St. Peter-in-the-East

St Peter-in-the-East
Parish Church of St Peter-in-the-East
St Peter-in-the-East, now St Edmund Hall library
Location	Queen's Lane, Oxford
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	St Edmund Hall Oxford
Architecture
Style	Norman, Perpendicular Gothic
Years built	12th century
Administration
Diocese	Oxford

Coordinates: 51°45′13″N 1°15′00″W / 51.7535°N 1.2501°W / 51.7535; -1.2501

St Peter-in-the-East is a 12th-century church on Queen's Lane, north of the High Street in central Oxford, England. It forms part of St Edmund Hall, one of the Oxford University colleges. It is now deconsecrated and houses the college library for graduates and undergraduates. The churchyard to the north is laid out as a garden and contains a seated bronze statue depicting St Edmund as an impoverished student.

A church existed has existed on the current site since the late tenth century. In the 11^th century, it was replaced by a stone church, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book of c1085:

the church of St. Peter Oxenford holds of Robert two hides in Haliwelle...It was worth twenty shillings, now it is worth forty...

The church is believed to be named after the 5th-century church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome, Italy. In the early 12^th century, the church was renamed St-Peter-in-the-East to differentiate it from the Church of St Peter-le-Bailey, which was built in precincts of Oxford Castle. It was renamed St-Peter-in-the-East because of its location near the East Gate of the walled city of Oxford.

The Norman parts of the current church were built around 1140 by Robert D'Oilly, who was then Governor of Oxford. The church passed to the Crown from D'Oilly's heirs. In 1266, King Henry III gave it to Walter de Merton and as a consequence Merton College held the advowson for the church. The churches at Wolvercote and Holywell were originally chapels of ease of St Peter's.