South Parade

This area of the Banbury Road and South Parade form the main shopping centre of Summertown and indeed of North Oxford.

To the west, South Parade leads into St Edward's School and the North Wall Arts Centre.

It is often claimed[1] that during the Civil War when Charles I was besieged by Oliver Cromwell at Oxford, South Parade was the Roundhead southern front, while North Parade was the location of the Royalist northern front during the siege of Oxford.

However, "[i]t is unlikely that the two sides would have come so close to each other without engaging in combat and, in any case, parade grounds are known to have existed elsewhere in and around the town".

[2] The Encyclopaedia of Oxford claims that "[i]n 1930, when Summertown became part of the city, Double Ditch was renamed South Parade, supposedly on the suggestion of a German professor said to be an authority on Oxford history" but other sources date the renaming to 1890–91.