Headington Timeline
160,000,000 BC (Upper Jurassic period) |
Headington under the sea Fragments of coral and the fossils of sea urchins remain at Rock Edge, which was probably the boundary between a coral reef and the surrounding shallow sea |
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1000 BC |
Stone Age man living in Headington Artefacts found in Quarry and the Barton Lane area |
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600 BC |
Iron Age man living in Headington Artefacts found in former Manor Ground area |
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AD 300 |
Romans living in Headington Villa found at Headington Wick Pottery kiln on site of present Churchill Hospital |
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AD 500 |
Anglo-Saxons living in Headington Burial ground discovered on site of present Stephen Road |
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AD 912 |
Oxford is carved out of the royal domain of Headington by this date | |
AD 1004 |
King Ethelred grants his land in Headington ("Headan dune") to St Frideswide Priory in Oxford on St Andrewstide (7 December) | |
AD 1009 |
King Ethelred has palace in Headington | |
AD 1086 |
Domesday Book gives details about Headington, indicating that the King has regained ownership of it from St Frideswide's Priory | |
AD 1122 |
First mention of St Andrew's Church, Headington (in a charter of Henry I) | |
AD 1135 |
Death of Henry I, the last king to reside in Headington | |
AD 1200 |
Windmill already in existence on Windmill Road | |
AD 1246 |
The hamlet of Barton is already well established and known as Old Barton | |
AD 1396 |
Quarrying begins in earnest: New College bell-tower built of Headington stone | |
AD 1474 |
William Orchard leases quarry in Headington to build at Magdalen College | |
AD 14824 |
The Brome/Whorwood dynasty become Lords of the Manor of Headington | |
AD 1574 |
Road from Headington to Oxford improved to transport stone to build Cardinal College (Christ Church) | |
AD 1600 |
The earliest part of the Rookery (now Ruskin Hall) is built | |
AD 1615 |
A hamlet began to grow at Quarry | |
AD 1646 |
Civil War: Parliamentarian Sir Thomas Fairfax moves his headquarters from Marston to Headington | |
AD 1681 |
Earliest surviving Headington parish register begins this year | |
AD 1700 |
Terraced walkway up Headington Hill created by public subscription of the University | |
AD 1718 |
Fire starts in St Andrew's Lane and spreads across to Old High Street, destroying 24 dwellings | |
c.AD 1770 |
Headington Manor House built | |
c.AD 1790 |
New London Road cut through fields between Headington Hill and Wheatley | |
AD 1793/4 |
(4 Jan) Tom Paine's effigy burnt at Headington | |
c.AD 1800 |
Bury Knowle House built | |
AD 1801 |
Population of Headington: 669 | |
AD 1804 |
Headington Enclosure Act | |
AD 1805 |
Free School opens in Headington Quarry | |
AD 1813 |
Lords of Manor sell 315 outlying acres of Headington manorial land: most of Headington Quarry and land to the south-west of Old Road and the north-west of Dunstan Road. | |
AD 1824 |
First phase of the building of Headington Hill Hall completed for James Morrell | |
AD 1826 |
Warneford Asylum (Headington's first hospital) built | |
AD 1830 |
Headington's first nonconformist chapel (Methodist) opens in Trinity Road, Quarry | |
AD 1834 |
Headington Union of 22 parishes set up under Poor Law Amendment Act | |
AD 1834 |
Headington's second nonconformist chapel (Baptist) opens in the Croft | |
AD 1836 |
The 345 remaining acres of the lands of Headington Manor were put up for auction on 3 August 1836; all land finally sold in 1846 | |
AD 1838 |
New Union Workhouse built on London Road near Gladstone Road | |
AD 1840 |
Old Headington Infant School opens in North Place | |
AD 1841 |
Population of Headington: 1,668 | |
AD 1848 |
Headington National School opens on London Road | |
AD 1849 |
Headington Quarry becomes separate parish on opening of Holy Trinity Church | |
AD 1852 |
Building of New Headington village begins in New High Street and roads to the south | |
AD 1864 |
Headington Quarry National School opens | |
AD 1871 |
All Saints Mission Chapel opens in Church (now Perrin) Street | |
AD 1871 |
Wingfield Convalescent Home opens on present site of Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre) | |
AD 1873 |
New Headington Infant School opens in Church (now Perrin) Street | |
AD 1875 |
Land bought for reservoir on top of Headington Hill to serve Oxford (but not Headington) | |
AD 1877 |
Revd John Taylor of the Rookery starts to sell off the lands of Highfield Farm: development of Highfield estate begins with villa on London Road (now Dorset House) | |
AD 1878 |
London Road disturnpiked, and toll gate removed from the central Headington crossroads | |
AD 1879 |
Development of Pullen's Lane starts with The Pullens | |
c.AD 1880 |
Windmill on Windmill Road pulled down; toll-gates removed from London Road | |
AD 1885 |
Headington cemetery opens | |
AD 1889 |
Municipal borough of Oxford extended eastwards to match parliamentary borough: Headington to the west of Gipsy Lane henceforth part of Oxford | |
AD 1891 |
Population of Headington: 3,005 (Old Headington 879, Headington Quarry 1,080, New Headington 1,046) |
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AD 1892 |
Co-op opens in new building (now Buckell & Ballard) built on site of former toll-house on corner of London and Windmill Road | |
AD 1893 |
Headington United Football Club founded ((later Oxford United) | |
AD 1894 |
Headington Rural District created | |
AD 1899 |
Cecil Sharp sees William Kimber morris-dancing at Sandfield Cottage on London Road, leading to revival of English folk music | |
AD 1908 |
