VILLAGERS were outraged when they were told they could no longer walk through Bagley Wood.

Families living in South Hinksey and Sunningwell in the 19th century often visited to collect wood to keep their homes warm and to enjoy a leisurely stroll, as their predecessors had done.

But in 1840, the landowners, St John’s College, Oxford, imposed a draconian ban on ‘intruders’.

With the help of two Oxford citizens named Pratt and Albutt, the villagers called meetings to fight the ban and passed resolutions.

But with no parish, district or county councils to help them, the college got its way, closing the wood and excluding villagers as well as visitors from farther afield.

The story is told by Henry Poulter, a Freeman of Oxford, who died in 1910, in a booklet he had printed in 1899 entitled Early Recollections of Oxford.

It was found in his son Frank Poulter’s belongings by great-grandson Glyn Frewer, of Wychwood Close, Charlbury.

Oxford University also faced criticism over rail services, at first forcing passengers from Oxford to go to Steventon, eight miles away, to catch trains to London and the West Country.

Mr Poulter wrote: “The University, in their superior wisdom, thought if there was a station at Oxford, the students would neglect their studies and be continually going to London for pleasure.”

The first railway excursion from Oxford, starting at the first Great Western station at Grandpont, must have been an eye-opener for passengers.

“They were all open carriages, something like the present cattle trucks, with seats across.

“It started well with a great number of passengers about 10 in the morning, arrived at Paddington at four o’clock in the afternoon, and immediately returned, reaching Oxford very late.”

Horses were an important mode of transport in those days, and there were numerous stables in the city.

Mr Poulter wrote: “When millers’ wagons with their teams of five or six horses came into Oxford, they had bells on their collars which created a very pleasant sound.”

He also talks about his schooldays in Oxford, going to church, how it cost eight pence to post a letter, how smallpox and typhoid fever were widespread in the city, and how low-lying areas of the city, particularly in Abingdon Road, were prone to flooding.

He also records how he nearly drowned while bathing at Folly Bridge, and how he raised the alarm when a man died in a house fire in St Ebbe’s.

“I looked through the keyhole and saw the place ablaze. I ran up the street crying ‘Fire, fire’, and ultimately, an old rickety manual fire engine was brought into use, but it was of little service as it was an intensely sharp frost and the water was almost frozen before it left the engine.”

p More memories next week