Blackhall Road is a road running between

Keble Road Keble Road is a short road running east–west in central Oxford, England. To the west is the southern end of the Banbury Road with St Giles' Church opposite. To the east is Parks Road with the University Parks opposite. Blackhall Road leads ...

to the north and

Museum Road Museum Road is a short road in central Oxford, England. It leads to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Radcliffe Science Library at its eastern end where it meets Parks Road. At its west end is a junction with Blackhall ...

to the south in central

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, dating from the late 19th century. It is named after Black Hall, dating from at least 1519, fronting onto St Giles', and now part of St John's College. Houses in the road were leased by St John's College between 1865–75.

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

occupies the entire east side of the road, including the

O'Reilly Theatre The O'Reilly Theatre is a flexible studio theatre on Blackhall Road, central north Oxford, England. It is located within Keble College, one of the University of Oxford colleges. The theatre was completed in 2002. Seating capacity of the spac ...

. In the 1970s, the architects

Ahrends, Burton and Koralek __NOTOC__ ABK Architects (previously Ahrends, Burton and Koralek) is a British architectural practice. It was founded in 1961 by Peter Ahrends (born 1933, Berlin, Germany), Richard Burton (born 1933 in London, United Kingdom, died 2017), and Paul ...

designed yellow brick buildings on the southern part of Blackhall Road. These include the "Elephant House" at the southern end, nicknamed due to its resemblance to the elephant house at London Zoo. At the southern end on the west side are houses owned by St John's College. At the northern end to the west is the Department of Statistics of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, until 2013 the Mathematical Institute. The historian

J.K. Fotheringham John Knight Fotheringham FBA (14 August 1874 – 12 December 1936) was a British historian who was an expert on ancient astronomy and chronology."John Knight Fotheringham", ''The Concise Dictionary of National Biography'', Volume I: A–F, Oxford ...

(1874–1936), an expert on ancient astronomy and chronology, and Fellow of

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, lived at 6 Blackhall Road. The classical historian

Abel Hendy Jones Greenidge Abel Hendy Jones Greenidge (22 December 1865 – 11 March 1906) was a writer on ancient history and law. Early life and education Greenidge was born on 22 December 1865 at Belle Farm Estate, Barbados, the second son of the Rev. Nathaniel Hea ...

lived at 4 Blackhall Road. The poet and art critic Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy (1890–1965), an associate of the writer

D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, also lived in the road when they met in 1915. The road includes one of the longest lasting and still extant pieces of outdoor

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

in Oxford. On a brick wall forming part of

, opposite the Department of Statistics building, are two large

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s in white and blue paint. The caption "REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DINOSAUR!" is next to the white dinosaur. By the blue dinosaur, perhaps intended to resemble an alligator, is a riposte "I DID, AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO ME". It is thought that the white graffiti, the earlier of the two, was the work of delegates at the Drapers' Conference at Keble in the early 1970s and was a reply to the students of Keble's neighbour St John's College who had formed the St John’s Destroy Keble Society. Close by in

Parks Road Parks Road is a road in Oxford, England, with several Oxford University colleges along its route. It runs north–south from the Banbury Road and Norham Gardens at the northern end, where it continues into Bradmore Road, to the junction with B ...

is the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...

where a number of fossilized dinosaur skeletons can be seen. There was a hatching-dinosaur-egg addition on the wall for a while but it has disappeared.

References

External links

Keble College from Blackhall Road
— photograph {{coord, 51.7585, -1.2585, dim:100_region:GB, display=title Streets in Oxford Keble College, Oxford St John's College, Oxford Graffiti in England