Earlier this year, Eynsham Mill was put on the market and it is currently under offer. The “guide price” for the big house, its two cottages and other outbuildings, its swimming pool and tennis court, and 92 acres of land, is £7,500,000. One wonders who or what might have the resources to buy it.
The description of the property on the Savills website is so alluring that you might be tempted to put in an offer just to indulge a momentary fantasy. But one thing the estate agent blurb fails to mention is the existence of a Public Right of Way across the middle of the estate. This longstanding Right of Way is earmarked by our Parish Council as part of its proposed “Green Wheel” surrounding Eynsham and the future Salt Cross garden village.
Public Rights of Way are an interesting historical relic. The land underneath them belongs to the landowner, but not the path itself or the right to use it. However, the government website[1] mentions how you can contact your local council about “adding, changing or removing a public right of way temporarily or permanently”. Who knows what the new owner will do, but the Parish Council and Eynsham residents might want to keep an eye on this to prevent the potential loss of such a valuable resource for the local community. Once the property has been sold, things might become clearer.
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On a far smaller scale, in my previous Note from the North I attached a photo of some small orangey-red wild flowers that had found their way into our garden, in the hope that someone could identify them. Quite by chance, while flicking through the equally small Collins Gem Wild Flowers to see if something seen on our walk was Great Willowherb (it wasn’t), I stumbled on the orangey-red flower. It’s Scarlet Pimpernel. Perhaps if I hadn’t tried so hard to seek it here and seek it there, I would have identified it earlier.
Scarlet Pimpernel turns out to be one of those flowers that closes its petals well before evening or in cooling temperature or wet weather, and is therefore known (among its many other names) as Shepherd’s Clock or Shepherd’s Weatherglass.
It also has a mystical pedigree and medicinal properties.
According to Geoffrey Grigson,[2] in Ireland it is a “blessed herb” that gives you second sight or allows you to understand the speech of birds or animals. It has been “used against” toothache, snake bite, kidney and liver problems, melancholy and hydrophobia, although its leaves can give some people dermatitis. Make of this what you will, but it is a delicately beautiful wildflower, and I am glad I can now recognise it and give it a name.
[1] Rights of way and accessing land: Use public rights of way - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
[2] The Englishman’s Flora.