H2. Trap Grounds: Town Green and local wildlife site
Location
The Trap Grounds (grid reference SP 5035 0810) are a wild open space, approximately
seven acres in area, between the Oxford Canal to the East, the railway to the West, the Waterways Estate to the north and the Aristotle Lane Estate to the south. Access is obtained from the canal towpath along Frog Lane, a footpath leading westwards, immediately south of the Frenchay Road bridge.
History
The present site is all that remains of a once very extensive area known as the Trap Grounds on the eastern edge of Port Meadow. The name (in use since at least 1790) may be a corruption of the designation ‘Extra Parochial’ (‘outside the parish’), denoting the site’s exemption from the payment of church tithes; or it may indicate the former practice of trapping fish in channels leading across Port Meadow from the River Thames.
Frog Lane, which forms the northern boundary of the present site, is an ancient right of way which led to Port Meadow and was known for hundreds of years as ‘The Upper Road to Wolvercote’, and also as ‘My Lady’s Way’ – a probable reference to an abbess of Godstow Abbey, which owned much of the surrounding land in the Middle Ages.
The present site was acquired by St John’s College, presumably as a speculative venture, at around the time of the completion of the Oxford Canal in 1790. However, it was never developed for industrial or residential purposes, perhaps because of its tendency to flood. Instead it was used by the college as a rubbish dump until it was bought by Oxford City Council in 1965, presumably for future development. But the council allowed it to remain as waste ground and – despite its on-going use as an unofficial fly-tipping site – it gradually evolved into a mosaic of wildlife habitats, supporting a rich diversity of wildlife.
In 1996 an informal group of local people, calling themselves The Friends of the Trap Grounds, began mobilising volunteers to clear paths and glades in the woodland and eradicate invasive willows from the reed bed. When the site was finally earmarked for development in the draft Local Plan for Oxford (2001–2016), the Friends hired a barrister to argue that it should be exempted on account of its value for wildlife and for community recreation. When this initiative failed, the Friends launched a campaign to claim the site as a Town Green.
Current Status
The western section was eventually registered by Oxfordshire County Council as a Town Green in 2006, following a four-year legal campaign which culminated in success in the House of Lords. In 2010 the eastern section was registered with the County Council as a Local Wildlife Site, and in 2015 the LWS designation was extended to cover the entire site. The whole site remains in the ownership of Oxford City Council and is now officially managed by the Friends in partnership with the council.
Character
This is the last remaining wild open space along the Oxford Canal between the city centre and the northern suburbs. It consists of two distinct halves, separated by a boardwalk: in the east, three acres of pond and reed bed – a rare fragment of a type of wetland habitat once common around Oxford – and in the west four acres of woodland, scrubland, meadows, small ponds, swamps, and a stream.
Spaces and views: the site consists of a series of interlinked spaces, each different in character and enclosed by trees. Frog Lane, shady and secluded, leads westwards past Swan Pond and the main reed bed to a boardwalk which winds north–south alongside Castle Mill Stream through woodland glades, alongside Heron Pond to a bird-hide overlooking another small pond. From here, paths fan out to grassy meadows and tussocky scrubland. There are distant views of houses to the north and south, but the prevailing sense is one of rural seclusion.
Landscape: the landscape is defined by trees and water features. The trees are mostly 50-year-old willows, sycamores, and hazels, but in addition the Friends have planted almost 100 berry-bearing trees (including bullace, rowan, and spindle) for over-wintering birds. The water features consist of the Frog Lane ditch (murky and often littered by beer cans thrown from the canal bridge); Swan Pond, created in the year 2000: sunny, open, and fringed by reeds that provide a haven for water voles, warblers, and water rails; the Mill Stream, with reeds on one bank and willows on the other, a relatively safe retreat for newly hatched ducklings; Heron Pond alongside the boardwalk, supporting a host of aquatic invertebrates; Tim’s Pond, overlooked by a bird hide; Dragonfly Pool at the southern end of the boardwalk; and Kingfisher Pool in the wood. The grassland in the west and south of the site, now cleared of rampant brambles, supports a wide variety of wild flowers, including marjoram, mullein, and yellow rattle, and many butterflies and solitary bees, not to mention lizards, grass snakes, and glow worms.
Non-natural features: the only man-made structures are the boardwalk (installed in 2011), which is made of recycled plastic, a material which is claimed to be rot-proof, non-slip, and vandal-proof; the bird hide (2012), made of hazel hurdles and brushwood; a tool shed (2013); and an ‘insect hotel’ (2014), constructed of natural materials found on site.
Uses: the site is mostly used by members of the local community for quiet walks and contemplation, dog-walking, bird-watching, and blackberry picking; but it also has educational uses: children from the local primary school of St Philip and St James visit it for nature studies and storytelling sessions, and students from the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University use it for field work (such as surveys of reptiles and amphibians) and as a case study in environmental management. Access for pushchairs and wheelchairs is reasonably good along Frog Lane, except in the wettest winters, and very good along the boardwalk in all weathers.
Ambience/spirit of place: the Trap Grounds are a haven of peace and quiet in a densely developed suburban area of the city. The level of human activity is generally fairly low. The best times to visit are at dawn and dusk, for the reflections of sunrise and sunset on the ponds, for the richly varied bird songs, and for the chance of seeing kingfishers and water voles. There is much to enjoy in every season of the year: the carpets of snowdrops in springtime, the scent of wild honeysuckle in summer, the scarlet berries on the trees in autumn, and frosty trees and animal footprints in the snow in winter.
Fuller information about the natural history of the site and the activities of the Friends of the Trap Grounds is available at www.trap-grounds.org.uk .
Download this Character Assessment as a pdf
Download the original volunteer written character assessment as a pdf: Trap Grounds
