A swashbuckling Hollywood icon, one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts Movement and the great English painter Turner have one thing in common: they all loved Abingdon-on-Thames.

Douglas Fairbanks Junior dined frequently at The Crown and Thistle, John Ruskin lived there some years earlier, and the teenage JMW Turner sketched and painted views of Abingdon and the surrounding countryside.  These stories and how Sir Paul McCartney’s BAFTA award winning “Frogs Chorus” video came to be made in Thames Street will be explored during this year’s Heritage Open Days.

The Arts and Creativity theme of this year’s heritage festival will also showcase other gems such as the priceless medieval “Abingdon Missal” decorated by the monks of the Abbey of Abingdon, which is now held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. A major exhibition about the Missal will be held in the Abbey Buildings.

The town has been home to many famous artists, actors, writers, sculptors and comedians, all of whom have enriched our national life but whose stories are often untold.  The aim of this year’s Heritage Open Days is to unlock those stories and inspire our townsfolk and visitors with the creativity which Abingdon has encouraged.

A full list of the events and exhibitions can be found on our website and will be published in leaflets available from early September.. The venues will include the medieval Abbey Buildings, the Guildhall, Christ’s Hospital Almshouses and several of the town’s other historic buildings and there will be a “Fab Ab” exhibition in the former H Samuels shop. Abingdon Artists will be helping people to explore painting, Abingdon Flower Club will be displaying their work, and Abingdon Drama Club will present a “Son et Lumiere” to celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the Unicorn Theatre. On the Sunday there will a programme of guided walks.

Information and self-guided walk leaflets will be available all weekend, from our Market Place information stall.