Norham Gardens

Norham Gardens is a residential road in central North Oxford, England. It adjoins the north end of Parks Road near the junction with Banbury Road, directly opposite St Anne's College. From here it skirts the north side of the Oxford University Parks, ending up at Lady Margaret Hall, a college of Oxford University that was formerly for women only, backing onto the River Cherwell. Public access to the Parks is available from the two ends of the road. To the north of the road are Bradmore Road near the western end and Fyfield Road near the eastern end.

North Lodge, at the entrance to the University Parks where Norham Gardens meets Parks Road.

A number of houses in Norham Gardens are now used by the University of Oxford (mainly the Department of Education) and its colleges. St Edmund Hall's Graduate Centre is housed in several buildings on this road. One house, previously run by the Society of the Sacred Heart and then St Benet's Hall, is now accommodation and teaching space for St Hilda's College.^[1][2]

History

 

13 Norham Gardens:Sir William Osler's residence in Oxford

Norham Gardens was developed from 1860 onwards as part of the Norham Manor housing estate.^[3][4] Most of its houses are large Victorian Gothic villas. Nos. 1, 5, 7, 11 and 13 were designed by the architect William Wilkinson and nos. 3 and 9 are by Charles Buckeridge.^[5] The Sanskrit scholar, Max Müller lived at No. 7 from 1848 until his death in 1900.^[6] When he was Regius Professor of Medicine (1905-1919), Sir William Osler lived at No. 13 with his wife, Grace, who remained there until her death in 1928. Osler and his friends nicknamed the house "The Open Arms" as the Oslers were very sociable, particularly to Canadians and Americans visiting Oxford, Osler having been born in Canada and having worked in both Canada and the US before moving to Oxford.

Literature

The children's fantasy novel The House in Norham Gardens (set in a fictional No. 40) was written by Penelope Lively and published in 1970.^[7]

References

1. "The History of Norham Gardens" (PDF). St Benet’s News. No. December 2016. St Benet's Hall. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
2. Kenny, Samuel (28 September 2022). "St Hilda's buys St Benet's Hall's buildings". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
3. Tyack, 1998, pages 234-235.
4. Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 317.
5. Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 318.
6. "Max Muller". Retrieved 19 December 2014.
7. Penelope Lively, The House in Norham Gardens. Heinemann/Dutton, 1974. ISBN 978-0-434-94895-6; ISBN 978-0-525-32315-0. Also published by Mammoth, 1994. ISBN 978-0-7497-0790-3.

Sources

• Hinchcliffe, Tanis (1992). North Oxford. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05184-0.
• Lively, Penelope (2004). The House in Norham Gardens. Jane Nissen Books. ISBN 1-903252-18-0.
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 317. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
• Tyack, Geoffrey (1998). Oxford An Architectural Guide. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 234–235. ISBN 0-19-817423-3.

Coordinates: 51°45′48″N 1°15′24″W / 51.76346°N 1.25678°W / 51.76346; -1.25678