Osney

Coordinates: 51°45′07″N 1°16′26″W / 51.752°N 1.274°W / 51.752; -1.274

Osney or Osney Island (/ˈoʊzni/; an earlier spelling of the name is Oseney) is a riverside community in the west of the city of Oxford, England. In modern times the name is applied to a community also known as Osney Town, located off the Botley Road, just west of the city's main railway station, on an island surrounded by the River Thames, Osney Ditch and another backwater connecting the Thames to Osney Ditch. Osney is part of the city council ward of Jericho and Osney.

Until the early twentieth century, the name was applied to a different island, between Castle Mill Stream and the main stream of the Thames, on which Osney Abbey and Osney Mill were established during the Middle Ages. The place plays a minor but significant role in The Miller's Tale in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

History

The name "Osney" is Old English, and means either "island in the Ouse" (possibly an old name for the Thames) or "Osa's Island". Until the early twentieth century the name was applied to the island formed by two streams of the River Thames immediately west of the centre of Oxford, Castle Mill Stream and the stream which is now the main channel of the river. To the north the island is bounded by a short channel between the River Thames and the Castle Mill Stream, the Sheepwash Channel, which separates it from Fiddler's Island.