Mill Street is a street 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 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 ...

. It is a

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

that runs south from the

Botley Road Botley Road is the main road into the centre of Oxford, England from the west. It stretches between Botley, on the Oxford Ring Road ( A34) to the west of the city, and Frideswide Square at the junction with Oxford railway station, close to ...

close to

Oxford railway station Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station, one of two serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, north-west of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road. It is the busiest station in Oxfords ...

. It includes residential houses, mainly terraced, and some office space. Mill Street was built in the 1860s as part of the development of New Osney on what was then known as Osney Island.

Overview

At its southern end was

Osney Mill Osney Mill is a former flour mill on a branch of the River Thames in Oxford, England, located south of the Botley Road, down Mill Street. While the mill was gutted by a fire in 1945 and remained derelict for over 60 years, the exterior walls ...

(a disused

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

), after which the street is named. The mill stood on the site of the now-destroyed

Osney Abbey Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinians, Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street, Oxford, Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the rail ...

. Little is left of the abbey today, but there is still a rubble and timber-framed structure at the mill site, which may date from the 15th century, on private land but visible from the street. The remnants were

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1954. In 2004, plans for a new development of homes on the mill site were given planning approval by

Oxford City Council Oxford City Council is the local authority for the city of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Oxford has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974, Oxford has been a non-metropolitan district, wi ...

. Between 2012 and 2014 the area around the mill was finally redeveloped. Close to the site of the former mill is

Osney Lock Osney Lock is a lock on the River Thames 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 Univers ...

, and to the south is Osney Mill Marina. To the east is

Osney Cemetery Osney Cemetery (also known as Osney St Mary Cemetery) is a disused Church of England cemetery in Osney, west Oxford, England. Its entrance is in Osney Lane, which runs off the south end of Mill Street, south of Botley Road and near the site of ...

, established in 1848 but now disused, between Mill Street and the railway tracks. Osney Lane leads from Mill Street over a footbridge across the railway tracks towards

Oxpens Road Oxpens Road is a road in central Oxford, England, linking west and south Oxford. It is named after the marshy area of Oxpens, next to one of the branches of the River Thames in Oxford. It forms part of the A420 road. Locale To the northwest, O ...

and central Oxford to the north of the cemetery.

Explosion

On 14 February 2017, a large explosion heard across much of Oxford occurred at the southern end of Mill Street, in a three-storey block of flats at the junction with Gibbs Crescent, completely destroying the building. The end of Mill Street was cordoned off by police and local residents were evacuated from their homes. Local residents were left in a state of limbo after the explosion, being unable to return to their homes.

Gallery

File:The Kite - geograph.org.uk - 1380825.jpg, The Kite

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

at 68–69 Mill Street. File:OsneyLock01.JPG, The derelict

buildings off Mill Street to the west, with

in the foreground. File:Lych gate to the cemetery - geograph.org.uk - 1380878.jpg, The

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

entrance to

off Mill Street to the east. File:Bridge over the railway - geograph.org.uk - 1380920.jpg, The footbridge over the railway that connects Mill Street with Beckett Street, south of

References

Streets in Oxford Odonyms referring to a building {{England-road-stub