Oxhill is a small village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

, in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. It is located to the west of Stanley, on the bottom of the hill which leads up to

New Kyo New Kyo is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated close to the A693 road between Annfield Plain and Stanley, and is slightly larger than nearby East Kyo to the north east and West Kyo, 15 minutes walk via public footpath to the ...

and

Annfield Plain Annfield Plain is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on a plateau between the towns of Stanley, to the north-east, and Consett, to the west. According to the 2001 census, Annfield Plain had a population of 3,569. By the tim ...

to its east. Down the hill to the north are the

C2C Trenitalia c2c, trading as c2c, is a British train operating company that operates commuter services from its London terminus at to parts of East London and south Essex along the London, Tilbury and Southend line, as part of the Essex Thame ...

cycle path,

East Kyo East Kyo is a small hamlet in the civil parish of Stanley, in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the west of Stanley, close to Annfield Plain Annfield Plain is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated on ...

and

Harperley Harperley is a small village in County Durham, England. It is situated between Tantobie to the north east, Tanfield Lea to the east, Stanley to the south, East Kyo to the south east and Catchgate, West Kyo and Annfield Plain to the west. Harp ...

. Oxhill contains very little: a few households, a pub called The Ox (frequented by locals and occasional cyclists from the nearby C2C cycle path taking lunch - the pub used to be known for weekend live music as well as food) and the main

nursery school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin c ...

for the Stanley area. Opposite the ''Ox Inn'' to the south west is the former ''Oxhill Chapel''. This has now been converted to a private house. Oxhill used to be the site of a major level crossing, allowing access from the former nearby

Stanhope and Tyne Railway The Stanhope and Tyne Railway was an early British mineral railway that ran from Stanhope, County Durham, Stanhope to South Shields at the mouth of the River Tyne in County Palatine of Durham, County Durham, England. It ran through the towns of ...

line (this is now the basis of the eastern section of the ''C2C'' cycle path) to a shunting yard adjacent to nearby South Moor, where coal was loaded for transport to the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

for export. A small pond called ''Kyo Ox Pond'' or ''Kyo Tarn'', 400 metres to the north of The Ox pub on the road to East Kyo and Harperley, was artificially created between the embankment of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway and adjoining hillside when it was converted to the C2C cycle path in the late 1980s (there is an old railway bridge just to the east). The origins of this Cumbrian-sounding name are unknown, though it may have been named as such due to the nearby (and possibly older) ''Greencroft Tarn'' and ''Quarzi Tarn'' ponds (also known locally as ''Greencroft Fishing Pond'' and ''Quarzi Pond'') in

Greencroft Greencroft is a village and separately a parish in County Durham, England. Together, they are situated between Lanchester, County Durham, Lanchester and Annfield Plain. Greencroft consists of two entities: * The Village of Greencroft ...

Notable people

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's grandfather, Hugh Rodham, was born at Oxhill in 1879, the son of Jonathan Rodham, a coal miner living in the village. The family emigrated from here to the United States in the 1880s.

Governance

On 30 September 1894 Oxhill became a

, being formed from the part of Kyo in Stanley urban district, on 1 October 1916 the parish was abolished and merged with Stanley. In 1911 the parish had a population of 4436.

References

Villages in County Durham Former civil parishes in County Durham Stanley, County Durham {{Durham-geo-stub