Other Useful Information
History of North Hinksey (Botley) and Useful Information
North Hinksey (Botley) is situated less than 2 miles west of the centre of Oxford and is in many ways a suburb of the City.
Botley and North Hinksey were small Saxon hamlets where agriculture was the main occupation.
The earlier history of North Hinksey is most evident in the Church of St. Lawrence. A small Saxon building was replaced by a Norman Church about 1100 AD; the nave and the south door are fine examples of Norman building. The direct route into Oxford developed when in 1524 a raised causeway was built over the streams and fields by the George Public House. It is still the only route into Oxford from the west and hence is very busy.
Until 1900 the settlements were small but there are several thatched roof buildings and others which date from Elizabethan times. From 1930 the population grew rapidly and an ever higher proportion of the people went to Oxford to work.
North Hinksey Village lies in a conservation area, at the foot of Boars Hill. It is a picturesque village with a number of thatched and period buildings. John Rushin's cottage in the village bears a plaque recalling Ruskin's experiment in physical labour for art students. John Ruskin was a painter, art critic and social thinker of the late 19th Century.
Hinksey Conduit House was built by Otto Nicholson in 1610 as part of his scheme to provide pure water to the City of Oxford from the Hinksey Hills. The Conduit House collected water from the springs in the hillside above. From here the water was piped to Carfax Conduit in the centre of Oxford. The Conduit House, surrounded by a protective fence, is two hundred yards through a gate off Harcourt Hill. The House itself is a stone-built roofed reservoir from which water was taken by lead piping to the Conduit, which stood in the centre of Oxford at Carfax from 1617 until 1787. In the adjacent field is an ancient stone (one of three in the area) about the size of a milestone, but any inscription that may have been on it has long since worn off. The stones may have indicated the position of the springs or pipes which supplied water to the Conduit House. In 1787 the conduit was dismantled and replaced by a smaller cistern, as the road in stood in needed widening. The original conduit is now cited in Nuneham Park, Nunehasm Courtney Village, south of Oxford.
The Botley Commonwealth War Graves Section lies at the back of the Oxford City Council's Cemetery in North Hinksey Lane. It is one of the largest War Grave Cemeteries in the country and contains the graves of 745 servicemen from both the First and Second World Wars and a female nurse from the First World War. Loved ones travel regularly from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa to visit the cemetery. There are also graves of servicemen from Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands and Poland.
Raleigh Park and the Louie Memorial fields are important open spaces within the area and there is good access to attractive countryside beyond.
At a recent survey there were 4,314 residents in the parish living in 1,796 households of which 3,457 residents are on the electoral roll. North Hinksey Parish is the 6th largest settlement in the Vale of White Horse District Council's administrative area. There is a good variety of restaurants, public houses, shops, large stores, offices, including the enlarged block with a spire sometimes referred to as “Botley Cathedral”, an industrial estate, four churches, two Primary Schools a Pre-School, part of Oxford Brookes University formerly the Westminster Teacher Training College, plus two areas of Elderly persons flats and bungalows and a specialist Alzheimer's Home.
North Hinksey (Botley) lies on good public transport routes to the centre of Oxford.