Norham Road lies east off 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...

 in central 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....

, a suburb in the city of 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...

.

Location

The road is within the Norham Manor

Norham Manor

The Norham Manor estate is a residential suburb in Oxford, England. It is part of central North Oxford. To the north is Park Town with its crescents, to the east is the River Cherwell, to the south are the University Parks and to the west is Walton Manor, on the other side of Banbury Road.The...

 area. It consists mainly of large Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 houses, many of three storeys above ground with a basement below. To the south of the road are Bradmore Road near the western end and Fyfield Road near the eastern end, both connecting with Norham Gardens

Norham Gardens

Norham Gardens is a residential road in central north Oxford, England. It adjoins the north end of Parks Road near the junction with Banbury Road. From here it skirts the north side of the Oxford University Parks, ending up at Lady Margaret Hall, a college of Oxford University that was formerly for...

. To the north is Park Town

Park Town, Oxford

Park Town is a small residential area in central North Oxford, a suburb of Oxford, England. It was one of the earliest planned suburban developments in the area.-History and overview:...

. Pedestrian access at the eastern end leads north to the Dragon School

Dragon School

The Dragon School is a British coeducational, preparatory school in the city of Oxford, founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School, or OPS. It is primarily known as a boarding school, although it also takes day pupils...

, a preparatory school. The road continues to the east as Benson Place, which leads to Lady Margaret Hall, one of the Oxford University colleges, originally for women.

History

The road is part of the Norham Manor estate within North Oxford, originally owned by St John's College, Oxford

St John's College, Oxford

__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...

. It was developed by the college in the 1870s. The houses in the road were first leased between 1863 and 1905. William Wilkinson

William Wilkinson (architect)

William Wilkinson was a British Gothic Revival architect who practised in Oxford, England.-Family:Wilkinson's father was a builder in Witney in Oxfordshire. William's elder brother George Wilkinson was also an architect, as were William's nephews C.C. Rolfe and H.W. Moore .-Career:Wilkinson...

 was the architect for many of the houses (numbers 14–26 and 30–35). Frederick Codd

Frederick Codd

Frederick Codd was a British Gothic Revival architect and speculative builder who designed and built many Victorian houses in North Oxford, England....

 designed No. 13.

St Hugh's College

St Hugh's College, Oxford

St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a fourteen and a half acre site on St Margaret's Road, to the North of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 as a women's college, and accepted its first male students in its centenary year in 1986...

 was founded as a women's college by Elizabeth Wordsworth

Elizabeth Wordsworth

Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth was the great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth. She was the daughter of Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln, and the sister of John Wordsworth, Bishop of Salisbury and Christopher Wordsworth, a liturgical scholar.Educated at home, she learned several modern...

, great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

, at 25 Norham Road in 1886, using money left to her by her father Christopher Wordsworth

Christopher Wordsworth

Christopher Wordsworth was an English bishop and man of letters.-Life:Wordsworth was born in London, the youngest son of the Rev. Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity and a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth...

 (1807–1885), a Bishop of Lincoln

Bishop of Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...

. The college is now located in much larger premises on St Margaret's Road

St Margaret's Road

St Margaret's Road is a road in North Oxford, England. It runs between Kingston Road to the west and Banbury Road to the east, crossing Woodstock Road. To the south are Farndon Road to the west and Canterbury Road to the east...

 further north.

The Maison Française d'Oxford

Maison Française d'Oxford

The Maison Française d’Oxford is a French research centre in the humanities and social sciences and a member of the Network of French Research Institutes Established Abroad by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the French National Centre for Scientific Research .- Overview...

  is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 research institute based at 2–10 Norham Road. It was originally set up by the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 and University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

 at the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The current building was erected on an empty site on the north side of the road opposite Bradmore Road during 1961–2. It was designed by Jacques Laurent with Brian Ring, Howard & Partners.