Oxgangs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oxgangs is a suburb in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is named for an oxgang, an ancient Scottish land measure.
Surrounding districts include Caiystane, Dreghorn, Redford, Fairmilehead, Colinton and Swanston and Colinton Mains. The post code area for Oxgangs is EH13.
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[edit] History
The building of the area started in 1954; before that (with the exception of Colinton Mains) it had been mostly farmland and was basically considered to be part of the countryside. The area consists of large public housing schemes aimed at low to middle income groups, ranging from private bungalows to Edinburgh City Council-owned high rise tower blocks.
A large majority of former council-owned properties in Oxgangs have been bought by tenants under the right to buy scheme and it is now extremely difficult to be allocated a council home in the area.
[edit] Amenities
The area has two small shopping areas at each end of Oxgangs known to locals as the "top" and "bottom" shops. The top shops (Oxgangs Broadway) are the larger and feature a small convenience store called "Premier - Broadway Convenience Store" known as "Dennis's" after the owner of the shop. Other shops in the top shop area include a newsagents named Finn's, a movie rental store named Movie Express, a tanning salon, a bakers (Ford's), a barbers and hairdressers, a bookies, three take aways (a chip shop, a Chinese and an Indian takeaway). There is also a post office and a pharmacy. Located in and around Oxgangs and adjacent areas are a police station, a medical practice, a public library, a nursery, three primary schools and a high school, and a pub. There are three churches in the area: Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal Church and Roman Catholic Church. Recently a Kingdom Hall was built in the Oxgangs Green area.
Surrounding Oxgangs are three large supermarkets. A Tesco next to Firrhill High School, a Morrisons near the Swanston area and a Scotmid in Colinton Mains.
[edit] Recent changes
In 2003, after years of campaigning by fed up residents the council took the decision to demolish and redevelop Oxgangs high rise flats. In April 2005 longstanding tower block Capelaw Court was demolished to make way for new housing. Capelaw was one of three high rise flats built in Oxgangs Crescent in 1961 and 1962. The other two buildings (Caerketton Court and Allermuir Court) were demolished in November 2006. The demolition of Capelaw Court was filmed and featured on the National Geographic Channel, which interviewed residents of Oxgangs and community leader Heather Levy.
Two neighbouring primary schools situated on Oxgangs Green (Comiston and Hunters Tryst) were recently merged and renamed Pentland Primary. At first the Comiston pupils moved into the building formerly known as Hunters Tryst alongside current Tryst pupils while Comiston was renovated and a year later all staff and children moved permanently into the refurbished Comiston building, now known as Pentland Primary.
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[edit] Public transport
Public transport is frequent with Lothian Buses operating chartered services. Bus routes 4, 5, 16, 18, 27 plus night services N16 and N27 all serve the area.
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