Banbury Road

A4165 road
Route information
Length:	3.7 mi (6.0 km)
Major junctions
South end:	Oxford
	A4144 road A40 road A4260 road
North end:	Near Kidlington
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways • A and B road zones

Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the Woodstock Road, which it meets at the junction with St Giles'. To the north, Banbury Road meets the Oxford Ring Road at a roundabout. The road is designated the A4165 (which continues for a short distance as Oxford Road to Kidlington).

Buildings

Shops on Banbury Road in Summertown

37 Banbury Road, St Anne's College, a typical Gothic North Oxford house, designed by Frederick Codd in 1866.

Oxford University Computing Services building on Banbury Road.

The Mathematical Institute, near the southern end of Banbury Road.

The former residence of the lexicographer James Murray, first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, at 78 Banbury Road, opposite the junction with St Margaret's Road. Note the pillar box in front of the house, installed because of the volume of post that he sent, with a commemorative blue plaque behind, added in 2002.

The Mathematical Institute of Oxford University is at the lower end of the road on the east side. Opposite Keble Road is St Giles' Church, built in 1120 and consecrated in 1200. Further north are the Denys Wilkinson Building (astrophysics) and the prominent 1960s Thom Building of the Engineering Science department.

St Anne's College backs onto Banbury Road and St Hugh's College flanks the road further up. Both are former women's colleges of the University. Kellogg College and Wycliffe Hall, which are also part of the university are situated on Banbury Road, near to the junction with Bevington Road. The Independent Sixth Form of d'Overbroeck's College is in the Swan Building at 111 Banbury Road.

The Banbury Road Medical Centre is an National Health Service facility at 172 Banbury Road.

BBC Oxford is also based on the Banbury Road and is home to the local televised news output and BBC Radio Oxford. In early 1970 the BBC Oxford studios were actually located further down at 242-254 Banbury Road (now a Marks & Spencer supermarket), but were later moved to 269 in 1989 as local media services within BBC Oxford expanded.

People

Famous residents include the lexicographer James Murray who produced the first Oxford English Dictionary (a blue plaque now marks the site) and the zoologist Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape.

Jesse Elliston, the proprietor of what became Oxford's leading department store, Elliston & Cavell, died in the Banbury Road in 1853 at the age of only 47.

Adjoining roads in North Oxford

• Bardwell Road
• Beech Croft Road
• Belbroughton Road
• Bevington Road
• Canterbury Road
• Five Mile Drive
• Keble Road
• Lathbury Road
• Linton Road
• Marston Ferry Road
• Moreton Road
• Norham Gardens
• Norham Road
• North Parade
• Park Town
• Parks Road
• Rawlinson Road
• South Parade
• Staverton Road
• St Giles'
• St Margaret's Road
• Victoria Road
• Woodstock Road

Gallery

• 

  The southern end of Banbury Road (right) and Woodstock Road (left) from the north end of St Giles'.

• 

  thumb|The Denys Wilkinson Building from the Banbury Road on the corner with Keble Road, looking north with the Thom Building in the background.

• 

  Kellogg College at 62 Banbury Road.

• 

  Offices on Banbury Road in Summertown.

See also

• Acland Hospital
• Norham Manor estate
• The Oxford English Centre

Bibliography

• Hinchcliffe, Tanis, North Oxford. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-300-05184-0.