Mill Street is a street in

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 ...

. It is a

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (, from French for 'bag-bottom'), no through road or no exit road, is a street with only one inlet or outlet. The term "dead end" is understood in all varieties of English, but the official terminology ...

that runs south from the

Botley Road Botley Road is the main road into the centre of Oxford, England from the west. It stretches between Botley, on the Oxford Ring Road ( A34) to the west of the city, and Frideswide Square at the junction with Oxford railway station, close t ...

close to

Oxford railway station Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station, one of two serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, north-west of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road. It is on the line for trains between ...

. It includes residential houses, mainly terraced, and some office space. Mill Street was built in the 1860s as part of the development of New Osney on what was then known as

Osney Island Osney or Osney Island (; an earlier spelling of the name is ''Oseney'') 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 we ...

Overview

At its southern end was

Osney Mill Osney Mill is a former flour mill on a branch of the River Thames in Oxford, England, located south of the Botley Road, down Mill Street. While the mill was gutted by a fire in 1945 and remained derelict for over 60 years, the exterior walls we ...

(a disused

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

), after which the street is named. The mill stood on the site of the now-destroyed

Osney Abbey Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the railway line just south of Oxford sta ...

. Little is left of the abbey today, but there is still a rubble and timber-framed structure at the mill site, which may date from the 15th century, on private land but visible from the street. The remnants were

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1954. In 2004, plans for a new development of homes on the mill site were given planning approval by

Oxford City Council Oxford City Council is the lower-tier local government authority for the city of Oxford in England, providing such services as leisure centres and parking. Social Services, Education and Highways services (amongst others) are provided by Oxfo ...

. Between 2012 and 2014 the area around the mill was finally redeveloped. Close to the site of the former mill is

Osney Lock Osney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in Oxford, England, where the village or island of Osney is next to the river. The first lock was built of stone by Daniel Harris for the Thames Navigation Commission in 1790. Across the weir pool ...

, and to the south is Osney Mill Marina. To the east is

Osney Cemetery Osney Cemetery is a disused Church of England cemetery in Osney, west Oxford, England. It is in Mill Street south of Botley Road and near the site of Osney Abbey. It borders the Cherwell Valley Line railway a short distance south of Oxford ra ...

, established in 1848 but now disused, between Mill Street and the railway tracks. Osney Lane leads from Mill Street over a footbridge across the railway tracks towards

Oxpens Road Oxpens Road is a road in central Oxford, England, linking west and south Oxford. It is named after the marshy area of Oxpens, next to one of the branches of the River Thames in Oxford. It forms part of the A420 road. Locale To the northwest, Ox ...

and central Oxford to the north of the cemetery.

Explosion

On 14 February 2017, a large explosion heard across much of Oxford occurred at the southern end of Mill Street, in a three-storey block of flats at the junction with Gibbs Crescent, completely destroying the building. The end of Mill Street was cordoned off by police and local residents were evacuated from their homes. Local residents were left in a state of limbo after the explosion, being unable to return to their homes.

Gallery

File:The Kite - geograph.org.uk - 1380825.jpg, The Kite

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

at 68–69 Mill Street. File:OsneyLock01.JPG, The derelict

buildings off Mill Street to the west, with

in the foreground. File:Lych gate to the cemetery - geograph.org.uk - 1380878.jpg, The

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

entrance to

off Mill Street to the east. File:Bridge over the railway - geograph.org.uk - 1380920.jpg, The footbridge over the railway that connects Mill Street with Beckett Street, south of

References

Streets in Oxford {{England-road-stub