Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a narrow river island — an ait — in the Cherwell, on the eastern side of the University Parks. It runs around 800 yards (730 m) end to end and 30 yards (27 m) across at its widest, threaded between two branches of the river that flow at slightly different heights. The higher branch was the mill stream that drove Kings Mill; the lower is the Cherwell proper.

The footpath that gives the island its public life — Mesopotamia Walk — runs from Parson's Pleasure at the north end of the University Parks to Kings Mill, providing part of the pedestrian route between the city centre and Marston Road. The Greek name was given when the path was laid out in 1865, and means "between rivers" — the same usage that names the historic region between the Tigris and Euphrates.

Kings Mill

The Domesday Book records a watermill on the site of Kings Mill at the south end of the walk, putting milling activity here back to at least the eleventh century. The present mill building is late eighteenth century; milling continued until 1825. The exact construction date of the mill stream itself — the cut that turned this strip of land into an island — is unknown.

The mill is now in residential use and not open to visitors. It is Grade II listed: rubble stone with dressed quoins, two storeys and an attic. The wheel is gone, but sluices are still visible in the line of the former mill race.

How it became a public walk

The University of Oxford bought the island during the 1860-1865 expansion of the University Parks, and the walk was laid out at the end of that period. A ferry operated from a point halfway along the walk until 1926, when it was replaced by a footbridge.

Visiting

Mesopotamia is open all year through the University Parks, free of charge, no booking required. It pairs well with Addison's Walk downstream at Magdalen for a longer day on the Cherwell, and the two together cover the most-walked stretches of the river inside the city.