Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Abingdon is a market town in the Thames Valley in Southern England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district in Oxfordshire. Historically part of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places which claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town.

Geography

Abingdon is six miles south of Oxford in the flat valley of the Thames, on the west (right) bank, where the small river Ock flows in from the Vale of White Horse.

Abingdon is located at (51.6667, -1.2833)¹.

History

The site has been occupied from the early to middle Iron Age, and the remains of a late Iron Age defensive enclosure, or oppidum, underly the town centre. The oppidum was in use throughout the Roman occupation.

Abingdon Abbey was founded in Saxon times, possibly the 7th century, but its early history is confused by numerous legends invented to raise its status and explain the place-name, since -don means a hill and Abingdon stands in a valley. In 1084, William the Conqueror celebrated Easter at the Abbey, and left his son, afterwards Henry I, to be educated there.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, Abingdon was a flourishing agricultural centre with an extensive trade in wool, and a famous weaving and clothing manufacture. The abbot seems to have held a market from very early times, and charters for the holding of markets and fairs were granted by various sovereigns from Edward I to George II. In 1337, there was a famous riot in protest at the Abbot's control of this market and several of the monks were killed.

After the abbey's dissolution in 1538, the town sank into decay, and in 1555, on a representation of its pitiable condition, Mary I granted a charter establishing a mayor, two bailiffs, twelve chief burgesses, and sixteen secondary burgesses, the mayor to be clerk of the market, coroner and a Justice of the Peace. The present Christ's Hospital originally belonged to the Guild of the Holy Cross, on the dissolution of which Edward VI founded the almshouses instead under its present name.

The council was empowered to elect one burgess to parliament, and this right continued until the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885. A town clerk and other officers were also appointed, and the town boundaries described in great detail. Later charters from Elizabeth I, James I, James II, George II and George III made no considerable change. James II changed the style of the corporation to that of a mayor, twelve aldermen and twelve burgesses.

In 1810, the Wilts and Berks Canal opened, linking Abingdon with Semington on the Kennet and Avon Canal. Abingdon became a key link between major industrial centres such as Bristol, London, Birmingham and the Black Country. In 1856, the Abingdon Railway opened, linking the town with the Great Western Railway at Radley. The Wilts and Berks Canal was abandoned in 1906, but a voluntary trust is now working to restore and reopen it. Abingdon railway station was closed to passengers in 1963. The line remained open for freight until 1984, including MG cars until the factory closed in 1980. The nearest railway station is now Radley, two miles away.

Abingdon was the county town of Berkshire and the magnificant county hall and court house, now the museum, was supposedly designed by Christopher Wren. However Abingdon's failure to engage fully with the railway revolution, accepting only a branch line sidelined the town in favour of Reading. The corporation was reformed under the Municipal Reform Act 1835, and was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972. In 1974, under local government reorganisation Abingdon became part of the non-metropolitan shire county of Oxfordshire, and the seat of the new Vale of White Horse District Council, with Abingdon becoming a civil parish with a town council.

Economy

Industrially, Abingdon is best known as the location of manufacture of MG cars (1929–1980). The Pavlova leather works, now closed down, used to be a major employer. Abingdon was home to the Morland brewery, whose most famous ale was Old Speckled Hen, named after an MG car. Greene King bought Morland for £182M in 1999, and operations were moved to Bury St Edmunds. The site of the brewery has now been redeveloped into apartment buildings.

Today Abingdon is close to several major scientific employers the UKAEA at Culham (including the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion research project), Harwell Laboratory, the CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the new Diamond Light Source synchrotron, which is the largest UK-funded scientific facility to be built for over 30 years. Many inhabitants work in Oxford, or commute by rail to London from nearby Didcot. The Army now occupies Dalton Barracks, which prior to 1993 was the Royal Air Force station, RAF Abingdon. Abingdon is home to the headquarters of Sophos, the anti-virus company.

Sites of interest

Of a Benedictine abbey there remains a beautiful Perpendicular gateway (common local knowledge, however, is that it was actually rebuilt out of the rubble, and a little cursory examination of the patternation of the stonework will divulge this!), and ruins of buildings called the prior's house, mainly Early English, and the guest house, with other fragments.

The picturesque narrow-arched bridge over the Thames near St Helen's Church dates originally from 1416. St Helen's Church itself dates from around 1100 and is the second widest church in England, having 5 aisles and being 10 ft(3 m) wider than it is long.

The most distinguished landmark in Abingdon is probably the building which now houses the Abingdon Museum, which was formerly the county hall of Berkshire (the town was county town until it ceded that title to Reading in 1867): a building hailed as the "grandest town hall in Britain" and built by Christopher Kempster, who worked with Christopher Wren on St Paul's Cathedral.

Culture and folklore

A longstanding tradition of the town has local dignitaries throwing buns from the roof of the Abingdon Museum for crowds assembled in the market square on specific days of celebration (such as royal marriages/coronations/jubilee), although many residents are unaware of this, due to the rarity of occurrences.

Abingdon has a very old and still active Morris Dancing tradition, passed on by word of mouth since before the folk dance and song revivals of the 1800s.^*

The Friends of Abingdon's Unicorn Theatre, housed in the old Abbey buildings, is the site of first productions of many stage adaptations of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, by Stephen Briggs. Abingdon is one of several real-world locales to provide Pratchett with inspiration for Ankh-Morpork, a major city on the Discworld.

Twinned towns

Abingdon is twinned with: Argentan, France, Lucca, Italy and Schongau, Germany. It also has connections (through the Vale of White Horse District) with Sint-Niklaas in Belgium and Colmar, France.

Schools

Abingdon and Witney College: provides further education.
Abingdon School: private, boys, 11–18. Possibly the oldest school in the country.
The Consortium: state, mixed, a partnership of schools including Fitzharrys School, Larkmead School, John Mason School. The Consortium also includes Abingdon and Witney College.
European School, Culham: semi-private multilingual school.
Our Lady's Convent: private, girls.
St Helen and St Katharine: private, girls, 11–18.

External links

Towns in Oxfordshire | Places formerly in Berkshire | River Thames | English county towns

Æbban dūn | Abingdon | Abingdon, England | Abingdon, England

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