Morrell Avenue

For people named Morrell, see Morrell.

View east along Morrell Avenue.
Warneford Lane from the roundabout at the junction with Morrell Avenue.

Morrell Avenue is a residential tree-lined road in Headington, east Oxford, England.[1]

The road runs east–west in a gentle curve around the southern edge of South Park, south of Headington Hill, rising from west to east. At the western end is a junction with St Clement's (A420), part of the main arterial road leading east out of Oxford. At the eastern end of the road is a roundabout close to Warneford Hospital. It continues as Warneford Lane and there is a junction with Divinity Road to the south. The trees are mainly mature lime trees.

The avenue is named after a local brewery family, the Morrells, who used to live on their estate at Headington Hill Hall to the north, including South Park.[2] It was built in 1929–31, originally with council houses.[3] The architect, Kellett Ablett, started working in the City Engineer's department at Oxford in 1925. The houses were judged to be of high quality for the time, both architecturally and environmentally.[4]

Morrell Avenue is mentioned in a number of books including The Silent Traveller in Oxford, originally published in 1944 and written by the Chinese author Chiang Yee, who lived in Oxford for a while.[5] It is also mentioned in the book Dark Clouds Gather by Katy Sara Culling about mental illness due to Morrell Avenue's proximity to Warneford Hospital, which specialises in mental illness.[6]

On 9 July 2012, the Olympic torch was carried along Morrell Avenue before the London 2012 Olympic Games.[7]

  1. ^ "Property for sale in Morrell Avenue, Headington, Oxford OX4". Zoopla. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
  2. ^ Allen, Brigid (1994). Morrells of Oxford: The family and their brewery 1743–1993. Oxfordshire Books. ISBN 9780750906340.
  3. ^ Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1988). "Morrell Avenue". The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan. p. 261. ISBN 0-333-39917-X.
  4. ^ Tyack, Geoffrey (1998). Oxford: An Architectural Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-0198174233.
  5. ^ Yee, Chiang (2004). The Silent Traveller in Oxford. Signal Books. p. 187. ISBN 978-1902669694.
  6. ^ Culling, Katy Sara (2011). Dark Clouds Gather. Chipmunkapublishing. p. 145. ISBN 978-1847476678.
  7. ^ "Olympic Torch — Morrell Avenue, Oxford". YouTube. Retrieved 26 October 2012.