The Victoria in Walton Street - geograph

St Bernard's Road is a residential road in

North Oxford North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College. Overview The le ...

, England, connecting the southern end of Kingston Road and the northern end of Walton Street, at the junction with

Walton Well Road Walton Well Road is a road, about 400 metres (a quarter mile) long, near the centre of Oxford, England. It provides a link from central Oxford to Port Meadow. Location The road marks the northern edge of the district known as Jericho. At the ...

, to the west with Woodstock Road, opposite

Bevington Road Bevington Road is a residential road in central North Oxford, England. The road runs between Woodstock Road (opposite Observatory Street) to the west and Banbury Road to the east. Winchester Road leads north from halfway along Bevington Roa ...

, to the east. To the north is

Plantation Road Plantation Road is a residential road in North Oxford, England, connecting Kingston Road, Oxford, Kingston Road to the west with Woodstock Road, Oxford, Woodstock Road to the east. To the north is Leckford Road and to the south is St Bernard ...

and to the south is Observatory Street.

Leckford Place Leckford Road is a road in North Oxford, England. It runs between Kingston Road to the west and Woodstock Road to the east. Location To the north halfway along is a junction with Warnborough Road. To the south, Leckford Place links with Pl ...

leads north halfway along. The road is one-way from west to east, with

traffic calming Traffic calming uses physical design and other measures to improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and bicycle-friendly, cyclists. It has become a tool to combat speeding and other unsafe behaviours of drivers in the neighbourhoods. It aims ...

constrictions. The houses are mainly

terraced In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...

with some

semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced house ...

. At the eastern end on the south side is a

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 ...

block of flats, Belsyre Court, built in 1936.

History

This location was part of the route taken by King Charles I with his

cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...

s and 6,000 troops when he escaped at night from Oxford on 3 June 1644 during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The road was previously known as Horse and Jockey Road (or Lane), after the Horse and Jockey Inn, formerly on the corner with Woodstock Road. It then became known as St John's Road, after St John's College, but there was some confusion with St John Street to the south, so at the request of residents it was given its current name in 1961. St Bernard's College, a former

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

institution that was closed in 1539 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, was the name of the college from which St John's College developed. Some houses were demolished to make way for the St John's College development of Arthur Garrard Close off St Bernard's Road, named after the

bursar A bursar (derived from "bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education (f ...

at the College from 1949–67.

References

Streets in Oxford St John's College, Oxford Odonyms referring to religion {{England-road-stub