St Clement's Church is an evangelical Church of England parish church situated just to the east of central Oxford, England. History The present church dates from the 1820s, but replaced a much older building, which was demolished in 1829. The old church St Clement's Church originally stood at what is now The Plain roundabout, where the roads from London and Henley cross the River Cherwell at Magdalen Bridge. It served both the small community of Bruggeset ("Bridge Settlement") that surrounded it as well as the largely rural area that eventually became East Oxford. The first written record mentioning the church was in 1122 when it was one of the royal chapels given to St Frideswide's Priory by King Henry I. Almost nothing is known of the appearance of the earliest church building, but recent scholarship suggests that a stone head now in the Ashmolean Museum may have originally been a brightly painted stone corbel from the 13th century church, suggesting that the earliest parishioners would have worshipped in a space rich in colour and carved stonework . In 1323, money was granted for the rebuilding of "the Church of St Clement beyond Petty Pont" (Magdalen Bridge) Most of the building demolished in 1829 dated from this time. John Peshall, writing in 1773 describes a church "composed of one isle thirteen yards long (exclusive of a chancel) and six yards and twenty inches broad. On the north-east and west side are galleries. Over the latter is a small capp’d tiled tower containing three bells". The churchyard was extended in 1781 The capped tower was replaced by a square one in 1816. John Henry Newman added a gallery to accommodate a new Sunday school in 1825, with Newman's friend Edward Pusey providing a stove for the children. Civil War St Clement's parish register for 1643 (OS) records "Capt. Slade, shot to death buried 12th Sept." and "Jan (9) Francis Cole executed for a spie & buried beside ye church privately without any ceremonie". During the Siege of Oxford (1644-1646) the church and parish were literally on the front line between the Parliamentary forces on Headington Hill and the Royalists in the city. It was reported that, as a consequence, "no parish suffered more severely" with whole streets being demolished to facilitate the building of fortifications or to prevent the enemy from taking cover. The 17th century Black Horse Inn and the church