Covered with coppiced hazel woods and many special wild plants this small hill was once of great importance to the people of Austwick and Wharfe.

In 1814 Oxenber had 131 sheep 'gaits', now reduced to 40 (A sheep gait is a parcel of land where a sheep and her lambs grazed, these days more commonly referred to as grazing rights). Every gait owner had a right to shoot rabbits, gather fuel, collect pea sticks and hazel nuts, and also to quarry stone from the hill. Today the locals still have rabbit shooting and nutting rights but removal of stone and plant life is forbidden.