ONE of Oxford’s oldest landmarks is getting more regular care and attention in a DIY initiative by villagers.

The Wolvercote Commoners have organised monthly work days for villagers as part of a programme of more systematic maintenance of the large open space alongside Port Meadow.

There are also plans to extend the village allotments on the common land so more people can grow their own food.

Commoners’ committee chairman Michael Buck said: “We used to get a contractor in to maintain the common but now there is a new approach and there is new enthusiasm towards doing it ourselves.

“There has been a change of who is on the committee and there is an awareness of local food.

“We are keen that the common should be seen as a source of food for the village.”

The Commoners are now holding monthly work days where the people of Wolvercote help look after the common by clearing out ditches, weeding and pruning trees.

Mr Buck said: “We have been calling it our green gym. Nobody owns the common but we feel like we own it spiriturally.

“We are keen that as many people as possible exercise their rights over the common, but it is for everyone and we are keen to encourage all the village to take part and work on the common.

“If we can find a way of extending the allotments that would be very much encouraged if there were people who wanted to take it up.”

Wolvercote Common is to the north of Port Meadow, with the two are separated by a ditch which carried a stream during Saxon times. Grazing on Wolvercote Common was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and since the 13th century villagers have had the right to pasture cattle, geese and horses on the land.

The common is now home to about 300 animals.

Since 1929, the land has been managed by the 16-member Wolvercote Commoners’ Committee and anyone living within the parish of Wolvercote can claim to be a commoner, though many grazing rights were lost when the Commons Registration Act of 1965 was passed. The committee also manages Wolvercote Green which is next to the common, and Goose Green.

  • The next work day is being held on Saturday at 11am. Everyone taking part should meet at the village hall.