Dean Court is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

west of the centre of

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Dean Court was part of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

until the 1974 local government boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.

History

The area was the site of a medieval

grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * The Grange (Toronto), Toronto, Ontario, built in 1817 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to ...

Abingdon Abbey Abingdon Abbey (formally Abbey of Saint Mary) was a Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Abingdon-on-Thames in the modern county of Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. Situated near to the River Thames, it was founded in 675 AD and was ...

, excavated in the 1970s and 1980s. Dean Court was first mentioned in the 14th century under the name of ''"La Dene"''. The name reflects its location between Wytham Hill and

Cumnor Hill Cumnor Hill is a hill in the civil parish of Cumnor, to the west of (but not within) the city of Oxford, in the English county of Oxfordshire. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire. It is also the name of the ribbon development between th ...

: the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''denu'' is a word used for long narrow valleys with moderately steep gradients on either side. In 1538 there was a reference to ''"the rectory of Dencourt"''. However there is no later record of the church which was evidently in the hamlet during the Middle Ages. A map of 1761 shows Dean Court as a small hamlet on the road from Oxford to

Eynsham Eynsham is a village and civil parish in the West Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, about north-west of Oxford and east of Witney. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 4,648. It was estimated at 5,087 in 2020. Etymolo ...

, and so it remained until after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Development of the area started in the early 1950s with a housing estate called Pinnocks Way. In 1969 Deanfield Road, Broad Close and Owlington Close were built north of Eynsham Road by Wimpey Homes. The Orchard Road estate (originally marketed as "The Hawthornes") was built by

Broseley Estates Limited Broseley Estates Limited, also referred to as Broseley Homes, was a housebuilder based in Leigh, Lancashire which operated from the 1950s until the 1980s. History Broseley's roots trace back to the 1950s when Daniel Horrocks began his career ...

and Costain in 1983 and later in 1985 houses were added by Thameway and Macleans. The Fogwell Road estate was built in 1986. Dean Court is part of the parish of

Cumnor Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumno ...

, and until the 20th century parishioners worshipped away at the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

, Cumnor. There is now the church of

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

, Dean Court that was built as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

References

{{Vale of White Horse Areas of Oxford Housing estates in Oxfordshire