The name derives from the church's location on the site of the north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded by a city wall.

[4] The Oxford Martyrs were imprisoned in the Bocardo Prison by the church before they were burnt at the stake in what is now Broad Street nearby, then immediately outside the city walls, in 1555 and 1556.

A ceremony, called "beating the bounds", is held each year on Ascension Day to mark out the boundary of the parish.

[8] According to Margaret Murray (writing 1934), there was a sheela na gig figure at St Michael at the North Gate which had a tradition of being shown to brides on their wedding day.

[9] William Morris and Jane Burden (who lived off Holywell Street nearby) were married here on 25 April 1859.