Oxenholme station opened in 1847 as Kendal Junction and was renamed Oxenholme in 1860. The village grew around the station and is named after Oxenholme Farm. The station name had the suffix "Lake District" added in 1988.
Name
View of Kendal from the Helm, a hill at Oxenholme
The village has always been called Oxenholme, after a farm whose name suggests a cow farm. The name is usually pronounced oxen-home, though pronounced ox-nome locally.[1]
Governance
The village is part of the Kendal civil parish.
The village is in the Kendal South and Natland ward on South Lakeland District Council and is represented by the Liberal Democrat Jonathan Brook, Chris Hogg and Doug Rathbone[when?]. The village is in Cumbria but before 1974 was in Westmorland. On Cumbria County Council it is part of the Kendal South ward for which the councillor is[when?]Liberal Democrat Brenda Gray.
Oxenholme appears in the news more often than a typical settlement of its size. Most of the news is to do with the railway.
On 10 February 1965 fugitive John Middleton shot two policemen while hiding in the waiting room at Oxenholme railway station. Carlisle policemen George Russell and Alex Archibald were shot, and Russell died in hospital a few hours later.[2]
On 27 May 2006, a 19-year-old man was stabbed aboard a Glasgow-Paignton train as it was coming into the station. A 22-year-old man was jailed for 21 years for the murder in November 2006.[3]
A Virgin Pendolino train derailed on 23 February 2007 close to nearby Grayrigg shortly after leaving Oxenhome station. The crash left one person dead, and 22 others injured.[4]
Oxenholme Past: oxenholme.oneplacestudy.org provides further information about Oxenholme's past including details of former residents, past news stories etc.
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