Belbroughton Road is a residential road in the suburb of North Oxford

North Oxford

North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The road runs east from Banbury Road

Banbury Road

Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the Woodstock Road, which it meets at the junction with St...

. At the other end is Oxford High School, a girls' school. South from the road about half way along is Northmoor Road

Northmoor Road

Northmoor Road is a road in North Oxford, England. It runs north-south parallel to and east of the Banbury Road. At the northern end is a junction with Belbroughton Road and to the south is a junction with Bardwell Road, location of the Dragon School...

, where J.R.R. Tolkien lived for a while in the 1930s. At the eastern end is Charlbury Road

Charlbury Road

Charlbury Road is a road in North Oxford, England, running to the east of and parallel with the Banbury Road.At the southern end of the road there is a junction with Bardwell Road, close to the Dragon School. 5 Charlbury Road is one of the Dragon School boarding houses. Linton Road crosses...

.

The road includes some large notable detached houses. Amongst them are houses designed by Christopher Wright in the neo-Georgian style. For example, No. 1 Belbroughton Road (built in 1926) is essentially a simple rectangular design, but including three very distinctive red-brick arches as a feature on the front facade, with rendering within each of the arches.

Belbroughton Road is a desirable residential area of North Oxford and house prices are very high in the area.

Notable residents

Sir Francis Simon

Francis Simon

Sir Francis Simon, born Franz Eugen Simon , was a German and later British physical chemist and physicist who devised the method, and confirmed its feasibility, of separating the isotope Uranium-235 and thus made a major contribution to the creation of the atomic bomb.-Early life:He was born to a...

 (1893–1956), the leading physical chemist, physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

, and Fellow of Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, lived at 10 Belbroughton Road. This is now commemorated with a blue plaque

Blue plaque

A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....

 on the house, installed by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board

Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board

The Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board, established in 1999, is administered by the Oxford Civic Society. It oversees the installation of blue plaques on historic buildings in the county of Oxfordshire, England to commemorate famous residents and events...

. The plaque was unveiled on 10 December 2003 by Sir Martin Wood

Martin Wood (engineer)

Sir Martin Francis Wood, CBE, FRS was co-founder of Oxford Instruments, one of the first spin-out companies from the University of Oxford and still one of the most successful....

, who previously lived in Northmoor Road, adjoining Belbroughton Road. No. 10 was the home of the Simon family from 1933 until the death of Lady Simon in 2001. They received many refugees at the house and provided hospitality for scientists, former students, and others from around the world.

Poetry

The road was mentioned in the first line of a poem (May-Day Song for North Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

) by the poet laureate

Poet Laureate

A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...

 Sir John Betjeman

John Betjeman

Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...

:

Belbroughton Road is bonny, and pinkly bursts the spray

Of prunus and forsythia across the public way,

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