Oxford Canal. The Jericho Street Fair is held in mid-June each year, around the feast day of the patron saint Barnabas (11 June). The Albert Street Chapel [The Albert Street Chapel website] (Reformed Baptist) is also in the neighbourhood. The Oxford Oratory [The Oxford Oratory website] with a shrine for Our Lady of Oxford is nearby in Woodstock Road.

Boaters protest about the proposed sale of the Jericho Boatyard on the Oxford Canal, 2005

The Oxford Synagogue (one of the few in England with more than one denominations of Judaism worshipping in the same house) and the Oxford Jewish Centre [Oxford Synagogue] are located in Jericho.

The Oxford University Press and St Sepulchre's Cemetery are located in the area off Walton Street.

Philip Pullman set parts of his novels Northern Lights and Lyra's Oxford in Jericho. In the books, Jericho is home to the water-dwelling "Gyptians". He has been a vocal advocate of the residential boaters fight to save the boatyard [Portmeadow.org]. British Waterways plans to sell the 160-year-old wharf known as the Castlemill Boatyard. This is at odds with the opinions of some boaters, some Jericho residents, and the Oxford City Council. Yet, it has persisted in closing the boatyard.

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