An Orpwood Road Resident Remembers........

Long before our houses were built, when the main road south out of Abingdon was the Drayton Road, a little girl called Eileen and her brother played in the south Abingdon fields of Tithe Farm and Ladygrove.

Mill Road was only a farm lane then, leading to the Mill itself and the small row of cottages.  Twice a day the cows would be taken out of the fields either side of the lane and moved down to the milking barns and sheds - these were on the other side of the Drayton Road, roughly where Lady Eleanor Court has been built.  The farmhouse was where the low 'odd' numbers of Mill Road are now and Eileen would be sent by her mother to knock at the back door of the farmhouse to buy a jug of milk.  Along with the milk, she was often given a pear or apple for being a helpful girl.  The apples and pears would have come from the orchard on the other side of the lane, now covered by the 'even' numbers of Mill Road and Burton Close.  Best of all in the orchard was the old walnut tree, where Eileen was allowed to pick up the fallen nuts.

Farmer Cox's hens were kept behind the farmhouse - probably now Wordsworth Road area - but were often seen strolling across the lane to peck in the orchard.  We don't see many hens crossing our road now!!