Practice trenches on Port Meadow, Oxford

[J T Gray]

The Tolkein exhibition currently on in the Weston LIbrary in Oxford (as was the New Bod) has a letter on display which mentions attacking practice trenches on Port Meadow. 

 

Does anyone have any information on where these might have been? I'm aware of some odd depressions in the meadow, but they are not how I'd imagine a trench to be laid out, unless they were meant to be representative rather than accurate reproductions.

 

I have searched the forum for previous articles, and only came up with a thread from 2003 (!).

 

Adrian

 

 

[MBrockway]

IIRC there was an RFC aerodrome at the north end near Wolvercote.

 

I seem to remember finding a website about that, which also included some aerial shots of the rest of Port Meadow.

 

I think it was this one: https://www.facebook.com/wolvercoteww1memorial/

 

Here's a good image.  The Trout Inn is top left just beyond the footbridge.

 

 

From the same Facebook site about the aerodrome, this view is the other direction looking over the N end of Port Meadow and the Thames.

 

 

Edited 13 July , 2018 by MBrockway

[J T Gray]

I've been following that Facebook page for a while (seeing as I have an allotment on Port Meadow!) - his research has been fantastic, and has thrown up a huge amount of information.

 

What I'm looking at, though, is well to the south of the airfield area - near the Iron Age hut circles. I'm assuming they are "modern" as I can't see them in any reports on the prehistoric archaeology, and they don't show up on Google's satellite imagery - which I can't link to here. Ho hum. It's a row of depressions running approx SW_NE, parallel along their long edges. Think like  row of parked cars, but holes rather than cars, if that makes any sense. Not really trench like, but maybe foxholes or sangars?

 

Adrian

 

 

[MBrockway]

1 hour ago, J T Gray said:

I've been following that Facebook page for a while (seeing as I have an allotment on Port Meadow!) - his research has been fantastic, and has thrown up a huge amount of information.

 

What I'm looking at, though, is well to the south of the airfield area - near the Iron Age hut circles. I'm assuming they are "modern" as I can't see them in any reports on the prehistoric archaeology, and they don't show up on Google's satellite imagery - which I can't link to here. Ho hum. It's a row of depressions running approx SW_NE, parallel along their long edges. Think like  row of parked cars, but holes rather than cars, if that makes any sense. Not really trench like, but maybe foxholes or sangars?

 

Adrian

 

 

Adrian,

Here's Port Meadow's entry on the Scheduled Monuments list ...

Quote

The monument comprises a number of archaeological items, mainly dating to the later prehistoric period (2000-50BC).

 

Although some of the items are visible from the ground, the majority can only be seen from the air. Indeed the range and number of items present on Port Meadow was not fully realised until air photographs were first taken in 1933.

 

The archaeological items within Port Meadow may be described as follows:

1) a late 17th century racecourse (SP492091);

2), 3) and 4) circular ditched enclosures (SP495086, 497085, 497084);

5) a circular ditched enclosure with a later Bronze Age burial mound (SP496084);

6) a Bronze Age burial mound combined with two banked ditches (SP492089);

7) a circular cropmark (SP491088);

8) a rectangular enclosure with ditches (SP492088);

9) a group of enclosures of varying size (SP486089);

10) a rectangular enclosure (SP489089);

11) a low mound probably representing Iron Age habitation (SP492088);

12) a circular crop mark (SP488089);

13) a circular ditch of late Bronze Age date overlapped by a similar ditch of Iron Age date (SP492088);

14) a group of five small sub- rectangular enclosures (SP492084);

15) a sub-rectangular enclosure containing what might have been prehistoric fields (SP491089).

 

Excluded from the constraint area are the allotment gardens, as presently defined, in the northern part of Port Meadow on Wolvercote Common. The access trackway is also excluded but not the ground beneath it. From the SW corner of the monument, an area of riverbank running northwards 100m long and 2m wide, which is used for mooring purposes, is excluded from the scheduling. The ditches along the eastern boundary of the site are also excluded from the scheduling as are the ditches to the north of the monument, bordering Lower Wolvercote.

 

Source here: https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1010717

 

Could your row of holes possibly be #14 at OS Grid Ref SP 492 084?

 

That grid points to a location about 50m from the bank and ~600m N of The Perch landing stage and 850m S of Godstow Lock.

 

Mark

 

 

[MBrockway]

More detail on the archaeological inventory from a summary report of 1949 here:

 

Rhodes, P, 1949 - ‘New Archaeological sites at Binsey and Port Meadow, Oxford.’, Oxoniensia XIV, pp.81-94

 

Including a useful map:

The Trap Ground allotments at the end of Aristotle Lane are just off the SE (bottom left) corner and Godstow Lock can be seen on the N (right) margin.

 

 

I think #14 I referenced above is the sites marked as F 21-26 on this plan.  Close-up of this area ...

 

Can you relate this map to what you've seen on the ground?

 

[J T Gray]

In short, no. Sorry!

 

I think that the Google link below shows two of the circles in sites 11-12-13 in the Oxo article above (a new one to me - thank you!), and part of the gridiron-like cropmarks, not numbered, to their north. It's not very clear, not helped by the meadow having just been mown, and it doesn't look as though it was a good cropmark summer. The two circular marks are quite easy to see on the ground once you know where, especially in winter when they flood, so are good landmarks, but I've never seen any sign of the gridiron.

 

The things I'm thinking of would be roughly between the gridiron and the bottom right-hand corner. Tolkein went up to Wolvercote to get to them, which might fit with their location if they were trenches, but if so they certainly weren't "classical" trenches -  more like a row of pits.

