Hinksey

{{short description|English place name}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=January 2026}} '''Hinksey''' is a [[place name]] associated with [[Oxford]] and [[Oxfordshire]]. In 1974, many of the places associated with the name were transferred from the county of [[Berkshire]] in the [[List of Berkshire boundary changes|county boundary changes]].

==History== The place name is of [[Old English]] origin. It is first mentioned in the 10th century in the form "Hengestesige", and probably means "stallion island".<ref>{{cite book| last1=Mills | first1=A. D. | last2=Room | first2=A. | date=1998 | title=A Dictionary of British Place-Names | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] }}</ref> It may also mean "island of a man named Hengest", but there is no evidence to link the place to the historical [[Hengest]]. Place names ending in “-ey” (“island”, commonly used of higher ground in a marshy area) are of early formation, probably names bestowed by the first English farmers who tackled the area.<ref>{{cite book| first=M. | last=Gelling | chapter=Towards a Chronology for Early English Place Names | editor-first=D. | editor-last=Hooke | title=Anglo-Saxon Settlements | date=1988 | pages=71, 73 }}</ref> The Hinksey villages were not mentioned as separate villages until 1316.<ref name="lethbridge88">{{cite book| first=Richard | last=Lethbridge | chapter=Hinkseys, The | title=Oxfordshire and Berkshire | series=[[The New Shell Guides]] | publisher=[[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]] | location=London | date=1988 | page=108 | isbn=0-7181-2908-3 }}</ref>

Hinxey Hall was located in Oxford during the 14th to 16th centuries.<ref>{{cite book| first=John | last=Steane | title=Oxfordshire | publisher=Pimlico, [[Random House]] | location=London | date=1996 | page=197 | isbn=0-7126-6199-9 }}</ref> [[File:Conduit House Harcourt Hill Geograph-2162812-by-Des-Blenkinsopp.jpg|thumb|Conduit House, a roofed reservoir at Hinksey for Oxford's first water mains, built during the early 17th century]] The [[Carfax Conduit]] from [[Harcourt Hill]] ([[North Hinksey]]) to [[Carfax, Oxford|Carfax]] in the centre of Oxford was completed in 1617.<ref>{{cite book| first=Mary | last=Jessup | title=A History of Oxfordshire | series=The Darwen County History Series | publisher=[[Phillimore & Co. Ltd.|Phillimore]] | location=London and Chichester | date=1975 | page=114 | isbn=0-85033-206-0 }}</ref>

[[Hinksey Halt railway station]] served [[New Hinksey]] in south Oxford during 1908−15. In 1934, Hinksey Park was laid out in New Hinksey.<ref name="hibbert">{{cite book | title=[[The Encyclopaedia of Oxford]] | publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] | chapter=Hinksey Park | year=1988 | page=185 | isbn=0-333-39917-X | editor-last=Hibbert |editor-first=Christopher |editor-link=Christopher Hibbert }}</ref>

==Geography== There are now two villages, [[North Hinksey]] to the west of the city of Oxford and [[South Hinksey]] to the southwest.<ref name="lethbridge88" /> [[Hinksey Stream]] runs past the west of Oxford, a branch of the [[River Thames]]. [[Hinksey Hill Farm]] lies on [[Hinksey Hill]], close to South Hinksey. [[Ferry Hinksey Road]] is a road in west Oxford. There is also a suburb called [[New Hinksey]] to the south of the town centre, which contains the [[Oxford City Council]] ward Hinksey Park. Here, Hinksey Park itself is an 11-acre park, including an [[open-air swimming pool]], off [[Abingdon Road]].<ref name="occ">{{cite web| url=https://www.oxford.gov.uk/directory_record/913/hinksey_park | title=Parks in Oxford – Hinksey Park | publisher=[[Oxford City Council]] | accessdate=23 December 2020 }}</ref>

==Culture== The watercolour painter [[William Turner (artist)|William Turner]] (1789–1862) painted many views of [[Oxford]] from the Hinksey area,<ref>{{cite book| title=Turner's Oxford | first=Colin | last=Harrison | publisher=[[Ashmolean Museum]] | date=2000 | isbn=978-1854441386 | pages=29, 35, 40, 84 }}</ref> including ''Oxford from above Hinksey''<ref>{{cite book| first=Geoffrey | last=Stevenson | title=Oxfordshire | series=Barracuda Guide to County History | volume=II | publisher=Barracuda Books | location=Chesham | date=1977 | page=73 | isbn=0-86023-026-0 }}</ref> and ''Oxford from [[Hinksey Hill]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=William Turner of Oxford ... Oxford from Hinksey Hill |url=https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6381312 |publisher=[[Christie's]] |access-date=23 January 2026 |date=5 July 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Ruskin Crew Roadbuilders Ferry Hinksey Oxford.jpg|thumb|John Ruskin's road builders at Ferry Hinksey]] The art critic [[John Ruskin]] (1819–1900) used to walk between [[Abingdon-on-Thames|Abingdon]], where he stayed at the Crown and Thistle, and [[Oxford]].<ref>{{cite book| first=John | last=Batchelor | title=John Ruskin: No Wealth But Life | publisher=[[Chatto & Windus]] | location=London | date=2000 | page=290 | isbn=1-856-19580-5 }}</ref> He found the path muddy and organized a party of undergraduates to improve the roadway in the Hinksey area.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilde |first=Oscar |year= 1908 |editor-last=Ross |editor-first=Robert |title=Essays and Lectures |publisher=[[Methuen_Publishing|Methuen and Co.]] |chapter=Art and the Handicraftsman |chapter-url=https://www.wilde-online.info/art-and-the-handicraftsman.html }}</ref>

[[Laurence Binyon]] (1869–1943) wrote a poem entitled ''Ferry Hinksey''.<ref>{{cite book| first=Laurence | last=Binyon | author-link=Laurence Binyon | chapter=Ferry Hinksey | editor-first=Antonia | editor-last=Fraser | editor-link=Antonia Fraser | title=Oxford and Oxfordshire in Verse | publisher=[[Penguin Books]] | date=1982 | page=30 }}</ref>

[[Matthew Arnold]] (1822–1888) mentions Hinksey in his poems ''[[Thyrsis (poem)|Thyrsis]]'' and ''[[The Scholar Gipsy]]''.

==Sport== Hinksey Pool was the original home of [[Hinksey Sculling School]], a community rowing club.{{fact|date=January 2026}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{commons category-inline|Hinksey}}

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[[Category:Areas of Oxford]] [[Category:History of Oxford]] [[Category:Former populated places in Oxfordshire]] [[Category:History of Berkshire]] [[Category:Culture in Oxford]] [[Category:English toponyms]]