Boars Hill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Boars Hill |
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 Old Golf Course at Boars Hill. |
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 Boars Hill
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| OS grid reference | SP485025 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Oxford |
| Postcode district | OX1 |
| Dialling code | 01865 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament |
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Boars Hill is a small village, also called a hamlet. It is about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Oxford. The village sits across the borders of two local areas called civil parishes: Sunningwell and Wootton.
Boars Hill has about 360 homes and covers almost two square miles. You can see its boundaries on a map from the local group, the Boars Hill Association. For a long time, Boars Hill was part of Berkshire. But in 1974, new laws changed the borders, and it became part of Oxfordshire.
Contents
Discovering Boars Hill's Past
The first time Boars Hill was written about was in the 1100s. Back then, it was sometimes called Boreshill. Most of Boars Hill used to be part of the larger area of Cumnor. This changed in the 1800s when the area of Wootton was created.
Until the late 1800s, the hill was mostly open land. It offered amazing views in every direction. You could see Oxford city to the north. To the south, you could see the Downs, which are rolling hills. To the west, you could see the upper Thames valley.
However, many houses were built on Boars Hill in the late 1800s. The new residents planted lots of trees and put up fences. Within a few decades, these new additions blocked most of the famous views. Now, you can only see them from a few special spots.
Places of Worship in Boars Hill
Church of England Churches
Boars Hill does not have its own main Church of England parish church. Because the village is split between two parishes, different parts of Boars Hill are served by two churches. These are St. Peter's in Wootton and St. Leonard's in Sunningwell.
Roman Catholic Church
There is a Roman Catholic chapel in Boars Hill called St. Thomas More. This chapel is part of the Roman Catholic parish of North Hinksey.
Famous People Who Lived Here
Boars Hill has been home to many interesting people, especially poets and thinkers.
Poets and Their Inspiration
One of the first poets to visit the hill was Arthur Hugh Clough. In 1841, he wrote in his diary about how a walk on the hill inspired one of his poems. He felt a bit sad because of money worries and upcoming exams. The bare landscape on a grey February day also made him feel down.
Later in 1841, Matthew Arnold came to Oxford. Clough showed him Boars Hill. This hill then became the setting for two of Arnold's most famous poems: The Scholar Gipsy (1853) and Thyrsis (1866). Arnold wrote Thyrsis to remember his friend Clough. In this poem, Arnold used the famous phrase "the dreaming spires" to describe Oxford. This phrase encouraged many people to visit and even live on Boars Hill.
Three important poets actually lived on the hill. The first was Margaret Louisa Woods in the 1880s. She was followed by Robert Bridges and John Masefield. Both of them became the official national poet, known as the Poet Laureate.
After the First World War, three war poets also lived there for a few years. These were Robert Graves, who rented a home from Masefield, and Edmund Blunden. Both of them later became Oxford Professors of Poetry, just like Arnold. Robert Nichols also lived there for a few months.
Robert Bridges' wife, Monica Bridges, lived at Chilswell House until 1943. Her home was hit by a bomb during the war. Their daughter, the poet Elizabeth Daryush, continued to live on the hill after the house was fixed until she passed away in 1977. Chilswell House was later bought by the Carmelite religious order around 1963. They use it as a quiet place for prayer and reflection.
Other Notable Residents
Boars Hill was also home to Gilbert Murray, who was famous for translating old Greek plays into verse. Later, the expert in classical languages, Leighton Durham Reynolds, lived there until he died in 1999.
Other well-known residents included the sculptor Oscar Nemon. He moved to Boars Hill in 1938 to escape the Nazis in Vienna. The archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans also lived on Boars Hill from 1894 until his death in 1941. His house, Youlbury, was special because it had decorations inspired by the ancient Minoan civilization. After he died, his neighbor, Arthur Lehman Goodhart, bought Youlbury and later tore it down. Goodhart's son, William Goodhart, Baron Goodhart, built a modern house on the same spot. He made sure to keep the beautiful Victorian gardens. Sadly, the gardens of Margaret Woods, Robert Bridges, and Gilbert Murray were destroyed by fire.
Herbert Edward Douglas Blakiston, who was the President of Trinity College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, lived in Boars Hill after he retired in 1938. He died in 1942 after being hit by a car while walking there.
