Begbroke

Coordinates: 51°49′19″N 1°19′08″W / 51.822°N 1.319°W / 51.822; -1.319

Begbroke is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Kidlington and 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 783.

Archaeology

Fragments of early pottery have been found in the parish, as well as flints, scrapers, and an axe and arrow head. Aerial photographs show ancient crop marks.

Toponym

The toponym "Begbroke" is Old English for "Little Brook". This refers to Rowel Brook which runs through the village and was the reason for its early settlement. Rowel Brook is a tributary of the River Cherwell.

Manor

Begbroke Manor House was built in about 1700. In the 19th century it became part of the Priory of St. Philip, which until 2000 was the novitiate house for the Roman Catholic Servite Friars in England. It was then sold to a Church of England order of nuns. The brethren of the Servites were well known in the village and served as Air Raid Precautions (ARP) wardens in World War II.

Begbroke Science Park

Begbroke Science Park is a science park located five miles north of Oxford, England. It is owned and managed by Oxford University. It lies within the parish of Begbroke, although it is only accessible from the village of Yarnton on the A44.

History

The site has been the home of research facilities since 1960, when the Weed Research Organisation was established there. It was later used as the Technology Centre of the Cookson Group. The site was bought by Oxford University in 1998.

Professor Peter Dobson was appointed as the academic director in 2002. Since then the Science Park has doubled in size, hosts more than 30 companies and has more than 20 research groups from 6 different University Departments. A new access road opens April 2012.

Research Groups

There are over 20 research groups on site variously from the Departments of Materials, Engineering Science, and Earth Sciences, with Physics, the OeRC and Business Services and Projects all represented in Oxford Supercomputer machine room. Highlighted areas include:

Science park

A university research park, science park, or science and technology park is an area managed in a manner designed to promote innovation. It is a physical place that supports university-industry and government collaboration with the intent of creating high technology economic development and advancing knowledge. There are many approximate synonyms for "university research park", science park", technology park, technopolis and biopark. The appropriate term typically depends on the type of affiliation the parks has with an institution of higher learning and research, and also perhaps the sort of science and research in which the park's entities engage.

These parks differ from typical high-technology business districts in that university research parks and science and tech parks are more organized, planned, and managed. They differ from science centres in that they are a place where research is commercialized. Typically businesses and organizations in the parks focus on product advancement and innovation as opposed to industrial parks that focus on manufacturing and business parks that focus on administration.