Highlight – the sun shone. I discovered an area of Oxford I’d never seen before and one of my companions was a teacher, who now taught students for initial teacher training, and recognised me. We had some very good discussions.
This was my second walk with SPR Expeditions. There were four of us today – Steve, Debbie, myself and Laura accompanied by Jupiter – an 8 month old cockapoo!
We were exploring the Shotover area. We were dropped off in The Slade and our path took us straight into the Ley Valley Nature Reserve. This is a wetland area hidden away between two major areas of housing. A revelation!
Having followed a very long board walk the path emerges onto the Oxford Golf Course. This is another unlikely sight in the middle of the city centre. The route crosses Boundary Brook which used to mark the line between Oxford City and the one time villages of Headington, Cowley and Iffley.
The brook is crossed again and the edge of Cowley Marsh is crossed before passing the site of the Cowley Barracks. The site has been mostly rebuilt to offer accommodation for Oxford Brookes students. The path then crosses the ring road. Such a contrast !
Immediately the route enters a more rural area of Slade Meadow and on through Open Braesnose. This whole area was once part of Wychwood Forest and from the Norman Conquest was a Royal Forest.
William Morris, later Lord Nuffield lived at Braesnose Farm and it was from here that he founded Morris Motors.
In Braesnose Wood we were able to find remains of a building left over from Slade Camp. This was a temporary camp for training troops and tank use and was used as a holding post before the WW2 D-Day landings in Normandy.
There is a real mixture of habitat along this walk as the path now goes through heathland. Noticeably there are a considerable number of oak trees in this area. The route took us up hill and into a wooded area which had a complex maze of paths.
After a sunny lunch stop the path continues along on to Old Road which is the original turnpike road between Oxford and London. The path rises steeply up Shotover Hill from Oxford and apparently the passengers had to dismount. Near the top of the hill there is a Mounting Stone to aid their climbing back up on the carriage. The area was renowned for highwaymen.
Walking north there are views over Oxford to either side of the path.
A small gate indicates a path off of this track and into the C S Lewis nature reserve. The area is in the grounds of his house ‘The Kilns’ where he lived whilst writing the Narnia Chronicles – ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ is perhaps the most well known and certainly the one I read several times to groups of children.
This area is a BBONT reserve (Berks, Bucks and Oxon Nature Trust). Sadly the effects of COVID can be seen here and the lack of opportunities for volunteers to maintain the area are evident.
The path leaves the reserve next to the house and into Kiln Lane. This area called Risinghurst was built mostly to house workers at the Morris Factory. A Roman Road passes through this area and Roman kilns have been found.
The lane meets the bypass which we cross again and we enter a completely different area – that of Headington Quarry. Headington Hardstone was used to build the bell tower of New College in 1396.
As we walk through this area which has a distinct village feel we pass by the ‘Six Bells’ pub. This was an important area for Morris Dancing at the beginning of the 20th century. Cecil Sharp, founder of the English Folk Dancing Society lived here and often organised displays.
Reflection – I had a book at school written by Cecil Sharp with the music for maypole dancing – something I inherited. Each May the oldest children performed maypole dances and every other class learnt a different English Country Dance. We usually shared these with parents out on the playground and it was a good celebratory afternoon. The ‘discipline’ of learning the dances and responding to the music is a great memory and coordination skill.
The very last part of our walk brings us back to Old Road and another SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). Here the open face of one of the last quarries can be seen.
Our walk of 12.6 km has been fascinating and we all learnt a lot about the area.
Marion's 50 Walk Challenge 