Oxford's pedestrianised retail spine, running north from Carfax to St Mary Magdalen church.
Cornmarket Street is the main pedestrianised shopping street in central Oxford, running north from Carfax Tower to its junction with Magdalen Street and George Street. As its name suggests, it was historically the site of Oxford's corn market.
For visitors today the street reads as standard high-street retail — but the buildings hide significant history. Number 3 Cornmarket was an inn, the Crown Tavern, owned in the early 1600s by John Davenant, a friend of William Shakespeare. The Painted Room on the first floor — decorated in the late sixteenth century with floral wall paintings — survives and is occasionally open to the public via the Oxford Preservation Trust.
Cornmarket meets the High Street, Queen Street and St Aldate's at Carfax, the historic crossing point at the centre of the city. Carfax Tower, all that remains of the medieval St Martin's Church, anchors the southern end.
Historical names: Northgate Street
Sources: Wikipedia: Cornmarket Street · OpenStreetMap
