Simon English
England Revisited

On railway embankment fence post north of the entrance to the Banbury to Bicester road 2 miles south of Aynho.

On a post in the same railway embankment fence on what should have read ‘north of the northern entrance to the tunnel on the Banbury to Brackley railway’.

All the wood posts and wire are original to my 1971 visit although the unidentified wood of the posts is much weathered and the top of each is capped by an interesting miniature garden of moss and lichen.

The embankment appears to have scraped in places when the ditch was cleared. This carries running water - almost a stream. The fence is a bit more overgrown with bramble and blackthorn, but the bank appears to have been periodically cleared of scrub, however the wood on the bank further north by the viaduct still has the old Scots pine among the mature trees. The railway has been re-laid with new track. The 1905 railway tunnel is now lit by neon lights.

The field then and now is growing wheat but now the volunteer rape germinating in the headland plough show that at least one new crop has been grown here over the last four decades. All the oak trees in the hedge on the northern boundary are still there. The farm beyond the next field has a number of new barns above which the distinctive spire of Kings Sutton church can be seen.

To the east of the field there is a notable new feature in the M62 motorway. Here it runs parallel to both railways and the canal. Where the carriageways have been driven through the hill in a cutting, two or three microwave towers stand on either side of the motorway junction.
Points 55, 56 & 57