The Headington Subway
"Close the subway? You must be quackers!"
Above: two people stand on the
north side of the London Road
watching a section subway being lowered into place, winter 1969/1970
The Headington subway was opened in 1970, and was not without controversy from the beginning: Liberal Councillor Bryan Miles was quoted as saying that "99 people out of 100" did not want it. But since then traffic (especially buses) has greatly increased, and it offers a safe way for the very young and the elderly to cross the dangerous London Road in their own time.
In 2002 it was cheered up with paintings, which were officially "opened" by the Lord Mayor of Oxford and local artist Korky Paul at a champagne breakfast on Saturday 22 June 2002.
More pictures of the painting of the subway
LibDem "Save Our Subway" petition
Oxford Mail, 11 November 1999: "Unpopular subway may have the chop"
Oxford Mail, 2 June 2007: "Headington subway to be filled in"
Oxford Mail, 13 July 2009: "Subway appeal goes to Downing Street"
Oxford Mail, 24 January 2010 "Save our subway group backed by 3,600"
London Road was made one-way and traffic diverted down Windmill Road
while the subway was being installed
The Neighbourhood Statistics website (which gives full information gleaned from the 2001 census for every council ward in the country) shows that the central Headington area has a surprisingly high proportion (nearly 20%) of people over the age of 65. This figure would be even higher if it were not for the large number of students living in the area, with 1148 people in Headington ward (over 20%) aged between 19 and 26.
City Council Ward |
Total population |
Aged over 65 |
Barton & Sandhills |
5,881 |
13.72% |
Churchill |
6,075 |
14.90% |
Headington |
5,619 |
19.75% |
Headington Hill & Northway |
4,887 |
17.25% |
Marston |
6,114 |
18.79% |
Quarry & Risinghurst |
5,978 |
16.53% |
England as a whole |
49,138,831 |
16.36% |
