Wolvercote is a village that is part of the City of

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 about northwest of the city centre, on the northern edge of

Wolvercote Common Wolvercote Common is an area of grassed common land north of Port Meadow in Oxford, England. Overview Wolvercote is a village in the City of Oxford on the northern edge of Wolvercote Common. Wolvercote villagers have traditionally had rights o ...

, which is itself north of

Port Meadow Port Meadow is a large meadow of open common land beside the River Thames to the north and west of Oxford, England. Overview The meadow is an ancient area of grazing land, still used for horses and cattle, and according to legend has never bee ...

and adjoins the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

History

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 lists the village as ''Ulfgarcote'' (cottage of Woolgar; or Woolgar's place). The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

had become "Wolvercote" by 1185. Wolvercote housing faced onto its extensive commons, which provided much of the community's livelihood. Some residents still have ancient rights on the commons. Geese rearing was once an important local activity, and a goose is still one of the village symbols. Horses and cattle are still grazed on

and

. In 1789 the

Oxford Canal The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames ...

divided the village into two parts, and in 1846 the

Oxford and Rugby Railway The Oxford and Rugby Railway was promoted by the Great Western Railway as a means of connecting to the West Midlands and the north of England, by joining existing railways at Rugby. It was authorised in 1845, but the GWR soon decided to make its ...

was built beside the canal through the village. In 1850 the

Buckinghamshire Railway The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury and Oxford. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line. His ...

was completed through a tunnel and cutting along the eastern edge of Upper Wolvercote. The western edge of Upper Wolvercote parallels the

Oxford canal The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to the River Thames ...

at Wolvercote Green and fades into

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 ...

suburbia to the east. Lower Wolvercote borders the

at Godstow to the west, and

and the canal to the east. The mill stream takes its water from the nearby River Thames, and is crossed in Wolvercote at a former toll-bridge. The bridge bears a plaque in memory of two airmen of the Royal Flying Corps who were killed nearby in a flying accident in 1912. Part of Port Meadow was used as a military airfield in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

; the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

also had a base there. In 1940, a camp was set up on the meadow for evacuees from Dunkirk. The paper mill in Lower Wolvercote, former supplier of paper to the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, was once a major local employer. It was in existence by 1720, when it was bought by the 1st Duke of Marlborough. From 1782 the mill was leased to

printer and publisher William Jackson, proprietor of the local newspaper ''Jackson's Oxford Journal'' which was published until 1928. The mill was entirely water-powered until 1811, when a steam engine was installed to power the paper-making process. The engine consumed 100 tons of coal per week, which was brought by narrowboat down the

, along Duke's Cut, and then down the mill stream which at the time was navigable as far as a

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

at the mill. Two of the narrowboats belonged to the mill, having been bought in 1856 and plying between there and the Midlands for 60 years until the mill sold them in 1916. Narrowboats continued to serve Wolvercote until at least the 1950s, by which time the mill used mechanical equipment to unload them. The mill was rebuilt in 1955, ceased paper-making in 1998 and was demolished in 2004. 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 ...

plans to develop the site as housing for its staff, but rising cost estimates and local objections have led the university to reduce the scale of its plans significantly. OxfordCanal Bridge236+narrowboats

Wolvercote TollBridge Monument Bettington&Hotchkiss

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

is in Upper Wolvercote. It has a 14th-century west

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

with a 15th-century window and doorway. In 1860 the church except for the tower was demolished, and rebuilt to Gothic revival designs by the architect Charles Buckeridge. The Norman tub font and a 14th-century south window of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

were retained, as well as 17th- and 18th-century

monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

to the Walter family.

Cemetery

Wolvercote Cemetery Wolvercote Cemetery is a cemetery in the parish of Wolvercote and district of Cutteslowe in Oxford, England. Its main entrance is on Banbury Road and it has a side entrance in Five Mile Drive. It has a funeral chapel, public toilets and a small a ...

is in the parish on Five Mile Drive between the

Banbury Road Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the ...

and

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

Road, just north of the Oxford Ring Road. The graves include those of J.R.R. Tolkien and Sir Thomas Chapman, father of

T.E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–191 ...

. A paper sign in the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

warns people that Tolkien is not buried in the churchyard, and provides directions to the cemetery. The writer and poet

John Wain John Barrington Wain CBE (14 March 1925 – 24 May 1994) was an English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with the literary group known as " The Movement". He worked for most of his life as a freelance journalist and author, writing and re ...

moved to Wolvercote in 1960.

Education

A National School was founded in 1817 in the Glebe house; it moved to land to the west of the church in 1856. Wolvercote Infants' School (Upper Wolvercote) was built in 1897, on land given by the Duke of Marlborough, and was opened on 11 May 1898. Under Oxfordshire County Council it became a "first school" in 1974, taking children from 5 to 9 years old, but following a re-organisation of

's schools in 2002, it was extended to become Wolvercote Primary School with an attached

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 schoo ...

, taking children from 4 to 11 years. After the age of 11, most children move up to attend Cherwell School in Summertown. A school was opened at Wolvercote Paper Mill but has now been converted into housing.

Public houses

Wolvercote has three

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 wa ...

s. Jacob's Inn and the White Hart are by the central small green in Lower Wolvercote. Jacob's Inn used to be called the Red Lion. The White Hart is now owned by the Wolvercote community and is a free house. The Plough Inn, controlled by

Greene King Brewery Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. H ...

, is by the green and the canal in Upper Wolvercote.

Railways

The Great Western Railway had a halt, , just north of the railway bridge on Godstow Road. It closed in 1916. The London and North Western Railway opened on the

Varsity Line The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway. During World War II the line was ...

just south of the railway bridge on First Turn in 1905. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway closed Wolvercote Halt in 1926.

Popular culture

Wolvercote was featured in a 1987 episode of the ITV detective drama ''

Inspector Morse Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...

'', in which a wealthy American tourist was found dead in her hotel room shortly after arriving in

to return a valuable artifact, the Wolvercote Tongue, one-half of an ancient belt buckle, to an Oxford archaeological museum. In the novel related to the television episode, '' The Jewel That Was Ours'', the valuable tongue is never given to the museum, as it is stolen for the insurance money. The Anglo-Saxon-era Wolvercote Trove, which included the Tongue, features in the ''Inspector Morse'' "prequel" series '' Endeavour'' episode "Trove" (Season 2, Ep. 1, 2014).

References

Sources

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External links

Wolvercote Commoners CommitteeSt Peter's Church, WolvercoteWolvercote Primary SchoolWolvercote Website
{{authority control Areas of Oxford Housing estates in Oxfordshire Populated places on the River Thames Villages in Oxfordshire