WE ARE used to seeing Oxford city centre streets full of tourists admiring our magnificent ancient buildings and other sights.
Now residents are being encouraged to explore the equally rich history of their local areas.
Oxford Preservation Trust is coordinating a community history project at Wood Farm.
The estate between Headington and Cowley was established in the early 1950s to house Oxford’s growing population and families displaced when city centre sites such as St Ebbe’s were earmarked for redevelopment.
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The trust is working with a local historian as well as current and former residents to bring together memories and experiences of Wood Farm.
A leaflet, ‘Wood Farm History Walk’, sets out a trail that highlights local places of interest.
It says: “Wood Farm was transformed from farmland and open fields to a place full of new kinds of housing and facilities for Oxford’s growing population.
“We’re tracing Wood Farm’s history through its buildings, places and green spaces. Some sites are no longer visible but have an important story to tell - the farm that gave the estate its name, a prisoner-of-war camp and a Second World War rifle range.”
Sites of interest include Magdalen Wood, land used by locals since medieval times to graze animals, catch rabbits and birds and collect firewood and still publicly accessible today, and two nature reserves - Lye Valley and Rock Edge, a former quarry.
Roads reflect past links - Nuffield Road is named after William Morris, later Lord Nuffield, creator of the Cowley car industry, Joan Lawrence Place, after the former head of the Slade nursery school, and Pether Road, after farmer Richard Pether, who rented Wood Farm from Magdalen College in the 1800s.
The trust is keen to hear from anyone interested in the history of the area who would like to be involved.
It invites those keen to record their memories of Wood Farm and its surroundings, or who have photographs they would like to share, to get in touch.
The leaflet, which includes a map and illustrated details of the area’s history, can be downloaded from the trust’s website.
Hard copies are available at Bullingdon Community Centre and Wood Farm Youth Club.
For more details about the project, visit www.oxfordpreservation.org.uk/wood-farm-community-history
To get involved, contact the trust via a webform on its webpage, email Anna Clark at a.clark@oxfordpreservation.org.uk or call 01865 242918.
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About the author
Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here.
He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.
His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning.
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