Headington's first council school opens on Margaret Road | |
AD 1909 |
Joe Pullen's Tree, Headington's famous landmark, is burnt down | |
AD 1910 |
All Saints Church in Lime Walk opens, and New Headington village and Highfield become a separate parish from St Andrew's, known as Highfield | |
AD 1911 |
Population of Headington: 4,488 | |
AD 1913 |
The 1½-mile residence limit for members of Congregation is abolished, causing an influx of dons' families to Old Road and Old Headington | |
AD 1914 |
The brickfields in Quarry cease operation | |
c.AD 1916 |
Headington gets its first-ever piped water supply (from Shotover) | |
AD 1917 |
Death of last Lord of the Manor of Headington (Colonel James Hoole). Trustees of the Radcliffe Infirmary buy the Manor House and its lands | |
AD 1918 |
Death toll of Headington men in First World War reaches 127 (2.37% of its total population and well over ten per cent of its young men) | |
AD 1919 |
C.S. Lewis comes to lodge in Headington and stays for the rest of his life, moving into the Kilns in Risinghurst in 1930 | |
AD 1920 |
Headington was connected to the city sewage system | |
AD 1921 |
Population of Headington: 5,328 | |
AD 1925 |
101 council houses (the first in Oxford) are built on the north-east side of the London Road in Headington | |
AD 1927 |
Headington Urban District Council formed at the request of the parish council. Only lasts one year, but in that time purchases land on the Barton estate for 60 homes, acquires land for public open space in Windmill Road, passes more than 200 plans to erect homes, and grants nearly 40 private enterprise subsidies | |
AD 1929 |
Headington to the east of Gipsy Lane (1,529 acres) is incorporated into the City of Oxford. Headington Urban District Council dissolved in August and City Council takes over the new suburb. Headington is quickly brought up to city standards, getting electricity and telephone for the first time, and better pavements C.S. Lewis buys The Kilns in Risinghurst with his brother and Mrs Moore |
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AD 1930 |
Headington School moves into its present site on Headington Road 314 council houses built on the new Gipsy Lane estate |
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AD 1931 |
Headington population 79% larger than ten years before, mostly because of the development of Morris Motors | |
AD 1932 |
Oxford Preservation Trust buys 50 acres of South Park (and hands it over to the city in 1959 to be preserved as an open space) | |
AD 1934 |
Bury Knowle Library is the first branch library in Oxford to be opened | |
c. AD 1935 |
Northern bypass from Headington roundabout to Banbury Road roundabout is built as unemployment relief work | |
AD 1936 |
Youth Hostel opens in Jack Straw's Lane Headington's first Roman Catholic Church (Corpus Christi) opens in Margaret Road |
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AD 1939 |
Oxford Crematorium opens in Bayswater Road | |
AD 1940 |
Churchill Hospital opens to provide wartime medical services | |
AD 1946 |
Building of council houses starts at Barton | |
AD 1951 |
Building of 570 council houses starts at Northway, including Oxford's first multi-storey tower block | |
AD 1953 |
Building of 510 council houses starts at Wood Farm J.R.R. Tolkien moves to 76 Sandfield Road Oxford city council buys Headington Hill Park |
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AD 1954 |
Lord Nuffield lays foundation stone of Oxford College of Technology at Gipsy Lane (now Oxford Brookes University) | |
AD 1956 |
Adoption by Oxford of the first green-belt outside London offers some protection to Headington, although building continues in the green-belt at Barton | |
AD 1958 |
260 council houses built at Town Furze St Mary's Church opened, and Barton ceased to be part of the parish of St Andrew's Church |
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AD 1959 |
80 council houses built at Headington Quarry Robert Maxwell starts to rent Headington Hill Hall Old houses on the Green Road in Headington Quarry demolished to make room for the new eastern bypass linking Headington and Rose Hill |
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AD 1968 |
Building starts on Phase 1 (maternity department) of John Radcliffe Hospital | |
AD 1970 |
Oxford College of Technology is designated Oxford Polytechnic | |
AD 1971 |
Old Headington is designated a Conservation Area | |
AD 1975 |
150 council houses built on site of the Laurels (the former Headington Union workhouse) in Gladstone Road | |
AD 1977 |
Number of houses built at Barton reaches 1600 | |
AD 1985 |
Council housing is built on the lands of Laurel Farm in Old Headington | |
AD 1986 |
Shark erected on roof of 2 New High Street | |
AD 1992 |
Oxford Polytechnic becomes Oxford Brookes University | |
AD 2001 |
Oxford United plays its last game on the Manor Ground | |
AD 2002 |
Jubilee Street Party held in Headington | |
AD 2003 |
Return to two-tier education system completed. Headington Middle School, Bayswater Middle School, and Headington Quarry First School close down. Windmill Primary School moves into the Headington Middle School buildings, Bayards Hill Primary School (the new name for Barton First School) into the former Bayswater School buildings, and Headington Nursery School into the Headington Quarry School buildings First Headington Festival |
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AD 2006 |
Headington Baptist Church opens its new building on its Old High Street site in November | |
AD 2007 |
The Radcliffe Infirmary completes its move to Headington Oxford Children's Hospital opens St Ebbe's Church opens in the former Exclusive Brethren Church in Lime Walk |