The Friends of Old Headington
People who care for the Old Headington conservation area.
We are a group of local residents who joined forces in 1959 to protect the special character of Old Headington village.
We are managed by an elected committee which meets regularly to promote our aims.
We organise local community events and hold an annual open meeting.
We have published books on the history of Old Headington and try to ensure that special knowledge of the area is not lost.
Goal One
To retain Old Headington as a village, preserving its rural amenities and village charm, and seeking to prevent the village succumbing to urban pressures. There is a special emphasis on the lanes, walls, grass verges, and trees.
Goal Two
The charity will work actively actively to encourage and foster the preservation of the character of the village. At the same time, acknowledging that change is ever with us, it will seek to ensure, when change is being considered, that if made, it is effected only in a sympathetic fashion.
Goal Three
The charity shall work in cooperation with the Oxford City Council, the Oxford Preservation Trust and such organisations and individuals as may from time to time be appropriate.
Since the Friends started, we have had success working with the local council to control the development of Old Headington. We lobbied for the ugly and corroded lampposts in Bury Knowle Park to be replaced with period-style black lampposts more in keeping with the conservation area. For a full and detailed article on the lampposts of Old Headington see the Headington Heritage web site
The first achievement of the Friends (and the original reason for us forming) was successfully preventing speculative building on an area of land north of St Andrew's Church.
The land was then developed more sympathetically. Since this early victory the Friends have been active in promoting careful development including new builds, extensions and alterations.
We have also offered advice on preserving special features such as the stone walls, kerbstones, cobbles and grass verges.
We have argued for the retention of old style lampposts and pressured the council to issue a tree preservation order before Old Headington was declared a Conservation Area.
For more information about our past achievements you can download the following documents: