Osney or Osney Island (; an earlier spelling of the name is ''Oseney'') is a riverside community in the west of the city 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 modern times the name is applied to a community also known as Osney Town astride

Botley Road Botley Road is the main road into the centre of Oxford, England from the west. It stretches between Botley, on the Oxford Ring Road ( A34) to the west of the city, and Frideswide Square at the junction with Oxford railway station, close t ...

, just west of the city's main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, on an island surrounded by the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, Osney Ditch and another backwater connecting the Thames to Osney Ditch. Until the early 20th century the name was applied to the larger island of

Oxford Castle Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined medieval castle on the western side of central Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Most of the original moated, wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced in stone in the late 12th or early 13th century and ...

and New Osney (between

Castle Mill Stream Castle Mill Stream is a backwater of the River Thames in the west of Oxford, England. It is 5.5 km long. Course The stream leaves the main course of the River Thames at the south end of Port Meadow, immediately upstream of Medley Foo ...

and the main stream of the Thames) on which

Osney Abbey Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the railway line just south of Oxford s ...

and

Osney Mill Osney Mill is a former flour mill on a branch of the River Thames in Oxford, England, located south of the Botley Road, down Mill Street. While the mill was gutted by a fire in 1945 and remained derelict for over 60 years, the exterior walls w ...

were established during the Middle Ages. The place plays a minor but significant role in ''

The Miller's Tale "The Miller's Tale" ( enm, The Milleres Tale) is the second of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'' (1380s–1390s), told by the drunken miller Robin toquite (a Middle English term meaning requite or pay back, in both good and negative way ...

'' in

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's '' The Canterbury Tales''.

History

The name "Osney" is Old English, and means either "Osa's Island" or "island in the Ouse": Ouzen Ait is a

base form A root (or root word) is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements. In morphology, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a prefix or a suffix can attach. The root word is the prima ...

and Ouse is an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

word for a (large) river. Until the early twentieth century the name was applied to the island formed by two streams of the River Thames immediately west of the centre of Oxford,

and the stream which is now the main channel of the river. To the north the island is bounded by a short channel between the River Thames and the Castle Mill Stream, the

Sheepwash Channel Sheepwash Channel connects the River Thames to the west and the Castle Mill Stream next to the Oxford Canal to the east (linked through Isis Lock), in west Oxford, England. To the north are Cripley Meadow (largely allotments) and Fiddler's Is ...

, which separates it from

Fiddler's Island Fiddler's Island is an island in the River Thames at Oxford in England. It is situated south of Port Meadow on the reach above Osney Lock. The north part of the island sits between the River Thames and the top end of Castle Mill Stream, a Thame ...

and Cripley.

was founded on the south part of the island in 1129, and

Rewley Abbey The Cistercian Abbey of Rewley was an abbey in Oxford, England. It was founded in the 13th century by Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall. Edmund's father, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, founder of Hailes Abbey, had intended to establish a college o ...

was founded in the north of the island in 1280.

was established by Osney Abbey on the west side of the island. The lands of both abbeys passed to Christ Church following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. The island formed part of St. Thomas's parish. In 1790 the mill stream feeding Osney Mill on the west side of the island became the main navigation channel of the river, when

Osney Lock Osney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in Oxford, England, where the village or island of Osney is next to the river. The first lock was built of stone by Daniel Harris for the Thames Navigation Commission in 1790. Across the weir poo ...

was opened. Until the beginning of the 19th century, only the side of the island east of St Thomas's Church was developed. In the nineteenth century the island changed significantly. The Great Western Railway built its line across the island from north to south in 1850, with new bridges across the Thames at the south end of the island, and across the Sheepwash Channel to the north. A new

was opened on the island two years later. In 1851 the

Buckinghamshire Railway The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury and Oxford. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line. His ...

opened its line from the north across Sheepwash Channel to its Rewley Road station next to the GWR station. To house railway workers Osney Town was laid out in 1851 by George P. Hester, on an island west of Osney leased by Hester from Christ Church. In the 1860s New Osney was developed around Mill Street, south of

between the railway and the river. The Cripley estate, north of Botley Road, was laid out in 1878.

