Blackbird Leys is a ward located on the south-eastern outskirts of Oxford, England, and is one of the largest council estates in Europe. According to the 2001 census, the ward had a population of 5,803. Unusually, the area constitutes a civil parish, created in 1990; the 2001 parish headcount was 12,196.
Archaeology has revealed this site as one of Oxford's earliest settlements, dating it from between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Evidence sug...
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Blackbird Leys is a ward located on the south-eastern outskirts of Oxford, England, and is one of the largest council estates in Europe. According to the 2001 census, the ward had a population of 5,803. Unusually, the area constitutes a civil parish, created in 1990; the 2001 parish headcount was 12,196.
Archaeology has revealed this site as one of Oxford's earliest settlements, dating it from between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Evidence suggesting pits and roundhouses, with remains of pottery and a cylindrical loom weight of a kind previously known only from East Anglia.
Modern-day Blackbird Leys was built mainly in the 1950s and 60s to meet the then pressing need for accommodation. 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 is currently located (The Oxpens). Many of the families that moved onto the estate originally came from this area. It was also a convenient site...
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