WORTON THROUGH THE AGES

Sitting within the historic hamlet of Worton, the family estate started life in 1808 as Worton Rectory Farm, although the site's history dates even further back.

Worton is included in Britain’s first ever public record. In 1086, Norman England, William I (otherwise known as William the Conqueror) ordered the ‘Great Survey’. Now known as as The Domesday Book, it is regarded as the foundation of British history and details all of the landowners, tenants and serfs at that time, providing an incredible window in to medieval life.

An extract from The Domesday Book, 1086, depicting Worton’s inclusion within Oxfordshire.

From the above inclusion of the oldest known land record, we know that the village of Worton is over 900 years old; but life on the park predates even medieval times…

5000 YEARS OF HISTORY…

A historical booklet called Yarnton's Unfolding Pas

During archaeological excavations in the 1990's, artefacts from Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and Saxon settlements were discovered, showing over 5000 years of land use and communities that have lived in the local area. From the remains of Bronze Age houses to Iron Age tools, Roman pottery to Anglo-Saxon jewellery, artefacts spanning 1000s of years were found in the fields around us. For more information, read ‘Yarnton’s Unfolding Past’ to find out more about the fascinating finds and changes to the landscape over the years.

ICE AGE

Between 1987 and 2006, researchers from the University of Oxford carried out excavations on Worton Park land, where they found over 1500 fossils of Ice Age mammals. With the fossils dating back to the middle of the last ice age, it shows that the land around us was covered in a rich tundra grassland, which supported large herds of grazing ice age mammals. These include extinct ‘megaherbivores’ such as the woolly mammoth and woolly rhino.

Woolly mammoth

Molar tooth of a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) ca. 35,000-60,000 years old, discovered on Worton Park land.

Woolly rhinoceros

Left lower jaw of a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) ca. 35,000-60,000 years old, discovered on Worton Park land.

Reindeer

Some species that were alive in the Ice Age are still around today - this reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antler was found from the Late Pleistocene period, up to 60,000 years ago.

It’s incredible to think that we are walking in the footsteps of these iconic prehistoric animals that were roaming our land up to 60,000 years ago!

With Worton Park having such a vibrant past and an evolution of the land that spans vast eras of history, we are making sure that in the present day we are doing everything we can to have a lasting positive impact on the environment in order to conserve and protect it for generations to come. Read more about our efforts here .