Right now Oxleas is he most famous wood in Britain. But it wasn’t ever thus. Only a few years ago a small number of people were desperate to bring Oxleas Wood, then little-known outside South-East London, to the attention of the nation. How they achieved this, and defeated the mighty machine of the Department of Transport in the process is an inspiration to us all and a wonderful message of hope for every one of the small groups of people fighting road schemes in faraway places… From 1936 the Roads Lobby had pressed for this road – a bridge over the Thames, plus a six lane highway that would have destroyed hundreds of homes and decimated the ancient Oxleas Wood – to complete the link between London’s North and South Circulars and thus provide an Inner Ring Road for the capital. It was a critical road. The local campaigners lost two public inquiries. They then formed an alliance involving national groups and pinpointed Oxleas Wood as the most eye-catching element in their campaign. The ‘Save Oxleas Wood’ campaign resonated around Europe. Tens of thousands of people pledged to ‘beat the bulldozer’ to save it. Fearful of a direct action uprising just after Twyford Down, the Government dropped the road scheme.

Apparently 150 road building schemes were eventually dropped, as you say oxleas woods proved something of a landmark.