A Saxon wooden church stood here a thousand years ago, but this was burnt down in 1074. Robert D’Oyly, the Norman Constable of Oxford, built a single aisle chapel to replace the wooden church. Saint Hugh, the Bishop of Lincoln, rebuilt the church in 1194. Following the English Reformation, the church’s patronage passed from St Frideswide’s to Christ Church. In 1841–42, George Gilbert Scott, then young and unknown, rebuilt the chancel and the north aisle. This complemented his Martyrs’ Memorial just north of the church. It was the first Victorian Gothic interior in Oxford.

Compared to other Oxford churches, it is relatively high, with a strong emphasis on Anglo-Catholicism.