Hythe Bridge Street is in the west of central 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...

, 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...

, forming part of the A4144 road.

Location

The street links Frideswide Square

Frideswide Square

Frideswide Square is a square to the west of central Oxford, England. The square is named after the patron saint of Oxford, St Frideswide.The "square" is actually triangular in shape. Immediately to the north, the modern Saïd Business School of Oxford University dominates the square, established in...

 and then Botley Road

Botley Road

Botley Road is the main arterial road into Oxford, England from the west. It stretches between Botley, on the Oxford Ring Road to the west of the city, and Frideswide Square at the junction with Oxford railway station, close to central Oxford....

 (A420

A420 road

The A420 is a road between Bristol and Oxford in England. Between Swindon and Oxford it is a primary route.-Present route:Since the opening of the M4 motorway, the road is in two sections. The first section begins on Old Market Street near the centre of Bristol, it passes through Kingswood before...

) to the east (at the junction with Hollybush Row, which continues becoming Oxpens Road

Oxpens Road

Oxpens Road is a road in central Oxford, England, linking west and south Oxford. It is named after the marshy area of Oxpens, next to one of the branches of the River Thames in Oxford.- Locale :...

) and Worcester Street

Worcester Street

Worcester Street is a street in west central Oxford, England.The street runs north-south in two sections that are separated for traffic. The northern section forms part of the A4144 road. It starts opposite the eponymous Worcester College, one of the colleges of the University of Oxford, at the...

 (also the A4144) at the western end leading north, at the junction with George Street

George Street, Oxford

George Street is a street in central Oxford, England. It is a shopping street running east-west. Its eastern end meets Broad Street at a crossroads with Cornmarket Street to the south and Magdalen Street to the north...

 (blocked to traffic). Parallel to Hythe Bridge Street to the south is Park End Street

Park End Street

Park End Street is a street in central Oxford, England, to the west of the centre of the city, close to the railway station at its western end.-Location:...

.

To the north at the eastern end of the street is Worcester College

Worcester College, Oxford

Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in the eighteenth century, but its predecessor on the same site had been an institution of learning since the late thirteenth century...

, one of the colleges of Oxford University. To the north at the western end is Beaver House, which until May 2011 contained the head office of Blackwell's

Blackwell's

Blackwell UK Ltd is a national chain of bookshops, online retail, mail order and library supply services in the United Kingdom, which has an annual turnover of £74 million...

 Booksellers, the leading academic bookseller in Oxford, also with further shops countrywide. The Centre for International Education is at 39–42 Hythe Bridge Street. The Bridge is a night club at No. 6–9. There are also a number of restaurants and other shops in the street. It forms a part of the main arterial route into central Oxford from the west and as such is normally very busy with traffic.

Hythe Bridge

Hythe Bridge

Hythe Bridge is a flat late 19th century cast iron beamed bridge on Hythe Bridge Street in the west of central Oxford, England. It spans the Castle Mill Stream, a backwater of the River Thames. Hythe Bridge forms part of the main arterial route west of Oxford...

, a flat late 19th century cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

 bridge on Hythe Bridge Street, spans the Castle Mill Stream

Castle Mill Stream

Castle Mill Stream is a backwater of the River Thames in the west of Oxford, England. It is 5.5 km long.-Course:The stream leaves the main course of the Thames at the south end of Port Meadow, immediately upstream of Medley Footbridge. It then flows under the Cherwell Valley railway line and turns...

, a backwater of the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

. Just to the northeast is the southern end of the Oxford Canal

Oxford Canal

The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...

. This used to continue south of Hythe Bridge Street to a basin that is now filled in to form a car park.

Architecture

The Cistercian house Rewley Abbey

Rewley Abbey

The Cistercian Abbey of Rewley was an Abbey in Oxford, England. It was founded in the 13th century by Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall. Edmund's father, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, founder of Hayles Abbey, had intended to establish a college or chantry of three secular priests to pray for his...

, founded in 1280, was located north of Hythe Bridge Street on the banks of one of the branches of the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

. Virtually all the original buildings have disappeared, but there is still a 15th century doorway in a wall on the west side of the Oxford Canal, within a housing development.

Beaver House was erected in 1971–72, designed by the Oxford Architects Partnership. It is clad in reeded concrete

Concrete

Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

 with a glass curtain wall facing Hythe Bridge Street.

The Gloucester Green

Gloucester Green

Gloucester Green is a square in central Oxford, England, and the site of the city's bus station. It lies between George Street to the south and Beaumont Street to the north. To the west is Worcester Street and to the east is Gloucester Street....

 area beyond the eastern end of Hythe Bridge Street was redeveloped in 1987–90, with buildings clad in red brick, with patterns in different colours. Three domed turrets can be seen along Hythe Bridge Street, which have been described as "Disney-like".

The architectural partnership of Maguire and Murray designed the Linbury Building in Worcester College, completed in 1991. Its pyramid-roofed turrets can be seen over a stone wall on the north side of Hythe Bridge Street at the eastern end.