Oxhill is a small village in
County Durham
County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly â€About North East E ...
, in
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 located to the west of
Stanley
Stanley may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
* ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film
* ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy
* ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short
* ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
, on the bottom of the hill which leads up to
New Kyo
New Kyo is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated close to the A693 road between Annfield Plain and Stanley, and is slightly larger than nearby East Kyo and West Kyo
West Kyo (also known locally as Old Kyo) is a small villag ...
and
Annfield Plain
Annfield Plain is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on a plateau between the towns of Stanley, to the north-east, and Consett, to the west. According to the 2001 census, Annfield Plain has a population of 3,569. By the ti ...
to it's east. Down the hill to the north are the
cycle path,
East Kyo
East Kyo is a small hamlet in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the west of Stanley, close to Annfield Plain, West Kyo, Oxhill and Harperley
Harperley is a small village in County Durham, England. It is situated bet ...
and
Harperley
Harperley is a small village in County Durham, England. It is situated between Tantobie to the north east, Tanfield Lea to the east, Stanley to the south, East Kyo to the south east and Catchgate, West Kyo and Annfield Plain to the west.
Harp ...
. Oxhill contains very little: a few households, a pub called The Ox (frequented by locals and occasional cyclists from the neaby C2C cycle path taking lunch - the pub used to be known for weekend live music as well as food) and the main
nursery school
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...
for the Stanley area.
Opposite the ''Ox Inn'' to the south west is the former ''Oxhill Chapel''. This has now been converted to a private house.
Oxhill used to be the site of a major level crossing, allowing access from the former nearby
Stanhope and Tyne Railway
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway, that ran from Stanhope in County Durham, to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne. The object was to convey limestone from Stanhope and coal from West Consett and elsew ...
line (this is now the basis of the eastern section of the ''C2C'' cycle path) to a shunting yard adjacent to nearby
South Moor
South Moor is a village in County Durham, in England. It is located to the south-west of Stanley on the northern slope of the Craghead valley. It is a well-developed village, yet still semi-rural, containing a main street (Park Road) of around t ...
, where coal was loaded for transport to the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
for export.
A small pond called ''Kyo Ox Pond'' or ''Kyo Tarn'', 400 metres to the north of The Ox pub on the road to East Kyo and Harperley, was artificially created between the embankment of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway and adjoining hillside when it was converted to the C2C cycle path in the late 1980s (there is an old railway bridge just to the east). The origins of this Cumbrian-sounding name are unknown, though it may have been named as such due to the nearby (and possibly older) ''Greencroft Tarn'' and ''Quarzi Tarn'' ponds (also known locally as ''Greencroft Fishing Pond'' and ''Quarzi Pond'') in
Greencroft
Greencroft is a village in County Durham, England. The population of the civil parish (which doesn't include the village) taken at the 2011 census was 171. It is situated between Lanchester and Annfield Plain
Annfield Plain is a village in Co ...
.
Notable people
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
's grandfather, Hugh Rodham, was born at Oxhill in 1879, the son of Jonathan Rodham, a coal miner living in the village. The family emigrated from here to the United States in the 1880s.
[Gavin Havery]
Hillary Clinton: From North-East mining stock to American presidential candidate
dated 27 April 2017 at thenorthernecho.co.uk
References
Villages in County Durham
Stanley, County Durham
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