ONE of the features of Shotover Country Park at Headington, Oxford, is Mary Sadler Field. But who was Mary Sadler?

Wendy Buckingham, of Cowley, Oxford, set us on her trail when she sent in this picture of a stone with the inscription, Mary Sadler Field 1931.

She wrote: “The stone lies discreet, almost hidden, at the top of Shotover Plain, underneath a huge holly tree.

“According to an Oxford veteran friend of mine, this lady was the owner of Shotover and left the grounds to ‘the people’, something worthy of an Oxford Mail ‘remembrance space’, I’m sure you will agree.”

Our initial inquiries drew a blank, but then local historian Malcolm Graham came up trumps with the help of a colleague, who remembered someone asking a similar question.

Mary Sadler was Lady Mary Sadler (1852-1931), wife of St Michael Ernest Sadler.

Sir Michael was appointed Master of University College, Oxford, in 1923 and he and his wife moved into the Master’s Lodgings in January 1924.

Lady Sadler became dangerously ill the following year and, according to her husband’s biography, she “hovered on the brink of invalidism” until her death.

Sir Michael became involved in a crusade to protect the beauty of Oxford in 1926 and was an active figure in the early years of the Oxford Preservation Trust.

Dr Graham writes: “His wife clearly shared his enthusiasm and left a legacy to the trust which enabled it to buy the field which bears her name.”

Lady Sadler is buried in Oxford’s Rose Hill Cemetery.