[1] It is named after the marshy area of Oxpens,[2] next to one of the branches of the River Thames in Oxford.

To the northwest, Oxpens Road becomes Hollybush Row, meeting at Frideswide Square, forming the major junction of the Botley Road, Park End Street and Hythe Bridge Street near the Saïd Business School and Oxford railway station (to the west of the city centre).

The road crosses the southern end of the Castle Mill Stream just before it reaches the River Thames.

A redeveloped and greatly expanded shopping centre opened in 2017, but there have been concerns over the imposing and largely windowless wall at the southwest of the redevelopment on Oxpens Road by conservationists, including the Oxford Civic Society.

Many residents were moved to Blackbird Leys, an estate consisting largely of council housing on the outskirts of southeast Oxford and close to Morris Motors Limited in Cowley, which provided employment.