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Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. (1988). 033339917X, Macmillan. 033339917X 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.
Henry I granted a chapel at Headington to the Augustinians canons regular of St Frideswide's Priory, when the priory was founded in 1122.Lobel, 1957, pages 157–168 The parish church of Saint Andrew was built in the middle of the 12th century and enlarged in the 13th century.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 336 The bell tower was started in the 13th or 14th century and completed in about 1500. St. Andrew's was repaired in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Gothic Revival architect J.C. Buckler restored the building and lengthened the nave in 1862–1864.
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. New Headington refers to some of the area on the south side of the London Road, originating as a late 19th-century suburb. Other neighbourhoods of the modern Headington suburb include Highfield, Quarry, and Headington Hill.
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 (2002–2014) 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.
The parish of Headington was removed from the rural district and converted into an urban district in 1927. It was only an urban district for two years; in 1929 the civil parish and urban district of Headington was abolished. Most of the area was absorbed into Oxford, including the original village. Some of the more rural edges of the old parish were transferred to the neighbouring parishes of Horspath, Forest Hill with Shotover, Elsfield, and Stowood (the latter becoming part of Beckley and Stowood in 1932). In 1921 (the last census before the civil parish was abolished) it had a population of 5,328.
A number of Oxford academics have lived in Headington over the years. They include Lord Krebs, David Marquand, Anthony Kenny, Sir Isaiah Berlin, the historian A. B. Emden, the chemist Dalziel Hammick, Lord Elton, Michael Ernest Sadler, Cyril Bailey, his daughter Mary Creighton Bailey who was born there, and John Johnson (the University Printer). Others included the author Elizabeth Bowen, Robert Maxwell and his daughter Ghislaine Maxwell, Lord Nuffield (William Morris), and Anne Diamond, the television presenter and author.
Administrative history
Headington was an ancient parish in the Bullingdon Hundred of Oxfordshire. In 1868, an area on the western edge of the parish around Headington Hill was included in the Oxford constituency, and in 1889 the same area was added to the city and municipal borough of Oxford. The civil parish of Headington was reduced to just cover the area outside the borough of Oxford in 1894. At the same time, Headington was given a parish council and included in the Headington Rural District.
Headington today
Headington has a large and growing population. 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
Oxford United were formed as Headington F.C. in 1893, 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. In 2001 Oxford United moved to the Kassam Stadium near Blackbird Leys. The Manor Ground has since been demolished and a private hospital built on the site. Headington has a non-league football team, Headington Amateurs, who play at the Barton Recreation Ground.
Education
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Notable residents
See also
Sources
(1996). 9781899536054, Robert Boyd Publications. ISBN 9781899536054
External links
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