![]() View northwest along Oxpens Road | |
Length | 0.3 mi (0.48 km) |
---|---|
Postal code | OX1 1 |
Coordinates | 51°44′59″N1°15′58″W / 51.74972°N 1.26611°W |
northwest end | Hollybush Row |
southeast end | Thames Street |
Oxpens Road is a road in central Oxford, England, linking west and south Oxford. [1] It is named after the marshy area of Oxpens, [2] next to one of the branches of the River Thames in Oxford. It forms part of the A420 road.
To the northwest, Oxpens Road becomes Hollybush Row, meeting at Frideswide Square, forming the major junction of the Botley Road, Park End Street and Hythe Bridge Street near the Saïd Business School and Oxford railway station (to the west of the city centre). To the southeast it becomes Thames Street, just north of the River Thames, and meets the junction with the south end of St Aldates near Christ Church Meadow (to the south of the city centre). It forms part of an inner ring road for the southwest part of the centre of Oxford.
Halfway along is the Oxford Ice Rink, a distinctive 1984 building by Nicholas Grimshaw, [2] which is the home of the Oxford City Stars ice hockey team. One of the campuses of the City of Oxford College is located here on the north side. The road crosses the southern end of the Castle Mill Stream just before it reaches the River Thames.
Oxpens Road also provides access to major car parks for the centre of Oxford, including the Westgate Shopping Centre. A redeveloped and greatly expanded shopping centre opened in 2017, but there have been concerns over the imposing and largely windowless wall at the southwest of the redevelopment on Oxpens Road by conservationists, including the Oxford Civic Society. [3]
Before 1850, Oxpens Road was known as Nun's Walk. This area used to be the location of a gasworks by the river. [4]
The locality was one of the poorer quarters of central Oxford. In the 1950s and 1960s there was large-scale clearance of the area, known as The Oxpens. Many residents were moved to Blackbird Leys, an estate consisting largely of council housing on the outskirts of southeast Oxford and close to Morris Motors Limited in Cowley, which provided employment. The area around Oxpens was almost entirely redeveloped during the second half of the 20th century.
Close to Oxpens Road on St Thomas Street was the Morrells Brewery (aka The Lion Brewery), near the Castle Mill Stream, which closed in 1998. [5]
Oxford is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. Founded in the 8th century, it was granted city status in 1542. The city is located at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Cherwell. It had a population of 163,257 in 2022. It is 56 miles (90 km) north-west of London, 64 miles (103 km) south-east of Birmingham and 61 miles (98 km) north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world; it has buildings in every style of English architecture since late Anglo-Saxon. Oxford's industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing, science, and information technologies.
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Botley is a village in the civil parish of Botley and North Hinksey, in the Vale of White Horse district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England, just west of the Oxford city boundary. Historically part of Berkshire, it stands on the Seacourt Stream, a stream running off the River Thames. The intersection of the A34 and A420 is to the village's north.
Jericho is a historic suburb of the English city of Oxford. It consists of the streets bounded by the Oxford Canal, Worcester College, Walton Street and Walton Well Road. Located outside the old city wall, it was originally a place for travellers to rest if they had reached the city after the gates had closed. The name Jericho may have been adopted to signify this 'remote place' outside the wall. As of February 2021, the population of the Jericho and Osney wards was 6,995.
The A420 is a road between Bristol and Oxford in England. Between Swindon and Oxford it is a primary route.
Osney or Osney Island is a riverside community in the west of the city of Oxford, England. In modern times the name is applied to a community also known as Osney Town astride Botley Road, just west of the city's main railway station, on an island surrounded by the River Thames, Osney Ditch and another backwater connecting the Thames to Osney Ditch.
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Winchester Road is a road in North Oxford, England. It runs north–south between and roughly parallel with Woodstock Road to the west and Banbury Road to the east. It is in a desirable area with high house prices.
St Ebbes is a district of central Oxford, England, southwest of Carfax. St Ebbes Street runs south from the western end of Queen Street.
Hythe Bridge Street is in the west of central Oxford, England, forming part of the A4144 road.
Castle Mill Stream is a backwater of the River Thames in the west of Oxford, England. It is 5.5 km long.
Park End Street is a street in central Oxford, England, to the west of the centre of the city, close to the railway station at its western end.
Pullens Lane is in Headington, east Oxford, England. It is located at the top of Headington Hill, leading north off Headington Road to Jack Straw's Lane and Harberton Mead. The cul-de-sac Pullens Field leads off west from Pullens Lane.
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Frideswide Square is a square to the west of central Oxford, England. The square is named after the patron saint of Oxford, St Frideswide.
Morrell's Brewing Company, also known as the Lion Brewery, was the only major brewery in Oxford, England. It operated between 1782 and 1998.