History

Burgess Field was for many years the City Council open landfill site until the early 1980s.  This explains why it stands noticeably higher than Port Meadow and the neighbouring Trap Grounds allotments, as you will be standing on top of several metres of mixed household rubbish! When it was closed, a clay cap was put in place and topsoil from the Oxford to Banbury M40 extension was ferried in. The area was roughly landscaped and partially planted with trees and hedges in the 1990s by volunteers led by Anthony Roberts, Head of Parks Services at Oxford City Council. A fine stone memorial to him stands not far from the main gate. The trees have since flourished, as have the tall, mainly hawthorn hedges. 

Many thanks to Kav Ring for permission to use this photo

We hold regular work parties to tackle these issues, removing scrub in selected areas, and have since 2020 been laying sections of the overgrown hedges annually (see picture left) to provide better cover for nesting birds, small mammals and overwintering insects. We have planted thousands of bulbs, have created a flourishing wildflower meadow, planted hundreds of trees and two new hedges, and removed vast quantities of litter. All this work has been done by volunteers, funded by donations from the Friends of Burgess Field.

It's not at all clear how Burgess Field's name originated, but the most likely explanation is that on the completion of the Godstow Nunnery buildings (1148) the Burgesses endowed the Abbey with land on the east side of Port Meadow.