Headington
Somewhere along New High Street, a 25-foot fibreglass shark nose-dives through the roof of a terraced house, frozen mid-crash since 1986. It was installed by a local radio presenter, survived a protracted planning battle, and was eventually saved by Michael Heseltine. That's Headington in miniature: a place with a long memory and an occasional taste for the absurd.
What looks like a standard Oxford suburb turns out to have been a Mercian royal hunting ground, a medieval stone-quarrying village, and the chosen home of both C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. The two stories — ancient and literary — run quietly beneath the bus routes and hospital signs.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who know Headington well tend to mention the same walk: up through Old Headington to St Andrew's Church, which has been standing in some form since the 12th century, then down toward Headington Hill Hall to see where Robert Maxwell once held court in a 14-acre estate on a council lease. The shark on New High Street is the punctuation mark at the end.
Deals in Headington
Book directly at the providerHow Headington came to be
The name comes from Old English — Hedena's dun, Hedena's hill — and the hill was already old when the Saxons named it. Stone Age remains were found in Barton Lane, Iron Age pottery on Manor Ground, and Roman kilns from around 300 AD. By 1004, King Ethelred was granting land here to St Frideswide's Priory, and Henry I extended that connection when the priory was formally founded in 1122.
The medieval village of Headington Quarry grew up around the stone pits in the 17th century, its labour feeding Oxford's building appetite. A fire in 1718 took 24 homes. Rapid suburban expansion followed in the early 20th century, and in 1929 Headington was absorbed into the City of Oxford — though Old Headington, the original medieval core, remained distinct enough that you can still feel the join.
Who and what shaped it
People who shaped it
Landmark buildings
Plan your visit
On the map
When to go
Oxford's climate applies here: mild and damp, with the wettest months typically October through January. Spring and early autumn offer the most comfortable walking weather; summer days are warm but rarely extreme, and the area's trees give good shade along the older lanes.
Right now
Background & history adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) · specs from Wikidata (CC0) · weather from Open-Meteo · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · photos from Wikimedia Commons / Unsplash with per-image credit. No third-party reviews or social posts reproduced.