Murphy the donkey was a permanent fixture in this field for almost four decades. Purchased from Ireland in 1958 by Arnold Brown the owner of Cannons Bridge Farm (to the right of the field as you look from Bury Street), he arrived with another donkey in very poor health. Murphy survived, but his friend did not and he went on to reside in this field, rented from the council, until his death in the winter of 1994-95 aged 37.
When I was growing up a walk to the Lido was not complete without a visit to Murphy, and I have to admit that I was one of those children who always brought along something for him to eat – which prompted Mrs Brown to put up a sign asking for people not to feed Murphy as it sometimes made him ill.
Important! You can’t access Murphy’s Field directly from Bury Street; you have to approach it from Park Wood and cross over a bridge built by The Ruislip Woods Volunteers in 2007 (which is looking a bit sorry for itself these days). Do not attempt to scale the fence from the road side.