"Aftercomers cannot guess the beauty been" Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote of the ancient meadow in 1879, following the felling of the poplars by the river.

The poplars have been replaced with others and Port Meadow is still, in my opinion at least, one of the finest things about Oxford. Walkers enjoy the beautiful meadow all year round. At the moment, during winter, it is flooded - inhabited by a mass of waterfowl and others. Forget your dreaming spires, aloof ivory towers, dark dusty libraries and sophisticated quads!

An article in The Spectator, 1914 reads,
"From Walton Well to Wolvercote it still stretches, a wilderness of green turf, the joy of the rider and walker, and the airiest meadow in the valley of the Thames. So be it, and so shall it be."