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In the 1950s there were four farms with milking herds in Oddington, now all
gone, and three outlying farms within the parish. There was a row of ten
thatched cottages, although only three were inhabited at that time. They were
pulled down and three houses built in their place, while 16 others have gone
onto odd bits of land.
In those days the village was well served with tradespeople; a good grocer who
called for orders and delivered the goods later, an excellent baker who came at
odd hours you hung a bag on the door if it was late at night, also a wet
fish man who sold fruit and vegetables once a week. There were weekly visits
from the haberdasher and the hardware van, which also carried paraffin. There
was no public telephone, and only about four in private houses.
In those earlier years one of the interesting events was the coming of the
Blackberry Man. Twice a week he appeared, to buy blackberries for dyeing, as
many as he could get. Many local people picked hard for the weeks his visits
lasted and in a good season you could pick a hundredweight in a week.
Otmoor was a lovely wild place then with high uncut hedges partly composed of
blackberries and the riverbank was a solid block of briars. Now the moor has
been reclaimed, it grows heavy crops of corn but the mystery of the area has
vanished.
The farmhouses are all large and old; one has a fireplace dated 1659, and one
smaller one was originally the coach house of Rectory Farm, a private house for
many years. The rectory, also large, is the only place with a suggestion of a
ghost, though it has not been seen since the last rector to live there retired.
In the churchyard is the grave of a Maori princess, Maggie Papakura, who lived
at Qddington Grange as Mrs Staples-Brown. When she died in 1930 her grave was
marked by a simple wooden cross but a few years ago it was discovered by some of
her compatriots who put a bronze plaque beneath the cross. It has since been
visited by many of her people including a group who came in native costume and
sang a Maori lament.
It appears that the population (round about 100 over the years) has always been
on the move. None of the farms were owned by the older generations most of the
village was owned by the Sawyer estate who sold it bit by bit. There is one
young woman though, whose roots go back a long way. Her great-great uncle took
part in the Otmoor riots over the Land Enclosure Act.
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