Osney Cemetery Osney Cemetery is a disused Church of England cemetery in Osney, west Oxford, England. It is in Mill Street south of Botley Road and near the site of Osney Abbey. It borders the Cherwell Valley Line railway a short distance south of Oxfor ...

was opened in 1848 in the south of the island.

Modern Osney

The name Osney is today usually applied to Osney Town. Most of Osney's two hundred-odd households live in 19th-century terraced cottages built on Hester's original grid. A minority of buildings are less than 50 years old, all on Bridge and West Streets, as well as a few significantly larger houses scattered throughout. The island presently has two

public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, The Punter and The Holly Bush. A

Working Men's Club and Institute Union The Working Men's Club and Institute Union (CIU or C&IU) is a voluntary association of private members' clubs in Great Britain & Northern Ireland, with about 1,800 associate clubs. One club in the Republic of Ireland, the City of Dublin Working ...

affiliate, the West Oxford Democrats Club has premises. Osney is part of the Oxfordshire County Council

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of Jericho and Osney (as currently named, wards being periodically redefined to avoid

malapportionment Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionmen ...

New Osney

The name Osney is no longer applied to the island which historically bore the name. The part of the island east of the railway is now usually called St Thomas. The name survives on the island in New Osney, Osney Lane, Osney Cemetery, Osney Mill and Osney Marina. Osney Bridge carries the

( A420) west from the historic Osney island.

was constructed in the river in 1790, between the island then known as Osney and the island now known as Osney.

Osney Mead

From 1961 an

industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

, named Osney Mead in 1966, was developed on meadowland between Osney and

Bulstake Stream Bulstake Stream, also spelt Bullstake Stream, is a backwater of the River Thames at Oxford, England. The stream leaves the main stream of the Thames at a river junction known as Four Rivers, at the south west corner of Fiddler's Island oppos ...

, to the east of

Ferry Hinksey Road Ferry Hinksey Road is a road in west Oxford, England, leading south from the Botley Road. The road leads to the Osney Mead Industrial Estate to the east, started in 1961. To the east is Osney Ditch. History The road is named after the villag ...

. The estate was initially intended to relocate badly sited existing local businesses. Organisations based there include publishers Alden Mowbray, Holywell Press, and Oxford Community Church, the last occupying a building on the estate formerly used by

Oxford Instruments Oxford Instruments plc is a United Kingdom manufacturing and research company that designs and manufactures tools and systems for industry and research. The company is headquartered in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England, with sites in the United Ki ...

. Bodleian Libraries and the

Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford The Department of Engineering Science is the engineering department of the University of Oxford. It is part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division. The department was ranked 3rd best institute in the UK for engine ...

occupy buildings at the southeastern end of Osney Mead. Newspaper House was designed by

Arup Associates Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environmen ...

with mostly

open plan Open plan is the generic term used in architectural and interior design for any floor plan that makes use of large, open spaces and minimizes the use of small, enclosed rooms such as private offices. The term can also refer to landscaping of h ...

'' Bürolandschaft'' offices and built 1970–72.Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, pages 334-335 It is the Oxfordshire headquarters of Newsquest which publishes local tabloid newspapers, including the weekly ''

The Oxford Times ''The Oxford Times'' is a weekly newspaper, published each Thursday in Oxford, England. Originally a broadsheet, it switched to the compact format in 2008. The paper is published from a large production facility at Osney Mead, west Oxford, a ...

'' and the daily ''

Oxford Mail ''Oxford Mail'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Oxford, England, owned by Newsquest. It is published six days a week. It is a sister paper to the weekly tabloid '' The Oxford Times''. History The ''Oxford Mail'' was founded in 1928 as a succe ...

''.

References

Sources

* (VCH) * *

External links

Osney Island Residents' Association

Osney Town Conservation Area
{{Oxford Areas of Oxford Islands of the River Thames