“Blackbird Leys”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

There was a Bronze Age or Iron Age settlement on the site. Evidence has been found suggesting pits and roundhouses, with remains of pottery and a cylindrical loom weight of a kind previously known only from East Anglia.^[3] The area was originally called Blackford Leys; blackford after the dark-coloured ford which crossed the southern branch of Northfield Brook at the entrance to Blackbird Leys farm.^[4] The ford would be located where Windale Avenue crosses Northfield Brook. {{efn|Back in the early 1950's a gravel lane led from Sandy Lane to Blackbird Leys farm. This lane was lined, either side, with horse-chestnut trees^[6] and was known to all local children as "Conker Alley".}} The farm was also called Blackford Leys farm.^[5] The Middle English leys meaning pasture or meadow.^[6]

Modern history

The Blackbird Leys Estate was built mainly in the 1950s and 1960s to meet the then pressing need for accommodation.^[7] It was part of a plan to re-house people from the dilapidated inner city. This included large-scale clearance of a site near to where the Oxford Ice Rink was built (The Oxpens). Many of the families that moved onto the estate originally came from this area. It was also a convenient site for factory workers at Morris Motors Limited plant in nearby Cowley. Greater Leys is sometimes applied to describe recent development adjacent and comprises mostly privately owned houses.

Employment

Politics

The area has traditionally been staunchly Labour. The Independent Working Class Association performed strongly in the mid-2000s, holding three of the four council seats on Oxford City Council between 2006 and 2008. The local MP from 1987 to 2017 Andrew Smith lives on the estate. His late wife Valerie Smith was also one of the City councillors and County Councillors for the area and a former Lord Mayor of Oxford.^[8]

1991 street disturbances

Following a crackdown by police on joyriding in September 1991, some 150 youths stoned police officers. Two women suffered stab wounds and two men suffered other injuries during the riots.^[9]

Around this time, Blackbird Leys suffered from joy riding. Young men from the estate would steal cars and 'display' them (with a variety of high-speed stunts) to an audience gathered outside the estate shops (known locally as the 'top shops').^[10] Politician Andrew Smith stated in 1991 that the extensive national media coverage of confrontations with the police in August and September left many of the wider public with a distorted picture of the problem.^[11] Some say journalists visiting helped encourage some of the action for filming.^[10]

Crime levels have decreased consistently since 2004, a change thought to be due to a higher police presence on the estate though both recorded crime and rates found in the British Crime Survey have fallen across England and Wales.^[12]

Facilities

Sports and leisure

The Kassam Stadium is the home of Oxford United Football Club and is just within the greater boundary of Blackbird Leys in an area known as Minchery Farm. Initial construction begun in 1996 and the first football match took place on 4 August 2001.

Musical groups

In 2006, residents from the estate took part in The Singing Estate, a Channel Five reality TV show following their progress from amateur singers to classical choir.^[13] The Blackbird Leys Choir emerged from the original choir and continues today.

Education

Schools on the estate include Pegasus First School, Windale Community Primary School and Northfield School. City of Oxford College has a campus situated on Cuddesdon Way which provides Further education, higher education, modern apprenticeships and community evening classes.

Transport

Blackbird Leys has no mainline railway station but is served by Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach in Oxfordshire which provides bus services between Blackbird Leys, central Oxford and Oxford railway station. The freight-only railway between Kennington Junction and the BMW Mini factory via Iffley and Littlemore forms the northwestern boundary of Blackbird Leys. It is part of the former Wycombe Railway that British Railways closed to passenger traffic in 1963.

Religious sites

Blackbird Leys has two places of worship, The Church of the Holy Family which was dedicated on 10 April 1965 and Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

See also

Footnotes

References

1. ^¹{{cite web|url=http://www.oxford.gov.uk/Library/Documents/Statistics/AreaProfiles/Leys%20profile.pdf|title=The Leys profile—2011 Census|accessdate=3 June 2015|work=Oxford City Council|date=2011|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805085941/http://oxford.gov.uk/Library/Documents/Statistics/AreaProfiles/Leys%20profile.pdf|archivedate=5 August 2014|df=dmy-all}}
2. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.oxford.gov.uk/Library/Documents/Statistics/AreaProfiles/WardProfile-BlackbirdLeys.pdf|title=Blackbird Leys ward profile—2011|accessdate=3 June 2015|work=Oxford City Council|date=2011|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924062947/http://www.oxford.gov.uk/Library/Documents/Statistics/AreaProfiles/WardProfile-BlackbirdLeys.pdf|archivedate=24 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}
3. ^{{cite web |url= http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba7/ba7news.html |title=Earliest Oxford|work= British Archaeology|issue=7|date=September 1995|accessdate=3 June 2015}}
4. ^{{cite book|last1=Oxford|first1=cartogr. notes by J. B. Harley. Sheet 70|title=One-inch Ordnance Survey of England and Wales.|date=1970|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot|isbn=0715346067|edition=[Repr.]}}
5. ^¹{{cite web |last1=Newbigging|first1=Carole|title=construction of Blackbird Leys The Development of Blackbird Leys|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/content/articles/2007/10/01/history_bl_feature.shtml|website=BBC Memoryshare|publisher=BBC Oxford|accessdate=22 September 2016|date=24 September 2014}}
6. ^{{cite book|chapter=Blackbird Leys|year=2005|first1=John|last1=Ayto|first2=Ian|last2=Crofton|title=Brewer's Britain and Ireland|location=London|publisher=Chambers Harrap|isbn=978-0-304-35385-9}}
7. ^https://www.independent.co.uk/news/north-v-south-oxford-fights-over-a-girl-1291606.html
8. ^{{cite news|title=Mr Smith celebrates with a takeaway|first=Tom|last=Baldwin|work=The Times|location=London|date=30 May 2002|page=1}}
9. ^[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hhEwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RQMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4034,871844&dq=riots+oxford&hl=en Google news]
10. ^¹{{cite web |url=http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1990s/1991/no-1048-december-1991/dreaming-spires-and-screaming-tyres |title=Dreaming Spires and Screaming Tyres |accessdate=17 November 2015 |work=Socialist Party of Great Britain}}
11. ^{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199192/cmhansrd/1991-12-09/Debate-4.html |title=House of Commons Daily Debates 9 December 1991 5.38 pm |accessdate=6 April 2007 |work=Hansard}}
12. ^[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/116417/hosb1011.pdf Chaplin, Flatley and Smith (2011)]
13. ^{{cite news|url=http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.1254032.0.leys_choir_set_to_star_again.php |title=Leys choir set to star again |accessdate=3 June 2015|work=Oxford Mail|location=Oxford|date=13 March 2007|first=Matt|last= Wilkinson}}

History

Early history