Port Meadow is a large area of common land

Common land

Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...

 beside the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 to the north and west of Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The meadow is an ancient area of grazing land, still used for horses and cattle, and has never been ploughed. In return for helping to defend the kingdom against the marauding Danes, the Freemen of Oxford were given the 300 acres (121.4 ha) of pasture next to the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 by Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

 who founded the city in the 10th century. The Freemen's collective right to graze their animals free of charge is recorded in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 and has been exercised ever since.

It runs from Jericho

Jericho, Oxford

Jericho is a historic suburb of the English city of Oxford. It consists of the streets bounded by the Oxford Canal, Worcester College, Walton Street and Walton Well Road. Located outside the old city wall, it was originally a place for travellers to rest if they had reached the city after the...

 to Wolvercote

Wolvercote

Wolvercote is a village that is part of the City of Oxford, England, though still retaining its own identity. It is about northwest of the centre of Oxford, on the northern edge of Wolvercote Common, which is itself north of Port Meadow.-History:The village is listed in the Domesday Book as...

 along the east (left) bank of the River Thames, with the railway and the suburb of North Oxford

North Oxford

North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College....

 further to the east, and the village of Binsey

Binsey, Oxfordshire

Binsey is a village by the River Thames about northwest of the centre of Oxford. It is the opposite side of the river from Port Meadow and about southwest of the ruins of Godstow Abbey.-History:...

 to the west. Access to Port Meadow is via Walton Well Road

Walton Well Road

Walton Well Road is a road in central north Oxford, England. It provides the main link from central Oxford to Port Meadow and beyond.- Location :...

 or Aristotle Lane

Aristotle Lane

Aristotle Lane is a road in north Oxford, England.The lane links North Oxford, leading from the junction of Kingston Road and Hayfield Road , with Port Meadow to the west, via bridges over the Oxford Canal and railway...

 in the south or from Wolvercote in the north. It is a typical English flood-meadow

Flood-meadow

A flood-meadow is an area of grassland or pasture beside a river, subject to seasonal flooding. Flood-meadows are distinct from water-meadows in that the latter are artificially created and maintained, with flooding controlled on a seasonal and even daily basis.- Examples :* Angel & Greyhound...

 and is a favourite area for walking, with easy access from the city of Oxford. It is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

. At the southern end of the meadow is Fiddler's Island

Fiddler's Island

Fiddler's Island is an island in the River Thames at Oxford in England. It is situated south of Port Meadow on the reach above Osney Lock.The thin island sits between the Thames and Castle Mill Stream. On the south of the island a short stream known as the Sheepwash Channel divides the island from...

 in a loop of the River Thames. In the winter the meadow floods and if frozen forms a huge and safe area for skating

Ice skating

Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...

. In late spring vast areas are carpeted with buttercups. Horses, cattle and geese graze the meadow and many birds can often be seen.

The River Thames (known as the Isis at this point) flows through this large grazing meadow. This is where the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

) and the Reverend Robinson Duckworth

Robinson Duckworth

Reverend Robinson Duckworth DD, CVO, VD, was present in the original boating expedition of 4 July 1862 during which Alice's Adventures were first told by Lewis Carroll ....

 rowed in a boat on July 4th 1862 up the river with three young girls — Lorina, Alice

Alice Liddell

Alice Pleasance Liddell , known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist Alice is said to be named after her.-Biography:...

, and Edith Liddell. While journeying slowly from Folly Bridge

Folly Bridge

Folly Bridge is a stone bridge over the River Thames carrying the Abingdon Road, south from the centre of Oxford, England. It was erected 1825–27, to designs of a little-known architect, Ebenezer Perry , who practiced in London....

 to near Godstow

Godstow

Godstow is a hamlet on the River Thames about northwest of the centre of Oxford. The ruins of Godstow Abbey, or Godstow Nunnery, are here.-The Abbey:...

, Dodgson began at their request to make up a story that later was expanded into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...

.

Because the meadow has never been ploughed, it contains well preserved archaeological remains, some of which survive as residual earthworks. Of particular note are several Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 round barrows

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

, an area of Iron Age

British Iron Age

The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...

 settlement, and the foundations of 17th-century fortifications from the Parliamentary siege of Oxford

Siege of Oxford

The Siege of Oxford was a Parliamentarian victory late in the First English Civil War. Whereas the title of the event may suggest a single siege, there were in fact three individual engagements that took place over a period of three years....

 during the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the meadow was used for horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

, and low stone bridges laid over washes and ditches for this purpose still survive.

During the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 part of Port Meadow was used as a military airfield and the Royal Artillery

Royal Artillery

The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...

 had a base there. In 1940, during the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, a camp was set up on the meadow for military personnel evacuated from Dunkirk.

In the southwestern corner of the meadow at Medley is Bossom's boatyard, a small marina and Medley Footbridge

Medley Footbridge

Medley Footbridge is a pedestrian bridge across the River Thames near the village of Binsey in Oxford, England. It is also known as Rainbow Bridge, although there is another bridge of that name in the University Parks in Oxford....

 across the Thames. The Medley Sailing Club

Medley Sailing Club

Medley Sailing Club is a dinghy sailing club on the River Thames, situated opposite Port Meadow in Oxford, England. It is notable as the farthest upstream sailing club on the Thames and for its large fleet of British Moth boats.The club was founded in 1937....

, the furthest upstream sailing club on the River Thames, is on the western riverbank.