Formerly part of the Meadow, the New Walk was planted as a raised walk with avenue planting in 1865, to provide access to the river, at the instigation of Dean Liddell as an improvement on the old way round, along the boundary wall by the Trill Mill stream.
The original planting is thought to have been elm and lime, none of which survive. Replacement plantings of various lime species, Hybrid Black Poplars and Balsam Poplars have caused the avenue to lose much of its uniform character and the Hybrid Black Poplars which are now over mature have started to cause safety concerns as they begin to decay and drop branches.
This has lead to the first phase of a replanting scheme being completed in spring 2015 when 10 of the poplars were felled to be replaced by 21 Tilia x europaea ‘Pallida’ an historically appropriate choice of avenue tree. This scheme was awarded a letter of commendation from the Oxfordshire Preservation Trust in late 2015.
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