Radley

There's an ongoing campaign to save the two remaining lakes at Radley from being used to store ash from Didcot Power Station.

More details at http://www.saveradleylakes.org.uk/


An extensive area of partly active and partly disused gravel workings to the north-east of Abingdon, close to the River Thames. The tetrad in which this site falls produced the most breeding species of any surveyed during the research for the Oxfordshire Atlas, but the site has recently been damaged by preparations for fly ash tipping from Didcot Power Station (to which the site is connected by a pipeline). The site is close to the Oxford-Didcot railway line, and is also sometimes plagued by motorcyclists

Thrupp Lane SU520978
Barton Lane SU516972

From A34 southbound: leave the A34 at the Abingdon North exit, turning left at the top of the slip road (A4183) towards Abingdon. At the first roundabout you encounter, turn left into Twelve Acre Drive (*). At the next roundabout, turn left signposted to Radley. Just before you reach Radley village, turn right into Thrupp Lane. This narrow lane leads past some industrial units and a couple of farms to a working quarry entrance on a right-hand bend. Just beyond this point is a track on the left, at which point there is parking for a few cars.

From A34 northbound: leave the A34 at the Abingdon South exit, turning right towards Abingdon on the A415. Keep straight on at the Tesco's entrance roundabout, then turn left at the next roundabout by Macdonalds restaurant (Colwell Drive). Follow this inner ring-road past 4 roundabouts into Twelve Acre Drive. Follow instructions from (*) above.

Legal access is possible along either boundary of the main area, via the Thames towpath, and a bridleway linking Thrupp Lane, Radley and Barton Lane, Abingdon. De facto access to much of the intervening area is possible, though there is no legal right of way.
Sutton Courtenay
Dave Dunford