Botley Road is the main road into the centre of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from the west. It stretches between Botley, on the

Oxford Ring Road The Oxford Ring Road circles the city of Oxford, England. It is a dual carriageway ring road for most of its length apart from a short section between Woodstock Road and Banbury Road in the north of the city. The severe restrictions on traf ...

( A34) to the west of the city, and

Frideswide Square Frideswide Square is a Town square, square to the west of central Oxford, England. The square is named after the patron saint of Oxford, St Frideswide. The "square" is actually more of a tapered rectangle in shape. Immediately to the north, th ...

at the junction with

Oxford railway station Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station, one of two serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, north-west of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road. It is the busiest station in Oxfords ...

, close to central Oxford.

Overview

The Botley Road was known as the Botley Turnpike Road in the 18th century and Seven Bridges Road in the 19th century. Until the early 19th century it was little more than a track and highwaymen were a problem. The road passes

Osney Osney or Osney Island (; an earlier spelling of the name is ''Oseney'') is a riverside community in the west of the city of Oxford, England. In modern times the name is applied to a community also known as Osney Town astride Botley Road, just w ...

. Out-of-town retail stores line the route. The road is designated as the A420. It becomes West Way at Botley Bridge over Seacourt Stream to the west. To the east, past the station, it becomes

Park End Street Park End Street is a street in central Oxford, England, to the west of the centre of the city, close to the Oxford railway station, railway station at its western end. Location To the east, New Road, Oxford, New Road links Park End Street to ...

. Oxpens Road leads off to the south at this junction. Along its route are several bridges — west to east: Botley Bridge, Bulstake Bridge, Osney Ditch Bridge, and Osney Bridge — as it passes over various sidechannels and the main branch of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. Side streets, as well as most of the road between the railway station and the Beaumont veterinary practice, are mostly residential, and are flanked by two large parks ( Botley Park, adjacent to West Oxford Community Centre, and Oatlands Park, near the Osney Mead industrial estate). The Botley Road is an important bus and commuter route to Oxford, and Seacourt

Park and Ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

is located near the junction with the A34. Eastbound, it has a

bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, generally to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway completely dedicated for use by buses, whilst ...

from the ring road until just before Osney Island, at which point there is a set of bus advancement traffic lights. It has

cycle lane Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor ...

s in both directions. South from the eastern end, via Mill Street, are the site of

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

(now destroyed), Osney Cemetery (established 1848),

Osney Lock Osney Lock is a lock on the River Thames in Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the Univers ...

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 ...

, and Osney Mill Marina.

Closure for station development

In October 2022,

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

said that Botley Road was likely to be closed at the railway station for the whole of 2023. In December 2022, Network Rail said they were looking at how to reduce the impact of the work on the local community and that they did not need to start the full closure of Botley Road in January 2023. Under revised plans announced by Network Rail in March 2023, Botley Road is closed at the railway bridge from 11 April 2023 to allow utility services to divert their infrastructure under the bridge and undertake other enabling work. The road was due to reopen from October 2023 to spring 2024 before closing again for the bridge to be replaced. In September 2023, Network Rail said that, because of delays, it would remain closed until the work is completed in October 2024. However, in July 2024, further delays, blamed on the complex layout of utility pipes, meant that the road did not reopen in October. In January 2025, Network Rail announced a new target date of August 2026 for the reopening, two years after the original planned completion date.

Development

From the railway station: * Roads on the north side: Rodger Dudman Way, Cripley Road, Abbey Road, Henry Road, Helen Road, Binsey Lane (leading to Binsey), Prestwich Place, Osney Court and Bullstake Court. * Roads on the south Side: Mill Street, Bridge Street (leading to Osney Island), Ferry Hinksey Road (leading to the Osney Mead industrial estate), Hill View Road, Alexandra Road, Oatlands Road, Harley Road, Riverside Road, Duke Street, Earl Street, Lamarsh Road, North Hinksey Lane. The development of roads between Osney Island and Bullstake Stream started in the 1890s. Oatlands Meadow, owned by Morrell's Trustees, was first advertised in 1894. Thomas Gable, an Oxford publican, laid out Hill View Road in 1895, providing plots for others to develop. Thomas Gable died later that year and Kingerlee builders bought the unsold plots along the rest of Hill View Road. In 1901 they gained permission for a building estate extending from Alexandra Road to Riverside Road. The firm also acquired consent to develop the land north of Botley Road, and laid out Henry Road and Helen Road (named after Thomas Henry Kingerlee's eldest children) and part of Binsey Lane in 1902. Harley Road and Riverside Road were laid out in 1919, and built in the following few years.

Quotations

Author and Oxford scholar

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

mentions the road to Botley comically in his autobiography. Describing his first-ever arrival in Oxford as a young student, he writes: Crime novelist

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV (TV network), ITV television series, ''Inspec ...

writes:

References

External links