Castle Mill

Castle Mill is a graduate housing complex of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England.

Castle Mill is located north of Oxford railway station along Roger Dudman Way, just to the west of the railway tracks on what was formerly Cripley Meadow, south of Port Meadow. The initial buildings at the southern end of the site were completed in 2004. Accommodation is available for single people, couples, and families. Graduate students with children benefit from priority access to lower-cost accommodation, alleviating the over-stretched housing market in Central Oxford.

Facilities at Castle Mill include a common room, launderettes, bicycle racks and an outside barbecue area. The complex is supported by caretakers who live on site. The proximity of the railway causes a noise issue.

The Castle Mill Stream, a branch of the River Thames, runs to the east of the site beyond the railway tracks, hence the name. From Castle Mill there are views of the railway lines to the East, and allotments and Port Meadow to the West.

In 2010, Oxford City Council capped the number of students that Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University were permitted to have in private rented housing to 3,000 each. The Council was encouraged by local lobbies such as the East Oxford Residents Forum to use planning permission as an enforcement mechanism. If either University breached the cap, the Council threatened to prevent new buildings from being occupied. As a consequence of these restrictions, the Universities looked to develop sites for student accommodation in partnership with commercial providers.

Since 2012, the Oxford University Estates Directorate, with the help of Longcross, have been developing the one hectare Castle Mill brown field site (400m × 25m), north of the existing accommodation, between the Cripley Meadow Allotments and the railway tracks, close to the southern end of Port Meadow, to meet the need for graduate places.

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