Oxpens Road

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Oxpens Road is a road in central Oxford, England, linking west and south Oxford. To the northwest it becomes Hollybush Row, meeting the junction of the Botley Road, Park End Street and Hythe Bridge Street near the Saïd Business School and Oxford railway station (to the west of the city centre). To the southeast it becomes Thames Street, just north of the River Thames, and meets the junction with the south end of St Aldates near Christ Church Meadow (to the south of the city centre). It forms part of an inner ring road for the southwest part of the centre of Oxford.

Halfway along is the Oxford Ice Rink, a distinctive 1984 building by Nicholas Grimshaw, which is the home of the Oxford City Stars ice hockey team. One of the campuses of the Oxford and Cherwell Valley College is located here on the north side. The road crosses the southern end of the Castle Mill Stream just before it reaches the River Thames. Oxpens Road also provides access major car parks for the centre of Oxford, including the Westgate Shopping Centre.

[edit] History

Before 1850, Oxpens Road was known as Nun's Walk. This area used to be the location of a gasworks by the river [1].

The locality was one of the poorer quarters of central Oxford. In the 1950s and 60s there was large-scale clearance of the area, known as The Oxpens. Many residents were moved to Blackbird Leys, an estate consisting largely of council housing on the outskirts of southeast Oxford and close to the Morris Motor Company in Cowley, which provided employment. The area around Oxpens was almost entirely redeveloped during the second half of the 20th century.

Close to Oxpens Road on St Thomas Street was the Morrells Brewery (aka The Lion Brewery), near the Castle Mill Stream, which closed in 1998 [2].