Oxgangs | |
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Oxgangs shown within Edinburgh | |
Population | Unknown |
Council area | |
Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Edinburgh |
Postcode district | EH13 |
Dialling code | 0131 (441, 445) |
Police | Scottish |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
EU Parliament | Scotland |
UK Parliament | |
Scottish Parliament | |
Oxgangs is a suburb in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is named for an oxgang, an ancient Scottish land measure.
Surrounding districts include Caiystane, Dreghorn, Redford, Fairmilehead, Colinton and Swanston and Colinton Mains. The post code area for Oxgangs is EH13.
The building of the area started in around 1953/54; before that (with the exception of Colinton Mains) there had only been a number of prefab houses and several farms but it had been mostly farmland and was basically considered to be part of the countryside. The area consists of large public housing schemes aimed at low to middle income groups, ranging from private bungalows to Edinburgh City Council-owned high rise tower blocks (although these have now been demolished).
A significant majority of former council-owned properties in Oxgangs have been bought by tenants under the right to buy scheme leaving approximately 659 properties in council ownership thus making it extremely difficult to be allocated a council home in the area.
There are two small shopping areas at each end of Oxgangs known locally as the "top" and "bottom" shops. The top shops (Oxgangs Broadway) are larger and feature a small convenience store called "Premier - Broadway Convenience Store" known as "Dennis'" after the owner of the shop. Other shops are a breakfast/lunch shop (called Tak a Break), two barbers and a hairdressers, a bookies, two take aways (a chip shop and a Chinese). There is also a post office and a pharmacy. Located in and around Oxgangs and adjacent areas are a police station, a medical practice, a public library, a nursery, three primary schools and a high school, and a pub. There are three churches in the area: Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal Church and Roman Catholic Church. Recently a Kingdom Hall was built in the Oxgangs Green area.