Welcome to Oxmarket Contemporary’s History Blog  

Here The History Project Group will post findings from our History Project looking into Oxmarket Contemporary’s past fifty years as a Centre of Arts, as well as the history of the church building that it is in (St Andrew Oxmarket) and the site it sits on. 

The History Project Group began in 2024, lead by Rosina Pocknell the Ox’s historian (who has a First-Class BA Hons History degree from the University of Chichester), after the group uncovered the gallery's archives and read West Sussex Record Office Assistant Archivist Alison McCann’s 1978 booklet ‘The History of the Church and Parish of St Andrew Oxmarket Chichester’.  

2026 is the fiftieth anniversary of Oxmarket Contemporary, it was decided that it would be great to have an up-to-date version using Oxmarket Contemporary’s miscellaneous files. After two years of research with the help of volunteers (particularly Sue & Lorraine): 

 ‘50 Years a Centre of Arts 800 Years a Church’ was published in June 2026, which can be found in our shop. 

In this blog we hope to expand on this project, write about topics we couldn't include in our book further and keep archiving the story of the church/gallery.  

If you have any stories and photos of the Oxmarket or past exhibitions, please feel free to contact us so we can record it and maybe share it.