Risinghurst

It was built during the interwar period to relieve the housing shortage from working-class people moving to cities, in this case to take advantage of the motor industry in Oxford.

An accident happened in 1939 when Trevor Thomas, a six-year old boy, died after a practice bomb fell from an RAF plane and went through the roof.

In the 1930s the Risinghurst estate was built primarily by Benfield and Loxley as pebble-dashed semi-detached three-bedroom houses.

No plans for a community centre were original made, however in the late 1940s a residents group obtained a former army building near Wheatley and it was dismantled and rebuilt in Risinghurst.

[3] Behind the house is now a nature reserve, but was at the time a garden, which is believed to have inspired both Narnia and for Tolkien's Middle-earth.

The Trust describes the woods as follows'The steeply rising woodland includes beech, birch, alder, sycamore and larch.

Giant horsetail grows at the margins of a stream which flows in from the east and there are spectacular displays of dragonflies and damselflies in summer'The California-based C.S.

Behind the reserve is Shotover Country Park, which is partly designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The centre of Risinghurst is Downside Road, home to The Ampleforth, the local public house built in 1938, by the now defunct Ind Coope.

Risinghurst's Grovelands Road Sports Ground is home to Headington Youth Football Club.

Robert Goble (1903–1991) started making recorders and harpsichords here during the late 1940s when he moved to Greatstones from Haslemere.

Historically, back in the 1930s and 40s, a small weaving company operated at the top of Kiln Lane called Samarkand Hand Weavers; C S Lewis in a diary noted that Warnie had, in 1934, bought two ties from them.

On the Headington Roundabout corner of the estate – known as The Roundway – is another row of shops and a McDonald's fast food restaurant.

A large mock Tudor building with black timbering, it was converted into a hotel in 1957 when the southern by-pass was built.

At the end of Kiln Lane and the back of Shelley Close is a number of light engineering units.

Public transport for the estate was provided for decades by the Number 2 bus route that originally ran from Risinghurst via (Oxford High Street and Cornmarket) to Summertown and Kidlington.

The Church is currently in ministerial vacancy but still provides Christian worship every Sunday led by visiting ministers, elders or the outreach worker.

There is also a monthly junior Church where children are invited to go into the coffee lounge where they interactively explore different bible stories through arts and crafts, music, games and discussion.

The Church currently provides a number of services to the community, including a weekly lunch-club every Tuesday for those aged 55 or over, a coffee lounge and library which serves as a warm welcome space and is open for anyone to drop in for conversation, coffee, tea and biscuits most weekdays from 10am-1pm, and a community breakfast morning on the first Saturday of every month where you can enjoy a full English breakfast from 9:30-11am.

The Kilns in 1997