This ashtray, made for John Bruce (Engineers) Ltd, probably dates from the 1950s. You can see that the company’s address is ‘Eynsham, Oxford’ rather than the ‘Eynsham, Witney’ we use today. The postcode for the village was changed from OX8 to OX29 in December 2000, and the postal town with it.
Also, note on the ashtray the water tower that is marked as being on the corner of Mill Street and Spare Acre Lane. Work on the tower began in 1903. When completed, it was a large, plain brick structure with a steel tank on top. Its full height was about 15 metres, and it was considered to be quite an ugly building! Water was supplied to the tower from a pumping house built for the purpose in a field a little north of Cassington Road. The tower came to the end of its life and was demolished in 1972, and the pumping house was demolished ten years later. The plot of land the water tower occupied became the site of the block of flats for senior citizens that is is still occupied today.