Oxenholme

Oxenholme is a village in England just south of the town of Kendal, with which it has begun to merge. It is best known for Oxenholme Lake District railway station on the West Coast Main Line. Because Oxenholme does not have its own church it is technically a hamlet.

Oxenholme
Station Inn, Oxenholme
Oxenholme Location within Cumbria
OS grid reference	SD530898
Civil parish	Kendal
District	South Lakeland
Shire county	Cumbria
Region	North West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	KENDAL
Postcode district	LA9
Dialling code	01539
Police	Cumbria
Fire	Cumbria
Ambulance	North West
UK Parliament	Westmorland and Lonsdale

Oxenholme railway station

History

Oxenholme station opened in 1847 as Kendal Junction and was renamed Oxenholme in 1860. The village grew around the station and is named after Oxenholme Farm. The station name had the suffix "Lake District" added in 1988.

The Grayrigg rail crash happened on 23 February 2007 between Oxenholme and Tebay on the West Coast Main Line.

Name

Oxenholme is named after a farm which name suggests was a cow farm. It is pronounced Oxen-Home. The village has always been called and spelt Oxenholme.

Governance

The village is part of the Kendal civil parish.

The village is in the Kendal South and Natland ward on South Lakeland District Council and is currently represented by the Liberal Democrat Jonathan Brook, Chris Hogg and Doug Rathbone. The village is in Cumbria but before 1974 was in Westmorland. On Cumbria County Council it is part of the Kendal South ward for which the councillor is Liberal Democrat Brenda Gray.

It is part of the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency and the MP is Liberal Democrat Tim Farron. It is in the North West European Parliamentary constituency.

Crime

Oxenholme has a low crime rate; during 2009 there was only one reported crime, involving a light cable being removed from a trailer.

Health

The village is part of the Cumbrian National Health Service area. Westmorland General Hospital, which is the local hospital, is located just outside the village.

Transport

Oxenholme station, located in the village, is a junction between the West Coast Main Line and the Windermere Branch Line. The A65 runs through the village and is close to the M6 motorway. The village has nine bus stops and is served by routes 41, 41Q and 561.

The nearest airports are Leeds Bradford (62 miles) and Teesside International (70 miles) and Manchester (78 miles).

Media

The local newspaper covering the area is The Westmorland Gazette.

Local radio includes BBC Radio Cumbria, Heart North West and Smooth North West.

The village is covered by both the ITV Border and BBC North West TV regions.

Oxenholme in the news

Oxenholme appears in the news more often than a typical settlement of its size. Most of the news is to do with the railway.

• On 10 February 1965 fugitive John Middleton shot two policemen while hiding in the waiting room at Oxenholme railway station. Carlisle policemen George Russell and Alex Archibald were shot, and Russell died in hospital a few hours later.[1]
• On 27 May 2006, a 19-year-old man was stabbed aboard a Glasgow-Paignton train as it was coming into the station. A 22-year-old man was jailed for 21 years for the murder in November 2006.[2]
• The Grayrigg rail crash happened on 23 February 2007 when a Virgin Pendolino train derailed just after leaving the station. The crash left one person dead, and 22 others injured.[3]

Location grid

References

1. Deborah Kuiper (28 December 2007). "Hero PC dies". Hexham Courant. Retrieved 15 March 2008.
2. Guardian Unlimited (11 October 2006). "Life sentence for train murder of student". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2 December 2007.
3. BBC News (24 February 2007). "How Cumbria rail crash unfolded". BBC News. Retrieved 2 December 2007.

External links

• Oxenholme Past: oxenholme.oneplacestudy.org provides further information about Oxenholme's past including details of former residents, past news stories etc.