Otmoor
{{Short description|Wetland and grassland area in Oxfordshire, England}}
File:Ot Moor - geograph.org.uk - 1172880.jpg
Otmoor or Ot Moor is an area of wetland and wet grassland in Oxfordshire, England, located halfway between Oxford and Bicester. It is about {{convert|60|m}} above sea level, and has an area of nearly {{convert|400|ha}}.
It is encircled by the "Seven Towns" of Otmoor: Beckley, Noke, Oddington, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Fencott, Murcott and Horton-cum-Studley.
Part of it is a nature reserve, RSPB Otmoor, which adjoins a Ministry of Defence firing range, which is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
History
Bisected north–south by the Roman Road between Alchester and Dorchester-on-Thames, its name is derived from the Old English for "Otta's Fen".
=Enclosure=
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title = Otmoor Drainage and Allotments Act 1815
| type = Act
| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title = An Act for draining and allotting Otmoor, in the County of Oxford.
| year = 1815
| citation = 55 Geo. 3. c. c
| introduced_commons =
| introduced_lords =
| territorial_extent =
| royal_assent = 12 July 1815
| commencement =
| expiry_date =
| repeal_date =
| amends =
| replaces =
| amendments =
| repealing_legislation =
| related_legislation =
| status =
| legislation_history =
| theyworkforyou =
| millbankhansard =
| original_text = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo3/55/100/pdfs/ukla_18150100_en.pdf
| revised_text =
| use_new_UK-LEG =
| UK-LEG_title =
| collapsed = yes
}}
Watered by the River Ray, it was until the early 19th century unenclosed marshland, and regularly flooded in winter. An inclosure act was passed, the {{visible anchor|Otmoor Drainage and Allotments Act 1815}} (55 Geo. 3. c. c), under which the area was extensively drained. This disadvantaged the local farmers and led to civil disturbances known as the Otmoor Riots of 1829–30.
=Military range=
In 1920 the Royal Air Force acquired Otmoor for use as a bombing range.{{cite book |editor-last=Lobel |editor-first=Mary D |editor-link=Mary Lobel |chapter=Beckley |series=Victoria County History |title=A History of the County of Oxford |volume=5: Bullingdon Hundred |year=1957 |pages=56–76 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=101881}} Part of the moor remains in military use as a rifle range, and is also a large part of Otmoor Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).{{cite web|url=https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/PDFsForWeb/Citation/1002962.pdf |title=Otmoor citation|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|access-date=15 August 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx?startTopic=Designations&activelayer=sssiIndex&query=HYPERLINK%3D%271002962%27 |title=Map of Otmoor|series= Sites of Special Scientific Interest|publisher=Natural England|access-date= 24 March 2016}}
=Motorway to nature reserve=
The semi-wetland landscape provides habitat for many rare species of birds and butterflies. These were threatened in 1980 by a government proposal for the route of the M40 motorway to cross Otmoor. Opposition to the motorway was led by Friends of the Earth and included the "Alice's Meadow" campaign.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/01/conservation-developers-countryside-uk |title=Diversionary tactics - the imaginative campaigns protecting the countryside from developers |work=The Guardian |location=London |first=Paul |last=Evans |date=2009-04-01 |access-date=2010-03-26}} The government eventually adopted an alternative route.
Since 1997 a large part of Otmoor has been made an RSPB nature reserve, with large areas of land being returned to marshland. Immediately east of the RSPB reserve is Otmoor SSSI.
{{coord|51|49|19|N|1|10|47|W|display=title}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal |last=Brown |first=A. V. |year=1957 |title=The Last Phase of the Enclosure of Otmoor |journal=Oxoniensia |volume=XXXII |pages=34–52 |publisher=Oxford Architectural and Historical Society|url=http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1967/brown.pdf }}
- {{cite book |last=Emery |first=Frank |editor-last=Hoskins |editor-first=W. G. |editor-link=William George Hoskins |title=The Oxfordshire Landscape |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordshirelands0000emer/page/156 |url-access=registration |series=The Making of the English Landscape |year=1974 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |isbn=0-340-04301-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordshirelands0000emer/page/156 156–158, 223] }}
External links
- 'Starlings on Otmoor' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH-groCeKbE video]