Harcourt Hill

Human settlement in England

North Hinksey

District

Vale of White Horse

Oxfordshire

Region

South East

CountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townOxfordPostcode districtOX2Dialling code01865PoliceThames ValleyFire Oxfordshire Ambulance South Central UK Parliament

Oxford West and Abingdon

List of places: UK; England; Oxfordshire

51°44′20″N 1°17′35″W / 51.739°N 1.293°W / 51.739; -1.293

Harcourt Hill is a hill and community in North Hinksey in Oxfordshire, England, west of the city of Oxford. There is a good view of the city from the hill. It lies between Hinksey Hill to the southeast, Boars Hill to the south and Botley to the north. Until 1974 it was in Berkshire, but was transferred to Oxfordshire in that year.

History

The Conduit House on the northeast side of Harcourt Hill was built in 1616–17^[1] to supply water to the city of Oxford and was in use until the middle of the 19th century.

Harcourt Hill was part of an estate acquired by Earl Harcourt in 1772. The Harcourt family promoted various plans for developing the hill in the 19th century,^[2] and about 50 houses were eventually built there between the 1920s and the early 1960s.

In 1959 Westminster College moved from London to a new site on the northwest side of Harcourt Hill, which is now a campus of Oxford Brookes University.

Notable people

Well-known residents of Harcourt Hill have included Professor Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Muirhead Bone and Martin Gilbert.

References

^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 186.
^ Hanson, W.J. (1996). A Thousand Years: a study of the interaction between people and environment in the Cumnor, Wytham and North Hinksey Area. Wytham Publications.