Dean Court is asuburb 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the centre ofOxford,England. Dean Court was part ofBerkshire until the1974 local government boundary changestransferred it to Oxfordshire.
The area was the site of a medievalgrange ofAbingdon Abbey, excavated in the 1970s and 1980s.[1] Dean Court was first mentioned in the 14th century under the name of"La Dene". The name reflects its location between Wytham Hill andCumnor Hill: theOld Englishdenu is a word used for long narrow valleys with moderately steep gradients on either side.[1]: 410 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.[2]
A map of 1761 shows Dean Court as a small hamlet on the road from Oxford toEynsham,[1]: 414 and so it remained until after theSecond World War.[3]
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 byWimpey Homes. The Orchard Road estate (originally marketed as "The Hawthornes") was built byBroseley Estates Limited andCostain 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 ofCumnor, and until the 20th century parishioners worshipped 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away at theChurch of England parish church ofSaint Michael, Cumnor. There is now the church ofSaint Andrew, Dean Court[4] that was built as achapel of ease.
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