Cowley, Oxfordshire
Cowley | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | Oxford | |
Postcode district | OX4 | |
Dialling code | 01865 | |
Police | Thames Valley | |
Fire | Oxfordshire | |
Ambulance | South Central | |
UK Parliament | ||
Website | Cowley News | |
Cowley (
History
The Cowley area has been inhabited since
The term Cowley today usually refers to the remainder of Cowley (the parish of Cowley
Cowley
The
Between 1980 and 1992 the headquarters of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) was located in a converted barracks building at Cowley Barracks on James Wolfe Road, Cowley. The UKWMO was the organisation responsible for initiating the four-minute warning in the event of a nuclear attack on the UK and was disbanded at the end of the Cold War. Co-located with HQUKWMO was the Headquarters of No 3 Oxford Group Royal Observer Corps[3] whose underground protected nuclear bunker at the Cowley site opened in 1965. Parts of the bunker were demolished in 1995, however most of it was refurbished including the air filtration systems. The site now belongs to Oxford Brookes University who built student accommodation on the site, and now use the former bunker as a storage facility making it the only student halls in the country with its own nuclear shelter.
In 1921 the civil parish had a population of 2790.[4] On 1 April 1929 the parish was abolished and merged with St Giles and St John.[5]
Morris Motors
The Cowley area was transformed after 1912 when William Morris bought the former Oxford Military College and moved Morris Motors Limited into it from its former premises in Oxford. He expanded into "The Old Tin Shed" in 1914 and then into a huge complex of purpose-built production lines in Cowley, as Morris pioneered Henry Ford-style mass production in the UK. The Great Western Railway, which had taken over the Wycombe Railway, opened a station called Morris Cowley to serve some of the thousands of workers commuting to the factory. In 1933, a goods yard was built beside the line to bring supplies into the factory and take completed vehicles away. This yard still exists and serves the current vehicle-manufacturing plant, though the railway beyond has long been lifted.
From the 1920s through to the 1960s, Cowley expanded into a huge industrial centre. In the Great Depression many people left areas of high unemployment such as South Wales and moved to the Cowley area to work in Cowley's factories. Large areas of housing were built and rented out to the migrants. Florence Park was one area built in the 1920s for a private landlord to rent to new workers. The houses looked nice but they were poorly built and maintained, until the tenants held a rent strike and forced the landlord to make repairs. Most Florence Park houses are now owner-occupied, and the area's tree-lined roads are now a popular neighbourhood in which to live. In World War II the Morris factory produced many de Havilland Tiger Moth training aeroplanes for the war effort and there was also the No 1 Metal and Produce Recovery Depot run by the Civilian Repair Organisation to handle crashed or damaged aircraft and even the wreckage of enemy aircraft was processed here. Paul Nash was inspired to paint Totes Meer based on sketches he made of the recovery depot.
Despite successive company
Cowley today
The car
It was the original base of Morris cars when the marque was founded in 1912, and production continued at the factory until 1982, with models including the
Sports and leisure
Cowley has a strong sporting tradition. In 1938
Until 2009 on
Education
Schools serving Cowley include Greyfriars Catholic School and Oxford Spires Academy.
In popular culture
Cowley is a principal setting in the novel
On his 1992 tour of England (heard on the posthumously released Shock and Awe album), the comedian and satirist Bill Hicks stated that he had found the "Alabama of Britain" whilst attending a radio interview in Cowley.[15]
Cowley is referenced in the lyrics of the song "Zorbing" by the British alternative indie folk band Stornoway: "Been Zorbing through the streets of Cowley".
Young detective Endeavour Morse is based at Cowley Road police station in the Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour.
Notable people
- Gladys Mitchell, writer, born April 21, 1901
- Stornoway, musical band
References
- ^ *Lobel, Mary D, ed. (1957). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 5: Bullingdon Hundred. pp. 76–96.
- ISBN 978-0-7538-2611-9.
- ^ ROC HQ locations and photos
- A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
- ^ "Relationships and changes Cowley CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
- ^ BBC News
- ^ Bennett Crescent Oxford
- ^ "Oxford City Council Cowley Ward Profile". Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
- ^ Greyhound racing Archived 2006-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Oxford Cheetahs
- ^ Closure of Temple Cowley Pools Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Library services". Archived from the original on 28 April 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- ^ Record Office
- ^ The Page Turner (16 January 2008). "Armed gang raid cafe". Oxford Mail. Newsquest Oxfordshire. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
- ^ Bill Hicks "Salvation" on YouTube
Sources
- Lobel, Mary D, ed. (1957). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 5: Bullingdon Hundred. pp. 76–96.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; ISBN 0-14-071045-0.