Headington

Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England.[1] It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames Valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. The life of the large residential area is centred upon London Road, the main road between London and Oxford.

Headington

The Headington Shark
Headington
Headington
Location within Oxfordshire
OS grid referenceSP5407
Civil parish
  • unparished
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townOxford
Postcode districtOX3
Dialling code01865
PoliceThames Valley
FireOxfordshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
Websitewww.headington.org.uk

History

The site of Headington shows evidence of continued occupation from the Stone Age, as the 2001 field excavations in Barton Lane found, suggesting a date in the 11th century BC. Pottery was found on the Manor Ground, suggesting an Iron Age settlement there in the 7th century BC. Roman kilns from about AD 300 have been found, including one now on display at the Museum of Oxford. Anglo-Saxon burial remains from about AD 500 have also been discovered.

Headington's toponym is derived from the Old English Hedena's dun, meaning "Hedena's hill", when it was the site of a palace or hunting lodge of the Kings of Mercia. In a charter of 1004, Ethelred II of England, "written at the royal ville called Headan dune", gave land in Headington to Frideswide's priory, which included the quarry and the area around it.

Church of England parish church of St Andrew in Old Headington

Henry I granted a chapel at Headington to the Augustinian canons regular of the Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford, when the priory was founded in 1122.[2] The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew was built in the middle of the 12th century and enlarged in the 13th century.[2][3] The bell tower was started in the 13th or 14th century[3] and completed in about 1500.[2] St. Andrew's was repaired in the 17th and 18th centuries.[2] The Gothic Revival architect J.C. Buckler restored the building[2] and lengthened the nave in 1862–1864.[2][3]

Headington developed rapidly in the early 20th century, significant amounts of housing developing around the medieval village, now known as Old Headington, around the original parish church of St Andrew. In 1927, it became an urban district separate from the Headington Rural District and in 1929 it was added to the city of Oxford. The other side of the London Road is called New Headington.[4]

The Manor Ground off London Road in Headington.

Oxford United were formed as Headington F.C. in 1893,[5] adding the suffix United in 1911 after merging with Headington Quarry. Until 2001 their home ground was the Manor Ground, which had its main entrance on London Road.[6] In 2001 Oxford United moved to the Kassam Stadium near Blackbird Leys.[7] The Manor Ground has since been demolished and a private hospital built on the site.[8]

The City of Oxford Silver Band began as the Headington Brass Band having been founded in the 19th century.

In 2002 a re-warding of the City created a ward called Headington representing both sides of the London Road, from Bury Knowle Park to Headley Way, with two elected representatives. The first councillors for this ward were David Rundle (2002–) and Stephen Tall (2002–2008). Ruth Wilkinson was elected to succeed Stephen Tall in May 2008, and Mohammed Altaf-Khan to succeed David Rundle in 2014.

Headington today

Headington has a large and growing population.[9] Headington's main employment sectors are medicine, education, and research. In the centre of Headington are a number of shops, pubs, cafés, restaurants, and other services. The area also includes the main campus of Oxford Brookes University, Ruskin College (which moved in its entirety from central Oxford to its Headington site in 2012), and the city's main hospitals, including the John Radcliffe, Nuffield and Churchill.

Headington's most famous modern landmark is The Headington Shark, made by John Buckley for local broadcaster Bill Heine in 1986.

Headington has a number of green spaces including Headington Hill Park, Bury Knowle park and South Park. Close by is Shotover Hill, a heath and woodland area with views over Oxfordshire, and listed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Warneford Meadow a wild grassland, bought in 1918 by public subscription for the adjacent Warneford Hospital, has been registered as a Town Green and has thus escaped development.

Sport and leisure

Headington has a non-league football team, Headington Amateurs, who play at the Barton Recreation Ground. Oxford United traditionally also played in the area at the Manor Ground: indeed they were originally known as Headington United. However they moved to the Kassam Stadium in 2001, leaving Headington behind.

Notable residents

J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, lived at 76 Sandfield Road in Headington from 1953 until 1968.

C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, moved to the district in 1921 (he was born in Northern Ireland in 1898) and lived there until moving to The Kilns at nearby Risinghurst in 1930. He lived there until his death in 1963.[10] Lewis is buried at Holy Trinity Church at Headington Quarry.

Elizabeth Jennings, a renowned poet, spent her latter years living at Unity House (8 St Andrew's Lane), which was formerly the home of Emily Ann Yockney, the sister of Lord Nuffield (William Morris).

A more recent resident was John Simpson, senior editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. A number of Oxford academics have lived in Headington over the years. They include Lord Krebs, David Marquand and Anthony Kenny. Sir Isaiah Berlin, the historian A. B. Emden, the chemist Dalziel Hammick, Lord Elton, Michael Ernest Sadler and John Johnson (the University Printer) were also among them. Others included the author Elizabeth Bowen, Robert Maxwell and his daughter Ghislaine Maxwell, and Lord Nuffield (William Morris) and Anne Diamond, the television presenter and author. Brian Aldiss, the science fiction writer, lived in Old Headington until his death in 2017. Emma Watson, Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter films, lives in Headington. She also attended Headington School. Joan Clarke Murray, one of the Enigma code breakers, lived at 7 Larkfields from about 1991 until her death in 1996.[11]

See also

References
  1. Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Headington". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. pp. 166–167. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
  2. Lobel, 1957, pages 157–168
  3. Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 336
  4. Stephanie Jenkins (7 August 2010). "Miscellaneous History: History of policing". History of Headington, Oxford. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
  5. Brodetsky, Martin; Brunt, Heather; Williams, Chris; Crabtree, David. "A history of Oxford United Football Club". Oxford United F.C. Archived from the original on 15 September 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  6. Dawkins, Andrew (21 October 2014). "What happened to England's lost football grounds?". BBC. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  7. "The Kassam Stadium". The Stadium Guide. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  8. "Hospital in U-turn over Nuffield title". Oxford Mail. 13 May 2003. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  9. "oxford.gov.uk" (PDF).
  10. John Visser (1994–2010). "Multimedia - Picture Album". Into the Wardrobe - a CS Lewis web site. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  11. Jenkins, Stephanie. "Joan CLARKE, later Mrs Murray (1917–1996)". Welcome to Headington, Oxford. Retrieved 19 September 2017.

Sources and further reading
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