Banbury Road is a major arterial road in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards

Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

through the leafy suburb of

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 architecture, Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the co ...

and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the Woodstock Road, which it meets at the junction with St Giles'. To the north, Banbury Road meets the

Oxford Ring Road The Oxford Ring Road circles the city of Oxford, England. It is a dual carriageway ring road for most of its length apart from a short section between Woodstock Road and Banbury Road in the north of the city. The severe restrictions on traf ...

at a roundabout. The road is designated the A4165 (which continues for a short distance as Oxford Road to

Kidlington Kidlington is a village and civil parish in the Cherwell district of Oxfordshire, England. It is in-between the River Cherwell and Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and south-west of Bicester. It had a population of 13,600 at the 2021 Census. ...

). Prior to the building of the

M40 motorway The M40 motorway links London, Oxford, and Birmingham in England, a distance of approximately . The motorway is dual three lanes except for junction 1A to junction 3 (which is dual four lanes) a short section in-between the exit and entry hig ...

extension in 1990, the road formed part of the A423 from

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. __TOC__

Buildings

The former Mathematical Institute of Oxford University is at the lower end of the road on the east side. Opposite

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, Oxford, St Giles' Church opposite. To the east is Parks Road with the University Parks opposi ...

is St Giles' Church, built in 1120 and consecrated in 1200. Further north are the Denys Wilkinson Building (astrophysics) and the prominent 1960s Thom Building of the Engineering Science department. One of the university's former women's colleges, St Anne's College backs onto Banbury Road and another,

St Hugh's College St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

, flanks the road further up. Kellogg College and

Wycliffe Hall Wycliffe Hall () is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford affiliated with the Church of England, specialising in philosophy, theology, and religion. It is named after the Bible translator and reformer John Wycliffe, who was mast ...

, which are also part of the university are situated on Banbury Road, near to the junction with Bevington Road. The Independent Sixth Form of

d'Overbroeck's College Nord Anglia Education, commonly referred to as Nord Anglia, is an international private school operator headquartered in the United Kingdom. Nord Anglia has more than 80 private day and boarding schools located in 30 countries across the Ameri ...

is housed in both the Swan Building at 111 and the adjacent number 113 which was, by the turn of the 20th century, occupied by a Mr R. Lamb Abbott MA who advertised for students to take instruction in "a course of lectures" over four weeks or so to enable them to sit their

responsions Responsions was the first of the three examinations formerly required for acceptance for an academic degree at the University of Oxford. It was nicknamed Little Go or Smalls and was normally taken by students prior to or shortly after matriculatio ...

and thus

matriculate Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used now ...

at the university. Wychwood School, an independent girls' school, is at 74 Banbury Road. Established in 1897 as Miss Batty's School for the daughters of Oxford dons, from 1898 to 1907, the school was housed at 77 Banbury Road – a "charming

Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

house" – where residents Miss A.S. Batty and Miss Margaret Lee MA taught a handful of

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

girls. Miss Lee would later acquire ownership of number 77. The school at that time also provided accommodation for young women sitting examinations who were members of the Society of Oxford Home Students – later

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...

where Miss Lee tutored from 1913 to 1936. 77 Banbury Road was religious in nature: Miss Batty had an academic interest in religious matters and Miss Lee was the granddaughter of an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

. Banbury Road Medical Centre is a

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

facility at 172 Banbury Road.

BBC Oxford The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

is also based on Banbury Road and is home to the local televised news output and

BBC Radio Oxford BBC Radio Oxford is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Summertown, Oxfo ...

. In early 1970 the BBC Oxford studios were actually located further down at 242–254 Banbury Road (now a branch of

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

), but were later moved to 269 in 1989 as local media services within BBC Oxford expanded.

People

Famous residents include the

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

James Murray who produced the first

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

now marks the site) and the zoologist

Desmond Morris Desmond John Morris FLS ''hon. caus.'' (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book ''The Naked Ape'', and for his televis ...