The political scientist W. G. S. Adams lived at a house called Powder Hill. He often hosted important guests like Horace Plunkett, Sir William Beveridge, Gilbert Murray, John Masefield, and Robert Bridges. The historians Hugh Trevor Lambrick and Gabrielle Lambrick, who were husband and wife, also lived here. The composer Lennox Berkeley was born in Sunningwell Plains, Boar’s Hill, in 1903. The historian Basil Joseph Mathews (1879–1951) lived at Triangle Cottage. Catherine Octavia Stevens, an astronomer, built a house and an observatory on Boars Hill in 1910. She lived there until 1956. Sir Frederick Keeble, a scientist, and his wife, the famous actress Lillah McCarthy, built a house called Hammels from old timbers. They lived there in the 1920s.
The Carritt Family
In the 1930s, Boars Hill was home to the Carritt family. They were known for their strong interest in social justice and academic work at Oxford University. Their home became a place where many thinkers and writers gathered for discussions.
Some famous members of the Carritt family who lived in Boars Hill include:
- Liesel Carritt: A refugee from Germany who came to Oxford with her family. She later took part in the Spanish Civil War.
- Michael Carritt: An Oxford University professor who worked to support independence movements.
- Anthony Carritt: He was involved in social justice movements and was the son of zoologist Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire. He was killed during the Spanish Civil War.
- Edgar Frederick Carritt: An English philosopher and professor at University College.
- Noel Carritt: An aviation engineer who also took part in social justice movements during the Spanish Civil War.
- Bill Carritt: A British activist and foreign editor for the Daily Worker newspaper.
The Carritt family's home in Boars Hill was a lively place for discussions. Many people visited, including the trade union leader Abraham Lazarus, politicians like Dick Crossman, the novelist Iris Murdoch, and poets such as WH Auden and Stephen Spender. The Carritt family were also friends with another family of activists, the Thompsons, who lived nearby. This family included the historian E. P. Thompson and his brother Frank Thompson. The children from both families went to Dragon School together.
Interesting Places to Visit
Sir Arthur Evans had Jarn Mound built by hand. He wanted to create a high spot where people could still see the famous views that had become hidden by new buildings. However, the trees around it have continued to grow taller, and the views are now mostly blocked again.
Evans left most of his land to the Boy Scouts. Today, Youlbury Camp is still used by Scouts. Several places on Boars Hill, including Jarn Mound, Matthew Arnold Field, and land with views of Oxford's "dreaming spires," are now owned by the Oxford Preservation Trust. This group helps protect important local sites.
From 1933 to 1975, Boars Hill was home to Ripon Hall, a college. When Ripon Hall moved, the site became known as Foxcombe Hall. It was used as a regional office for the Open University, which offers distance learning. In 2016, Peking University bought the site. From 1955 to the mid-1970s, Boar's Hill also hosted Plater College.
In 2002, some digging near Lincombe Lane found old underground walls and a hearth (fireplace) about 6 feet deep. People think these might be parts of a Roman kiln, which was a type of oven used for making pottery.
From 1976 to 1996, Warnborough College used the old Plater College buildings. They also used the Bishop's palace of the Diocese of Oxford and Yatscombe Hall. The college faced some problems and eventually lost the site. After that, people without homes moved in. The site of the former Bishop's palace and Yatscombe Hall has been part of many arguments about building plans ever since. Yatscombe Hall was destroyed by fire in December 2003. All the buildings on the site were taken down, and a retirement village was planned. However, a company called Millgate Homes eventually built four large country homes there instead.
Boars Hill in Brideshead Revisited
Boars Hill is mentioned twice in the famous 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966).
First, a character named Cousin Jasper gives advice to young Charles Ryder when he arrives at Oxford. Jasper tells him, "Keep clear of Boar's Hill." This suggests it might be a place of distraction or trouble.
However, another character, Sebastian Flyte, describes a perfect Oxford student. He says this student "smokes a great pipe and plays hockey and goes out to tea on Boar's Hill and to lectures at Keble..." This shows a different view of Boars Hill as a place for polite social visits and academic life.
See also
In Spanish: Boars Hill para niños