 

Sorry, not being very helpful, am I?

 

Adrian

 

[MBrockway]

16 hours ago, J T Gray said:

In short, no. Sorry!

 

I think that the Google link below shows two of the circles in sites 11-12-13 in the Oxo article above (a new one to me - thank you!), and part of the gridiron-like cropmarks, not numbered, to their north. It's not very clear, not helped by the meadow having just been mown, and it doesn't look as though it was a good cropmark summer. The two circular marks are quite easy to see on the ground once you know where, especially in winter when they flood, so are good landmarks, but I've never seen any sign of the gridiron.

 

The things I'm thinking of would be roughly between the gridiron and the bottom right-hand corner. Tolkein went up to Wolvercote to get to them, which might fit with their location if they were trenches, but if so they certainly weren't "classical" trenches -  more like a row of pits.

 

Sorry, not being very helpful, am I?

 

Adrian

 

 

Adrian,

I've attempted to overlay the northern part of Rhodes' archaeological plan from Oxoniensa onto a 1:25k OS map ...

 

 

The Perch at Binsey, the Trap Ground allotments and Aristotle Lane are ~500m S off the bottom margin of this crop.

 

If your objects are approx halfway between the grid-iron crop marks and Wolvercote allotments (the square enclosure touching the 'W' of Upper Wolvercote), then they're not far from the eastern end of the RFC Port Meadow site.  That was just to the SE of the blue picnic site symbol on the OS map.  The aerodrome buildings where lined up facing SE along the edge of archaeological plan - on my overlay above, this can be seen by the change in colour from the cream coloured Access Land on the OS map to white on the overlaid plan.  Parts of the margin are also visible.

 

Since Tolkein was accessing the trenches from Wolvercote, then that's a very good pointer to them being in this part of the Meadow.  A location in the central part of Port Meadow would be naturally approached through Walton Manor and Aristotle Lane, while the S end would be Jericho & Walton Well Rd, via the canal towpath from Hythe Bridge St, the streets behind the Railway Station, or the main river towpath from Osney Bridge.

 

I can't see any Google link in your post!

Mark

 

 

Edited 15 July , 2018 by MBrockway

[J T Gray]

Blast - forgot that, when I try to paste in a link, I get "

Google Maps Platform rejected your request. This API project is not authorized to use this API.

" - what a  PITA! If you fancy a challenge, get the middle of Port Meadow up on Google maps. Find the model aeroplane club's lawn near the "knuckle" in the river (it's the almost-square plae patch), then look NE of that where you should see a pair of interlocking circles. Zoom in on those and I think you can see two sides of the gridiron just to the NW, south of the channel with water in.

 

They are closer to the gridiron than the allotments by some way - so could be near the SE end of the aerodrome, though I'd have thought they'd be a hazard. I was on the allotment today but didn't bother looking - the grass is waist high at the mo, I'd never find them. Winter when the grass is short and the sun low.., piece of cake.

 

Adrian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[J T Gray]

I've had a look for these, but the lack of grazing this year means that my photographs are pretty pointless - though I will try to post them up over Christmas. However I have since discovered that there were also practice trenches in Wytham Woods - hopefully the Facebook link will be visible:

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/2005326106169094/

 

Booked my place already!

 

Adrian

 

[J T Gray]

Just to give you an idea of location - I'm stood in one, SWMBO is stood in another, and there's about three between us. As you can see, despite the light being almost perfect for shwoing things up, the vegetation makes photographing them a mug's game.

 

Location-wise, that's pretty much looking from near the gridiron feature up to the NE corner of the meadow - the road bridge is just visible to the left, St Peter's church tower equidistant on the other side of SWMBO.

 

Adrian

 

 

[J T Gray]

I have a plan! They're not marked as ancient - see the line I've drawn at the top of the map which marks the parchmark from the aerodrome road - you are looking at the two black lines pretty much in the middle of the image. Sorry it's not the best of colours to pick out, I've just wasted forty minutes trying to get a better colour in Photoshop and failing dismally!

 

Adrian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 31 December , 2018 by J T Gray

[J T Gray]

Nothing like coming back to an old thread... but I've found a clear image on Google Earth of the pits I've been wondering about.

 

Adrian

 

[Richard Osgood]

I was always told that these were anti glider defences from ww2 to hamper any invasion landing attempts. No evidence for it mind!!!

[J T Gray]

Thanks for dropping by, Richard, much appreciated!

I can appreciate your rider comment - they seem too small and in the wrong place to hamper any glider attack (surely you'd put them across the old airfield area at the very least?), and there's so much more of the meadow untouched by them - but if they are not, then what are they? They don't look like trenches - but what, then, was Tolkein talking about? I can't imagine he'd have confused Port Meadow with the top of the hill at Wytham.

 

Too many questions, not enough answers!

 

Adrian

[domsim]

Hi adrian

 

Richard Atkinson's article-which I expect you've seen:

https://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1942/atkinson.pdf

 

cheers

Dom.

[J T Gray]

Oooh, no I hadn't, Dom, or at least not with Major Allen's photos as well. Thank you! I suspect that the sites may have been enhanced for print, but Sites 11, 12 & 13 are clearly visible, and no sign of the pits - maybe they are anti-glider defenses? Though wouldn't you put those where the airfield had been, where you knew was suitable for landing?

 

Adrian

 

[RobertBr]

Two WW2 possibilities:

Oxford would have been defended by AA, although on Hitlers orders it was not bombed. So gun locations?

The Thames was a designated 'Stop Line' so possibly Home Guard related. There are many remains of emplacements along the North bank.