Oxford people stones: John Thompson, Burgess Field
JOHN
THOMPSON
1941–2015
He inspired this
Nature Reserve
and the planting
of over 10,000
trees in
Oxford
This stone stands in Burgess Field Nature Park, the former rubbish tip to the east of Port Meadow.
John Thompson was Oxford's landscape architect and the Forest of Oxford co-ordinator who inspired this nature reserve, which is fifteen feet higher than the rest of the meadow because of the amount of rubbish buried there. .
This memorial is made of Cornish granite. It was carved by Dominic Ropner of Time Circles, and Julian Cooper, Oxford City Council's landscape and countryside supervisor, provided the team of men who worked with him.
A group of John Thompson's friends, led by Pauline Bowerbank, raised the £4,000 needed to erect the stone.
It was dedicated on 27 November 2016.
Oxford Mail 18 June 2023:
“When idyllic Port Meadow was used as the city's main tip”