Polstead Road

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Polstead Road is a residential road that runs between Kingston Road and Hayfield Road to the west and the Woodstock Road to the east, in the suburb of North Oxford, England. Half way along it forms the southern junction of Chalfont Road.

The Anchor Inn[1][2], featured in Inspector Morse, "Death is Now My Neighbor" is located at the corner of Hayfield and Polstead Roads. Immediately to the East of The Anchor Inn is St. Margaret's Institute Community Center.

Lawrence of Arabia, who lived as a child at 2 Polstead Road.

[edit] The Lawrence family

The most famous resident was T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), who was later to become known as Lawrence of Arabia. He was brought up in a house (No. 2) on this road and a blue plaque records the fact. Sir Thomas Chapman, the 7th Baronet of Westmeath, Ireland, separated from his wife to live with his daughters' governess, Sarah Junner. They had five sons and the couple lived in Polstead Road under the names of Mr and Mrs Lawrence, moving to No. 2 in the summer of 1896 with the aim that the children could receive a good education for a reasonable cost. T. E. Lawrence attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys in central Oxford.

The house is a semi-detached redbrick house that had been built approximately six years before the Lawrences moved there. They built a bungalow in the garden because the house was not large enough to accommodation the entire family. 2 Polstead Road remained the Lawrence family home until after the First World War.