Botley, Oxfordshire

The landmark spire of Seacourt Tower.

Botley
Population
OS grid reference	SP483060
District	Vale of White Horse
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	OXFORD
Postcode district	OX2
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Oxford West and Abingdon

Botley is a village in the civil parish of North Hinksey, just west of the Oxford city boundary in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire). It is effectively a suburb of Oxford.

Botley surrounds the junction between the A34 Oxford ring road and the A420 to Swindon, and is a largely residential area with property prices ranging from relatively cheap in some places, to very expensive, in the direction of Cumnor. It includes a small local shopping centre at Elms Parade; a small retail complex containing amongst other stores Oxford's Habitat branch; the Church of England parish church of St Peter and St Paul, built in 1958; and the buildings of the Westminster Institute of Education (now part of Oxford Brookes University) on Harcourt Hill. The various large office buildings along the main road include Seacourt Tower, known locally as "Botley Cathedral" owing to its small metal spire.

History

Botley

Botley was first settled in Saxon times, and the name comes from Old English, meaning a woodland clearing of a man called Bota. It falls within the parish of North Hinksey, and so was historically in the county of Berkshire. Because the main road west out of Oxford passes through Botley, development was centred here rather than in the tiny village of North Hinksey itself, slightly further south. From the 1880s the centre of the village began to be called Old Botley, in distinction to the ribbon development along Botley Road known as New Botley; the name Old Botley is preserved in a street set back from the main road. The major development which began in the 1930s took place to the west, beyond the current ring road.

As well as outgrowing its original parent village, Botley has also absorbed the vanished hamlet of Seacourt, which is commemorated not only in Seacourt Tower but also the Seacourt Bridge (a pub) and the nearby park and ride site.

Dean Court

To the west of Botley but in the Cumnor parish of Dean Court. Originally a farm off the Eynsham Road towards Witney. The Eynsham Road (B4044) was a new road built to replace the road from Oxford which ran over Wytham Hill as this remained steep and difficult, and was a haunt of highwaymen. The road can still be seen today, emerging near Swinford Bridge over the Thames. Dean Court has a housing estate called Pinnocks Way, built in the early 1950s. The planners however did not anticipate that the car would be a popular means of transport so the roads are very narrow and lack car parking.

The A420 road to Swindon passes through Cumnor.

Where the A420 passes over the Eynsham Road the road below was altered in 1976. The original section of the Eynsham Road now lies to the left of the road opposite Fogwell Road.

The Fogwell road estate was built in the mid 1980s. This was to be named Fletcher's Chase.

The Orchard Road estate was built by Broseley and Costain in 1983 and later in 1985 houses were added (with dark window frames) by Thameway and Macleans.

Deanfield Road, Broad Close and Owlington Close were built in 1969 off the Eynsham Road in Dean Court by Wimpey Homes