Headington Hill is a hill in the east of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, in the suburb of

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. ...

. The Headington Road goes up the hill leading out of the city. There are good views of the spires of

from the hill, especially from the top of

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

. Between 1644 and 1646, Headington Hill was used by the Parliamentarian forces while besieging Oxford during the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Angl ...

. Headington Hill Hall, built in 1824 for the Morrell family (local brewers), stands on the hill, and is now the home of Oxford Brookes University's School of Law.

Spanish anti-fascist memorial

Headington Hill is the home of the

Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial The Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial is a monument in Oxford dedicated to the 31 known local residents who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) against Nationalist forces. Erected and unveiled in 2017, the memorial is located close to S ...

which is dedicated to local residents who travelled to Spain to join the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed ...

to fight against fascist forces backed by Hitler and Mussolini during the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. The memorial is located where Headington Road meets During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, 29 British people with connections to Oxfordshire joined the

, with a further 2 who joined

POUM The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( es, Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, POUM; ca, Partit Obrer d'Unificació Marxista) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil ...

. Most of the volunteers were communist activists, and many had links to Britain's Jewish communities. Oxford was a hub for anti-fascist activism, homes within the county housed hundreds of Basque refugee children and various physical fights between anti-fascist activists and the Oxford University Fascist Association. The memorial was the focus of minor controversy when all plans to have an anti-fascist memorial in the city center were rejected by Oxford city council, until the current site was agreed upon.

References

External links

Headington Hill section on Headington Community website
Oxford Spanish War Memorial front

Hills of Oxfordshire Areas of Oxford {{Oxfordshire-geo-stub

Spanish anti-fascist memorial

See also

References

External links