North Oxford
Park Town, one of central North Oxford's earliestVictorian suburban developments
North Oxford Show map of Oxford North Oxford Location withinOxfordshire Show map of Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SP509079
Civil parish	unparished
District	Oxford
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Oxford
Postcode district	OX2
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Oxford West and Abingdon
Website	Oxford City Council
List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51°46′26″N1°15′58″W / 51.774°N 1.266°W /51.774; -1.266

North Oxford is a suburban part of the city ofOxford inEngland.^[1] It was owned for many centuries largely bySt John's College, Oxford and many of the area'sVictorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the college.^[2]

The leafy roads ofWoodstock Road to the west andBanbury Road to the east (leading toWoodstock andBanbury respectively) run north-south through the area, meeting at their southern ends to becomeSt Giles. North Oxford is noted for its schools, especially its private schools. These include theDragon School andSummer Fields (formerly Summerfield), which arepreparatory schools, andSt Edward's School and theOxford High School for Girls,Wychwood School andd'Overbroeck's College which aresecondary schools andSt. Clare's, Oxford, an international sixth form college which is the longest provider of the International Baccalaureate Diploma in England (source ISA).

The boundary of "North Oxford" is not exactly defined, but the original area developed bySt John's College (sometimes now called "Central North Oxford") runs north from the top end ofSt Giles' to approximately Kingston Road,Frenchay Road,Staverton Road, andMarston Ferry Road, south ofSummertown.^[1] It includesPark Town,Norham Manor, and the eastern parts ofWalton Manor.

Four ofOxford University's former women's colleges,Lady Margaret Hall,St Anne's,St Hugh's andSomerville (at the southern extreme) are located in North Oxford. There are also four graduate colleges,Green Templeton College (formerly Green College),St Antony's, both off the Woodstock Road,Kellogg on Banbury Road, and to the eastWolfson, on theRiver Cherwell. To the south of the college is theCherwell Boathouse, a popular punting spot. Further south, also bordering the Cherwell, are theUniversity Parks, to the north of which isNorham Gardens, with large houses backing onto the park, includingGunfield. A large open area of ancientcommon land,Port Meadow, adjoining theRiver Isis (the section of theRiver Thames that flows through Oxford) is located to the west.

Much of the central area contains excellent examples of late 19th-centuryVictorian Gothic architecture, and is now aconservation area.^[3] The conservation area includes threeGrade I listed buildings, the Church of St Philip and St James^[4] (which now houses theOxford Centre for Mission Studies), the Observer's House (now Osler House),^[5] and theRadcliffe Observatory;^[6] the latter two are now both part ofGreen Templeton College. There areRegency-style houses built in the mid-19th century in the crescents ofPark Town, initially in the middle of the countryside but now surrounded by the rest of the suburb.

Central North Oxford between the city centre andSummertown, has been described as the most desirable suburb ofOxford,England.^[7][8] It is popularly supposed that it was originally developed for thedons of the university once they were allowed to marry. However central North Oxford in particular includes many large houses which were then unaffordable by most dons, and the houses were instead occupied by successful tradesmen of the city. Today, many homes are occupied by richLondon commuters, attracted by the good schools. A number of the larger houses are used by Oxford colleges and other educational establishments.

At the northern extremity of North Oxford, which is approximately the line of theA40 (the northern bypass, part of theOxford ring road) are three suburbs,Sunnymead andCutteslowe (to the east of Banbury Road) andWolvercote to the west of Woodstock Road. Beyond the bypass is the village ofKidlington.Wolvercote Cemetery contains the grave ofJ. R. R. Tolkien (note that Wolvercote Cemetery is not in Wolvercote itself, but beside Banbury Road north of the A40).Cutteslowe Park is a large open area just to the north of this bypass.

North Oxford has attracted famous residents, such as the authors and academicsJ. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) andIris Murdoch (1919–1999). Murdoch lived with her husband and fellow academicJohn Bayley, and the area was featured in the biographical film,Iris.T. E. Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia) grew up inPolstead Road, North Oxford.

SirJohn Betjeman (1906–1984),Poet Laureate, was an enthusiast about North Oxford and wrote poems mentioning the area, such asMay-Day Song for North Oxford:

Belbroughton Road is bonny, and pinkly bursts the spray
Of prunus and forsythia across the public way,
For a full spring-tide of blossom seethed and departed hence,
Leaving land-locked pools of jonquils by sunny garden fence.

And a constant sound of flushing runneth from windows whence
The toothbrush too is airing in this new North Oxford air.

• Norham Manor
• Walton Manor
• Acland Hospital
• Cherwell Boathouse
• Oxford Ecohouse
• St Philip and St James Church
• Moreton Road

• Eleanor Chance; et al. (1979). Crossley, Alan; Elrington, C. R. (eds.).Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford. Vol. 4.
• Curl, James Stevens (1977).The Erosion of Oxford. Oxford Illustrated Press.ISBN 0-902280-40-6.
• Graham, Malcolm (1992). "North Oxford".Images of Victorian Oxford.Alan Sutton Publishing. pp. 85–94.ISBN 0-86299-967-7.
• Hinchcliffe, Tanis (1992).North Oxford. New Haven:Yale University Press.ISBN 0-300-05184-0.
• Sherwood, Jennifer;Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974).The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth:Penguin Books.ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
• Snow, Peter (1991).Oxford Observed. London:John Murray (Publishers). pp. 157–173.ISBN 0-7195-4707-5.
• Symonds, Ann Spokes (1997).The Changing Faces of North Oxford. Vol. Book One.Robert Boyd Publications.ISBN 1-899536-25-6.
• Symonds, Ann Spokes (1998).The Changing Faces of North Oxford. Vol. Book Two. Robert Boyd Publications.ISBN 1-899536-33-7.
• Tyack, Geoffrey (1998).Oxford: an architectural guide. Oxford & New York:Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-817423-3.

• Oxford City: North Oxford information

• Areas of Oxford
• St John's College, Oxford

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