, author of ''

The Naked Ape ''The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal'' is a 1967 book by English Zoology, zoologist and ethology, ethologist Desmond Morris that looks at humans as a species and compares them to other animals. ''The Human Zoo (book), The Hum ...

''. The artist Paul Nash (1889–1946) lived at 106 Banbury Road, marked with an Oxfordshire Blue Plaque. Jesse Elliston, the proprietor of what became Oxford's leading department store, Elliston & Cavell, died in the Banbury Road in 1853 at the age of only 47. Dame Honor Fell DBE, FRS (1900–1986) studied at Wychwood School and this is commemorated with a

from the

Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research. Fo ...

, installed in 2015.

Christopher Strachey Christopher S. Strachey (; 16 November 1916 – 18 May 1975) was a British computer scientist. He was one of the founders of denotational semantics, and a pioneer in programming language design and computer time-sharing.F. J. Corbató, et al., T ...

(1916–1975) founded and led the Programming Research Group (part of Oxford University) from 1965 until his untimely death, at 45 Banbury Road. From 1977, the PRG was then led by

Tony Hoare Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare (; born 11 January 1934), also known as C. A. R. Hoare, is a British computer scientist who has made foundational contributions to programming languages, algorithms, operating systems, formal verification, and ...

, located here until 1984.

Adjoining roads in North Oxford

Bardwell Road Bardwell Road is a residential road in Oxford, England. It is located in North Oxford off the Banbury Road, within the area of Oxford once owned by St John's College, Oxford. The road is known for its schools, especially the Dragon School. H ...

* Beech Croft Road * Belbroughton Road * Bevington Road * Canterbury Road * Five Mile Drive *

Lathbury Road Lathbury Road is a short residential road in north Oxford, England. The road runs approximately east–west with a small curve halfway along. At the western end of the road is a junction with Woodstock Road, Oxford, Woodstock Road (A4144) an ...

Linton Road Linton Road is a road in North Oxford, England. Location At the western end is the Banbury Road. At the eastern end is Wolfson College, Oxford, Wolfson College, a graduate college of the University of Oxford. To the north at the eastern end, ...

* Lonsdale Road * Marston Ferry Road * Moreton Road * Norham Gardens * Norham Road * North Parade * Park Town *

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 Bro ...

* Rawlinson Road *

South Parade South Parade is a shopping street or shopping parade, parade in Summertown, Oxford, Summertown, north Oxford, England. It runs between Woodstock Road (Oxford), Woodstock Road to the west and Banbury Road to the east, where there are also shops ...

* Staverton Road * St Giles' * St Margaret's Road * Victoria Road * Woodstock Road

Gallery

File:St Giles, Oxford.jpg, The southern end of Banbury Road (right) and Woodstock Road (left) from the north end of St Giles'. File:Denys Wilkinson Building, University of Oxford - Banbury Road.jpg, The Denys Wilkinson Building from the Banbury Road on the corner with

, looking north with the Thom Building in the background. File:62banbury.jpg, Kellogg College at 62 Banbury Road. File:Offices in Summertown - geograph.org.uk - 673043.jpg, Offices on Banbury Road in Summertown. File:37 Banbury Road, St Anne's College, University of Oxford.jpg, 37 Banbury Road, St Anne's College, a typical Gothic

house, designed by

Frederick Codd Frederick Codd (17 July 1831 – 19 October 1888) was a British Gothic Revival architect and speculative builder who designed and built many Victorian houses in North Oxford, England. Codd was born in 1831 in East Dereham in Norfolk, the sixt ...

in 1866.Hinchcliffe, p. 217. File:Oxford University Computing Services, Banbury Road, Oxford - geograph.org.uk - 82198.jpg, Oxford University Computing Services building on Banbury Road. File:Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford.jpg, The former Mathematical Institute, near the southern end of Banbury Road. File:Wychwood School for Girls - geograph.org.uk - 718191.jpg, Wychwood School for Girls at 74 Banbury Road.

References

Bibliography

* Hinchcliffe, Tanis, ''North Oxford''. New Haven & London:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...