The Historical Tour
Abingdon is a Market town with its current prosperity based on commercial, academic and scientific developments and the attractions of a location on the river Thames near Oxford. The Monday Market was established well before 1328 and a new monthly Farmers Market started in 2000 now on he third Friday in the month. The town continues to thrive today.
The traditions of the past are very much alive in Abingdon, through its Annual Michaelmas Fair (this year 10th and 11th October) and Runaway Fair a week later and its significant occasional custom of celebrating significant and royal events by Bun Throwing from the roof of the magnificent 17th Century County Hall (Royal Jubilee, June 2012). The annual 'Mayor of Ock Street' elections in June and MG rallies for St George's Day and Boxing Day are popular. Abingdon was the proud home of MG sports car and remains the home of the MG Car Club.
Abingdon has a great variety and quality of creative, sporting, musical, dramatic and artistic activities as well other organisations providing a good social environment. There are many fine buildings, the riverside with its historic wharf, formal parks and natural areas. The Old County Hall houses the Museum which is being refurbished to give more gallery space by 2012.
Abingdon Museum
The centre of the town is dominated by the County Hall built between 1678 and 1682 by Christopher Kempster. It is one of the finest examples of the architectural style of Christopher Wren. The cellars were used as a warehouse, the lower colonnade as a market - and the upper floor as a Courtroom. Nowadays this building is home to the town museum .
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To the right of the Abbey Gateway, in Roysse Court, are the Guildhall and its cluster of historic buildings. One of these buildings housed a school re-established by John Roysse in 1563; others served as St John’s Hospital for travellers and the poor. The Council Chamber of 1731 and the Roysse Room are of particular interest. On view in the Guildhall are many paintings and the Corporation Plate. All these may be seen by prior arrangement with the Guildhall office (entrance off Abbey Close, telephone 01235 524085) or consider visiting during the second week in September Heritage Open Day.
The Checker, Old Abbey Buildings
Next to Roysse Court is the Crown and Thistle, an old coaching inn dating from 1605. Its name commemorates the union of England and Scotland under James I. At the bottom of Bridge Street is the Old Gaol, built in 1811 by Napoleonic prisoners of war. It housed all prisoners for the County of Berkshire for 56 years. In 1874 it was sold to a corn merchant who used it as his store for almost a hundred years. Facing the Old Gaol is Thames Street at the far end of which is the narrow entrance to the few surviving buildings of the Old Abbey. The first room was once the Abbey Granary. Beyond this are the Checker, a fine 13th century room, and the Long Gallery with its splendid oak beamed roof. These buildings are open to the public at various times throughout the year.
The Upper Reaches Hotel, by the bridge, is built on the site of the monastic watermill. The stream to bring water from the Thames to the mill was dug by the monks of Abingdon Abbey in the 10th century. Corn was ground there almost continually up until 1967. The watermill can still be seen as a feature of the hotel restaurant.
Abingdon Bridge is nearly 590 years old and is really three bridges linked together: Abingdon Bridge proper (nearest the town, with its 15th century arches spanning the backwater), Burford Bridge (over the main stream of the Thames , the name being a corruption of Borough Ford Bridge), and Maud Hales Bridge (over the marshy ground to the south). The first two bridges were built by the Fraternity of the Holy Cross, a medieval guild, and linked to Culham Bridge by a raised causeway still used as a footpath today. Hales Bridge is an example of 15th century flood arches erected and named after William and Maud Hales in 1430. The cricket ground nearby also bears this name.
From the rear of the County Hall running towards the river is East Saint Helen Street, containing fine examples of Abingdon’s domestic architecture from the 15th century onwards. Framed at its end is the imposing tower and spire of Saint Helen’s Church. Dating back to the 10th century, the church was enlarged during the next three centuries as Abingdon grew and prospered. Now wider than it is long, its features include a 200 year old candelabra, the tomb of John Roysse, its beautiful red and gold ceiling to the Lady Chapel which dates from the 1390s.