The wild ponies of Port Meadow are hardy, native types and have been grazed on the meadow for centuries. The area was given to the Freemen of Oxford by King Alfred in return for helping to defend the city against the marauding Danes and the right to graze animals here was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Before this, people kept animals and lived on Port Meadow in summer during the Iron Age; Bronze Age burials took place here, and remains of these settlements and burial mounds are clearly visible from the air.

Photograph: © Bharat Patel