Lower Wolvercote

Wolvercote
St Peter's parish church
Wolvercote Show map of Oxford Wolvercote Wolvercote shown within Oxfordshire Show map of Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SP490098
Civil parish	unparished
District	Oxford
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Oxford
Postcode district	OX2
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Oxford West and Abingdon
Website	Wolvercote Commoners Committee
List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51°47′06″N 1°17′24″W / 51.785°N 1.290°W / 51.785; -1.290Coordinates: 51°47′06″N 1°17′24″W / 51.785°N 1.290°W / 51.785; -1.290

Wolvercote is a village that is part of the City of Oxford, England. It is about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the city centre, on the northern edge of Wolvercote Common, which is itself north of Port Meadow and adjoins the River Thames.

The Domesday Book of 1086 lists the village as Ulfgarcote (cottage of Woolgar; or Woolgar's place). The toponym had become "Wolvercote" by 1185.

Wolvercote housing faced onto its extensive commons, which provided much of the community's livelihood. Some residents still have ancient rights on the commons. Geese rearing was once an important local activity, and a goose is still one of the village symbols. Horses and cattle are still grazed on Wolvercote Common and Port Meadow.

In 1789 the Oxford Canal divided the village into two parts, and in 1846 the Oxford and Rugby Railway was built beside the canal through the village. In 1850 the Buckinghamshire Railway was completed through a tunnel and cutting along the eastern edge of Upper Wolvercote. The western edge of Upper Wolvercote parallels the canal at Wolvercote Green and fades into North Oxford suburbia to the east. Lower Wolvercote borders the River Thames at Godstow to the west, and Port Meadow and the canal to the east.

The paper mill in Lower Wolvercote, former supplier of paper to the Oxford University Press, was once a major local employer. It was in existence by 1720, when it was bought by the 1st Duke of Marlborough. From 1782 the mill was leased to Oxford printer and publisher William Jackson, proprietor of the local newspaper Jackson's Oxford Journal which was published until 1928. The mill was entirely water-powered until 1811, when a steam engine was installed to power the paper-making process. The engine consumed 100 tons of coal per week, which was brought by narrowboat down the Oxford Canal, along Duke's Cut, and then down the mill stream which at the time was navigable as far as a wharf at the mill. Two of the narrowboats belonged to the mill, having been bought in 1856 and plying between there and the Midlands for 60 years until the mill sold them in 1916.Narrowboats continued to serve Wolvercote until at least the 1950s, by which time the mill used mechanical equipment to unload them. The mill was rebuilt in 1955, ceased paper-making in 1998 and was demolished in 2004. The University of Oxford plans to develop the site as housing for its staff, but rising cost estimates and local objections have led the University to reduce the scale of its plans significantly.