This big tree in the garden of The Gables is named after William Cobbett, the English radical author. Cobbett made a lot of money promoting these trees, claiming the hardwood would be perfect for ships. However, by the time they were mature, ships were built of steel. The Gables was the home of James Swann, who owned the Eynsham papermill and supplied the paper for Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register - a publication thought by the government to be so dangerous that two of its workers were arrested and publicly flogged.